Among the young, an interest in witchcraft, sorcery, and allied occult activity is growing at an astonishing rate. Some libraries now put their occult section beside the Potter books, to make access easier for young readers. Thus, millions of children, including large numbers of Catholic children, are getting involved in spiritually and psychologically dangerous activity. Harry Potter provided the role model.
As a Catholic, does that concern you?
I am a Catholic, and that particular ploy by libraries, if that is in fact what is happening, concerns me. However, I doubt it was done with the blessing of JK Rowling.
As a Catholic growing up, I read the Narnia and Lord of the Rings Series many times over. When I was older I read somewhere that both these series had religious connotations. I went back and read the Narnia books, and it is very obvious what those are, as an adult. However, those parallels went straight over my head as a child.
I have also read the Harry Potter books, obviously only as an adult and not as a child. There is nothing like what you find in the Narnia series in Harry Potter. CS Lewis pretty much just re-wrote the bible in a fantasy world. JK Rowling is telling a fairy tale, with no hidden agenda.
The point I am trying to make is this. Adults tend to read a lot more into stories than children do. Give children some credit for their innocence. A child with a good religious education will learn at an early age what is real and what is not. Why should we scare children by telling them magic is bad when they are only small? In Harry Potter they read about magic - something they will have no doubt already heard about, and that they know is the stuff of fairy tales - in a way that makes it a cool story. But only a story. Why take the enjoyment out of their lives?
Because they're playing with fire.
You make your point well. But children should learn very early to stay away from the occult, particularly because children's literature, movies and TV are so full of occult practices and imagery today. Things have changed a lot since I was a kid, 30 years ago.
You might want to go into the Catholic Answers on-line archives of past radio programs and listen to some of the shows with Fr. LeBar, the exorcist for NYC, I believe. He says that many times those who become posessed began with "innocent" play with a ouija board. I've heard many stories of children of very young age (kindergarten) "playing Harry Potter" and casting spells on each other. Of course, most children won't become posessed, but demonic oppression to varying degrees is very possible.