Posted on 07/13/2005 11:29:36 PM PDT by nickcarraway
You should see the abuse that gets heaped on the Chronicles of Narnia: Promoting child sexual abuse, drug abuse, underage drinking, paganism, sun worshipping...
I won't read DVC. It is designed to tear down and mislead. Harry is about good and evil and friendship. Apples and Oranges. And you'll know them by their fruits.
Perhaps you should of read the article a third time:
Is the blacklist back? Are those Catholics ex-communicating authors? Is the Christian Right going to protest the Potter films? When does the book-burning begin? You would think children would soon have scarlet P's etched into their chests.Seems as though the author has you pegged.
There ARE ancient stories about wiccans and methods of ingesting hallucinogens that supposedly led to the stories about flying broomsticks.
Harry Potter is the age-old battle between good and evil, and teaches a LOT of good things such as friendship, trust, self-confidence, standing up to bullies, etc. There is no blurring.
It's a world of witches, demons, magical powers, darkness, etc. In short, it is an occult worldview. And if I simultaneously teach an occult worldview is both good and bad, have I not blurred something?
It's fiction, fantasy! Occult? C'mon, we live in the 21st century, not 1692 Salem, Mass.
I suppose CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien are both authors who wrote similar books of the "occult?" No, they get a pass. Why? Because personally they were know Christians, so everyone says the Good-v-Evil stories of their books are somehow Christian-themed, whereas JK Rowling hasn't expressed any devout Christian faith, so her similarly-themed books must be of the occult.
Nonsense.
Get a grip, toots.
Nancy Drew was an evil seductress who should have stayed home and baked cookies for the Hardy Boys.
Are you kidding? Tens of thousands of little kids were in Hitler Youth because they were heavily pressured to be. Haven't you read anything about this Pope?
You think the Pope has no right to make a statement or have an opinion about a book?
Of course it's fantasy. That's a given. Of course it's fiction. That's a given.
The pope is no dummy. He's knows what literature is as well as we do.
He's saying that we should think about how the lines between good/evil can be blurred. Is there even one thing wrong with that? How can thinking about it injure anything?
Imagine a fantasy world. It's got a young hero of the Revolutionary People's Brigade who goes around fighting evil capitalists who are attempting to pillage people and bring them into economic servitude.
He draws strength from 2 spirits named Stalinsky and Leninsky. His latest soul-mate is an elderly, Obi Wan type Lawyer named Ramses Clakke who leads him in opposition to the evil empire, Etats Unis, after it's invasion of a helpless, religio-socialist desert state.
Now, you might let your kid read it, right? But would you have some concern that might prompt you to think about distinctions in your child's mind that might be blurred by that book?
I admire Tolkien and C.S.Lewis and consider their books uplifting for children and adults not because they have the label "Christian" but because (a) they were actually good writers, especially Tolkien, and (b) their books are not only finely crafted, but lead the reader a little higher in understanding, promote simple virtues, the characters go through internal struggles and become morally strong. I am not against "occultism" in books, it's like money or strength - how it is used is paramount.
Rowling's books, OTOH, are crappily written, the characters are shallow, selfish, cartoonish, there is no good or evil, just two teams. The only reason Harry is "good" is because someone "bad" wants to kill him. There is no character growth, and her use of the occult gives it a glimmer of attraction in a somewhat perverted manner. She actually did a tremendous amount of research to make it very authentic.
She appeals to the desire to have power over others, not power over self.
Oh good, we needed another thread on this...
Note my comment above. Power over others as compared to power over self.
see my #51
I repeat...how can just "thinking about" things that might be blurred in a child's mind be a bad thing?
Maybe you'll conclude there's nothing to clarify to the kid, maybe you won't. But, at least you'll know you checked that box.
As I said on the other thread, parental involvement is key.
But the lack of parental involvement is not J.K. Rowling's fault.
I can live with that. I, for one, would have to intervene with the kids and clear up any blurred lines between good and evil.
But I'm just one extremely intelligent, exceedingly handsome, awesomely articulate, everyday guy. :>)
The book you describe sounds like the Kerry-Edwards campaign, and we all watched, listened, laughed, and rejected that last year.
Not at all what we took away from the books.
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