Posted on 03/17/2008 7:44:22 AM PDT by Terriergal
By John-Henry Westen
EDINBURGH, March 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The newly released edition of the Edinburgh University Student newspaper, the oldest student newspaper in the UK, includes an interview with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. In the interview Rowling claims to have received death threats from Christians opposed to her novels, calling Christian 'fundamentalists' "dangerous" and comparing them by inference to Islamic fundamentalists.
Asked if there were not some Christians who dislike the book 'intensely', Rowling replied, "Oh, vehemently and they send death threats." Questioned about the 'death threats', she added, "Once, yeah. Well, more than once. It is comical in retrospect. I was in America, and there was a threat made against a bookstore that I was appearing at, so we had the police there."
While she said she could stomach critics, she had little time for Christian criticism. "But to be honest the Christian Fundamentalist thing was bad," she said. "I would have been quite happy to sit there and debate with one of the critics who were taking on Harry Potter from a moral perspective."
Many Christians who have opposed the Potter series have done so after reading comments by Christian reviewers pointing out their moral and spiritual dangers. The opponents, who have been relying on the reviewers criticisms, have often avoided reading Rowling's lengthy Potter narratives, and Rowling uses such cases to paint Christians as if they were insane.
"I've tried to be rational about it," she told the paper. "There's a woman in North Carolina or Alabama who's been trying to get the books banned-she's a mother of four and never read them. And then- I'm not lying, I'm not even making fun, this is the truth of what she said-quite recently she was asked [why] and she said 'Well I prayed whether or not I should read them, and God told me no.'"
The interviewer notes that at that point "Rowling pauses to reflect on the weight of that statement, and her expression one of utter disbelief." Rowling then continued, "You see, that is where I absolutely part company with people on that side of the fence, because that is fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is, 'I will not open my mind to look on your side of the argument at all. I won't read it, I won't look at it, I'm too frightened.'"
"That's what's dangerous about it, whether it be politically extreme, religiously extreme...In fact, fundamentalists across all the major religions, if you put them in a room, they'd have bags in common! They hate all the same things, it's such an ironic thing."
Michael O'Brien, one of the most prominent Potter critics, has carefully read and analyzed the Potter books critiquing the spiritual and moral problems with Rowling's works. O'Brien commented to LifeSiteNews.com about Rowling's mockery of Christians who avoid her works.
"Regrettably, there is a strange new form of self-righteousness at work in the world-a psychological state of mind that is common to post-modernists such as J. K. Rowling," said O'Brien. "One of its symptoms is their inability to discuss on a serious level the truth or untruth of their cultural products. They avoid the real issues and instead take the 'ad hominem' approach-personal attacks against those who raise critical objections to the disorders in their books. From the vaccuum of real thought arises the dreary habit of classifying as a 'fundamentalist' any critic who bases his arguments on religious or spiritual grounds."
Added O'Brien: "This term is used against bomb-throwing terrorists, sweet grandmothers praying silently before abortuaries, and anyone who preaches the fullness of the Christian faith in church and media. It has become the utmost smear word, a weapon that is proving quite effective in silencing opposition. If you don't have an argument yourself, you just switch tactics and cry 'fundamentalist!' Supposedly all opposition will then collapse."
In previous interviews Rowling has said Christian criticism of her works come from the "lunatic fringe" of the church.
Prior to being elected Pope, then-Cardinal Ratzinger expressed an opinion opposing the Potter books. He sent a letter of gratitude to Gabriele Kuby who authored a work explaining the dangers of the Potter story, especially to young children. Made available by LifeSiteNews.com, Ratzinger's letter to Ms. Kuby stated, "It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly."
Father Gabriele Amorth, chief exorcist of the Vatican also condemned the books warning parents, "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil." Father Amorth criticized the novels for glorifying magic, which he explicitly refers to as "the satanic art", and for presenting disordered perceptions of morality in the supposedly heroic main characters.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels - Signed Letters from Cardinal Ratzinger Now Online
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05071301.html
Harry Potter Feature Page:
http://www.lifesite.net/features/harrypotter/
She’s a witch! Burn the Rowlings witch!
