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There's far more truly "occult" material in "Lord of the Rings" than in "Harry Potter", and in LotR it's presented far more seriously and frighteningly (which isn't surprising, since LotR was aimed at a more mature audience than is Harry Potter).

If you consider The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings to be acceptable, I fail to see how you could object to anything in Harry Potter. Plus, Harry Potter contains a great many good lessons on the virtues of honesty, loyalty, hard work, respect for authority, not judging a book by its cover, and so on.

This in partiicular was your inane statement. Tolkien was thoroughly Catholic and wrote from a Christian perspective. His subcreation was intended to mirror the fundamental realities of the real creation of God. Use of magic in Tolkien ALWAYS has negative consequences, unlike Potter. Fundamental distinctions are made between virtues --perseverence, courage/fortitude, selflessness-- and vices. In Potter, vices are made into virtues, some virtues become vices, evil (magic) is used for good, without negative consequences, the lines are not only blurred but molded together and purposely made indistinct.

This thread began with O'Brien's analysis of Potter from a Christian perspective. Please keep your attention together here, and do not castigate me for continuing along with that perspective.

And again, given the fundamental, diametrically opposed nature of Tolkien's subcreation to that of Potter, your comments noted above are indeed inane.

Re: #123: Well said.

That's my understanding of Rings also, and that's why I've begun reading Lord of the Rings to my six-year-old at bedtime. (OK, the upcoming movie had some influence on my decision as well). So far though, it's had the effect of rapidly putting her to sleep ;-) Then again, that isn't so bad sometimes.

This in partiicular was your inane statement. Tolkien was thoroughly Catholic and wrote from a Christian perspective. His subcreation was intended to mirror the fundamental realities of the real creation of God. Use of magic in Tolkien ALWAYS has negative consequences, unlike Potter.

Apparently you skipped the whole section on Tom Bombadil. The whole thing boiled down to the Forces of Good vs. the Forces of Evil.

For all you slavering anti-Potter-ites. What book has women getting their father drunk so the can have sex with him? What book has a king getting the blessing of a Witch before a big battle? What book has the central figure consorting with a notorius whore, tax collectors, ect...? In what book does the prime deity expect his followers to go out and slaughter millions of people just because they are of a different race? In what book does that same deity NUKE an entire city?

There is much more violence, sex, and MAGIC in the Bible than there is in the Potter books. Keep your kids grounded in reality and stop trying to spread hysteria.