I believe if Rowling were a professed Christian like Tolkien and Lewis, the Potter series would be applauded for its insightful and vivid portrayal of the battle between good and evil, yadda,yadda,yadda. The writings of Tolkien and Lewis are as fanciful and as full of magic, mystery and alternate worlds as the writings of Rowling. But that’s okay because they’re Christian.
Too much time, effort and ink has been wasted by Christians lambasting poor fictional Harry instead of focusing on real evil in the world.
Rowling is a professed Christian.
Maybe not "like Tolkien and Lewis" but who amongst us is?
It's never been a secret. For example, here she says so in an interview with the Vancouver Sun:
Is she a Christian?"Yes, I am," she says. "Which seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books."
I saw that interview several years ago, and realized rather quickly that the trajectory of the books was headed toward a Revelation-type end ... and I was right. And it'd be pretty much impossible to read the last book without recognizing the Christian symbolism.
Undoubtedly. O'Brien also would have pointed out the reflection of Christ in Harry's narrow escape from death as a baby, his recognition as the "chosen one", his knowledge and abilities, travails and temptations in the wilderness, his "baptism" and his willingness to sacrifice himself for love of his fellow man. Not to mention conquering death and evil.
Tolkien and Lewis worked Christian parallels into their stories, making each one into a kind of Christian parable. This is different from what Rowling has done, which is to make out a quite private universe of good and evil with no particular connection to anything else other than to make people feel good. That kind of quest has been a pursuit of fallen mankind since Adam and Eve, and human nature keeps it from succeeding. Man needs a Savior not a bunch of feelgood stories.