Wizard of Oz and Macbeth would be banned by the Potter hating crowd if they was given the power.
Did I ever say there can’t be more than one right way to get to a conclusion?
If one Christian says “I won’t read Harry Potter because my faith says have nothing to do with witchcraft” and another says “I won’t read Harry Potter because the morals they espouse are anti-Christian”, they are both right.
Further, when you are asked to prove your reasoning, it may be shown you followed sound reasoning, versus you showing you got the right answer, but not on purpose - you got lucky and got it right by accident because it’s clear you didn’t get the answer following a proper method.
“What we’re trying to do is say that lumping ‘Christian fundamentalists’ together with ‘Islamic Fundamentalists’ is UNWARRANTED and hateful.”
Why? Not all Islamic fundamentalists chop off heads (just as not all Christian fundamentalists call for book banning). Aren’t you indulging in the same kind of stereotyping as that which you decry?
INFIDEL!
(really obvious sarcasm)
we had ‘feelings’ about gays from very young! We knew that there was something wrong with it much as I knew there was something wrong with an old man groping me (and winking to be sure I knew it wasn’t a mistake) in a swimming pool when I was about 8.
Naw, maybe JUST MAYBE because they're concerned about getting painted with the same brush as Islamic Fundamentalists. Just a thought.
Sorry, but it is not infringing on YOUR rights if I speak out about not wanting my tax money used to buy certain books for the school library. If you want your kid to read them, you are perfectly free to go out and purchase the boo yourself, or borrow it from a friend.
Hey, the whole world is under that death threat.
In the original Cinderella, one step-sister cut off her toe to fit her foot in the slipper, the other cut off her heel.
I never said it was equal, I just said they can get out of hand some times also.
If we consistently refuse to look at our own more darker or less than sane elements then I feel that our hypocrisy may be our own downfall.
Even we on the right have our own less than sane members that we often try to ignore and hide in the closet.
LOL What a crock. If you want your kid to read the books, buy them yourself or borrow them from a friend. But any taxpayer has the right to speak out about not wanting their tax money spent on certain things.
How would you like it if some stranger came up to you and told you what books your child could or couldn't read?
No one told you that you couldn't get the books for your kid. Get a clue.
I was kind of upset that Harry never expressed appreciation for all the sacrifices Hermione made for him, and how loyal she was, even more so than Ron. In fact, he never even seemed to recognize it.
Yes. But in this case I am specifically referring to people who see that in a letter they receive and, on their own, read it to mean a personal death threat from the sender.
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I know, and I agree.
The issue is what Rowling said. And she equated them.
J.K. Rowling has long described herself as Christian so I take her at her word ... I believe she is a member of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). The tales she writes about are essentially good versus evil (the message of ALL religion) and I see no harm in the fantasy. I do, however, see harm in practically all fundamental religious philosophy as, IMO, it gave rise to the Dark Ages of history, the Inquisition, witch burnings, and modern-day lunatics such as the Reverends Ike, Phelps, Jim Jones, David Koresh, racists such as Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright and groups like Al Qaeda and Hammas. If we all had been following fundamental preaching, we would be stoning to death those committing adultery and what we believe to be blasphemy instead of the "love thy neighbor" principles of Jesus Christ.
Wasn’t Tolkien’s work condemned the same way as Rowling’s back when he first stated, also?
FWIW, we didn’t do the holiday characters either.
“If in fact you are correct and the Grindelwald figure is gay.”
That certainly was not MY supposition, and if Rowling wanted to imply as such (and ruin her books in the process), she is going to have to be a lot more blunt about it.
I felt Grindelwald and Dumbledore, as young, impressionable youths, bonded over their precocious skills and similarity in certain aspects of their outlook.
Completely natural and completely asexual.
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