Harry Potter "magic" is not even close to Wicca. Nor is it ceremonial magic either. It's really an elaborate system of puns and (mostly Latin but some Greek) words.
A kid isn't going to learn anything about actual magical systems from reading these books. Harmless fairy tale stuff.
What? Is that why "scourgify" isn't working, and my house is a disaster area? I thought I was doing something wrong. Guess, I better get off FR, and clean it the old fashioned way. Darn.
A kid isn't going to learn anything about actual magical systems from reading these books. Harmless fairy tale stuff.
Couldn't agree more; ban this work of fantasy, we might as well ban all works of fantasy.
The hyper-anti-Potterites (HAP's) are not swayed by this though. Given your point, they counter something like the following, "It (Potter) may not teach about REAL wicca, but it desensitizes kids to the notion of witchcraft, wicca, and everything else not Christian, making it seem more attractive than Christ, as a general notion. This will lead to the children, down the road, embracing REAL wicca."
Again though it all comes back to the main point, "Should we ban all works of fantasy, even works like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which are actually based in Christianity, simply because they aren't 'The Bible'"? (because this really is the ultimate reason, it can't be any other. No other book is worth reading BUT the Bible, at least to the HAP's)
It truly is amazing, amazing how some people don't think their rationale through to its logical conclusion. The logical conclusion here is to ban (and maybe even burn) all books but the Bible. Such people clearly haven't learned from history; hopefully we aren't doomed to repeat it because of their mistake.
Grimm's Fairy Tales has also frequently been on the list of books challenged or banned from libraries or schools, due to the witchcraft. A high school teacher in my area was prevented from staging the Greek classic "Medea" because the title character is a witch.