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I have never understood some Christians' perspective of the Harry Potter series. They embrace the C.S. Lewis Chronicles of Narnia series, which includes the character of the White Witch. There is a horrible scene in which the White Witch kills the Jesus character of Aslan by first having him tied to a stone table, shaved of his lion's hair and then brutally stabbed to death. Very dark stuff. You can buy the books in every Christian bookstore. The difference? C.S. Lewis was a devote Christian and the books reflect his Christian beliefs. Many Christians do NOT share the perspective that the Harry Potter books promote witchcraft; we recognize the deep moral truths in the books and can appreciate the good vs. evil theme throughout every one of the 6 books to date. Fairy tales are full of witches, and they always lose their battles. The Harry Potter books are just that: fairy tales. Most of the kids who read them do not embrace witchcraft as a result of having read the books.

Actually, I have some Christian friends who refuse to allow Narnia or the Lord of the Rings trilogy in their homes because there are witches, wizards, etc. While I disagree with them, I respect that their own unique walk with the Lord would be compromised by such material.

I worked (and will be working again this fall) at Lucasfilm. Lucas has his share of critics on this forum because they believe the Force is an actual New Age-style religious belief. Some of the people who work for Lucas (one of whom is an Academy Award winner for sound design) are Christians and conservatives. We are surrounded by liberals, but somehow manage to get along.

If some Christians believe I am going to hell because I work for Lucas and enjoy science fiction/fantasy, so be it. It's not worth debating. I've read the Harry Potter series--as has my homeschooled son--and at no time did we forsake our religious beliefs and turn to witchcraft. Of course, both my son and I think that Rowlings' books are no where near the literary level of Narnia and the Ring trilogy.

I decided to read Harry to see what all the fuss was about and make a judgement for myself. I never was a fan of book burning or listening to others who refused to read the material, but somehow knew it would lead to the dark side. (Ooops, sorry, couldn't help myself with that last line--force of habit, you know.) I came to the opinion that Harry Potter is no worse or better than The Wizard of Oz. There is definitely good vs evil within its pages. And, yes, Harry is a good guy--about as good as Glinda, the Good Witch of Oz, if you're into that stuff.

In high school I asked one of my teachers who didn't approve of Harry Potter what he thought of The Lord of the Rings. He said it was ok because it was a classic. I asked him if that meant in 50 years Harry Potter would be ok. He said no, but couldn't tell me what the difference was between the two books and the magic in them.