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All I can say, is if their faith was that fragile that it could be destroyed -- just from the very fear of having Harry Potter in the room - then it wasn't much of a faith to begin with.

And having a fragile faith is not the fault of Harry Potter's author or publisher.

My, my, aren't we tough, and there I thought the flesh was weak. Silly me.

Faith is a thing that is built in anyone. It takes time and persistence, and indeed requires protection on the part of a parent. This is true in the case of spirituality no less than other evil influences in life. If you don't believe that then I am certain that a few harmless drinks for your kid are OK, oh and how about a little toke, there there, now that wasn't so bad, was it? Here, let's watch some light porn. Horny? Here, go masturbate, they said it's good for you in school... Now didn't that feel good? Oh, I hope she remembers to use a condom...

So it goes. But where does it stop?

You can set your standards and I'll set mine, thank you. If you feel like playing spirital chicken with your kid go right ahead. I prefer instead to focus upon finding that which has proven to be unambiguously decent, uplifting, and intellectually challenging, of which there is plenty. So why not pursue that instead?

I learned about the dark side the hard way, and it all seemed so easy: drugs, loose sex, occult spirituality, you name it. I don't recommend it. I wound up cold and homeless on the streets of Oakland and am lucky to be alive. I had to work my way out of poverty and to rediscover the freedom found in the path of obediance. I no longer think I am so smart that I can properly foresee all the consequences to marginal choices and have chosen instead to pursue my best to follow God's law and teach my children the unvarnished truth. That alone is a demanding enough intellectual and spiritual challenge that such diversions as Harry Potter seem pointless and trite by comparison to what else is available.

It takes a special kind of blindness and tautological reasoning to carry such a path for long, especially when the evidence of its destructive fruits abounds. Even if one escapes accountability by himself, citing special personal qualities for evidence, that public example becomes bait for the many who will not be so "lucky." Look to the lengths Hollywood goes to present such people as examples of success? Look at the consequences of such role models in nearly any public institution, particularly our schools. Can't you see it? As far as I am concerned, it is the flaky reasoning of the impish fool that bandies such adventures for the thrill of disobedience, citing the lack of apparent consequences for justification.

I really do hate to rain on your parade ; however , fairy tales, many of the works of Thorne-Smith ( though he wrote for adults ) , and cartoons did NOT turn generation of religious, GOD fearing and obeying children into spell casting, hedonistic, immoral monsters. The more people scream about the Harry Potter books, the more children are going to see something in them, that was put into their heads by adults who see that which is not there.

By your own words, you once led a desperate, horrible life. Was it a Harry Potter book that led you astray ? I doubt that. So, which nasty book was it ?

I know now that the Narnia books are supposedly "Christian" in nature. I'd never read any of them, until my daughter had to read them in lower school. I am neither stupid, no ill educated ; however , until that was pointed out here, it NEVER once occurred to me that there are Christian, let alone religious overtones to those books. Yes, I an a Christian, but if I, as an adult didn't see them, why would anyone surmise that a child would ? The same holds true for all of the gibberish about the Potter books, which are so derrivative of much better English children's books, that I can't get through one.

Oh, and yes, I did read every single book that my daughter had to read for English classes, throughout her entire schooling ; including college.I'd read most of them, and it was a good way to engage her in conversations about what she was reading / learning. It also allowed me to find a VERY dreadful book, and get the school to get it off their required summer reading list. Now, THAT book pushed extreme liberal views , was not well written, and was most assurredly not age appropriate. Not the same holds true for the Potter series, at all.

re : I learned about the dark side the hard way, and it all seemed so easy: drugs, loose sex, occult spirituality, you name it. I don't recommend it.

I think this is what divides people most on subjects like this.

Read any article on drugs, drink or any type of life style done to excess and you will always get an someone who lived that life who is warning you of the dangers of the slippery slope.

The fact is for every person who slipped down that slope there are hundreds if not thousands of us who didn’t.

I have gambled once or twice but I am not a gambler, I like drink but I am not an alcoholic, I was even trapped in a room with a load of New Age recruiters for a wacky sect once, I enjoyed the experience but I did not decide to shave my head and give them all my money.

In law we have the ruling of the reasonable man, what would a reasonable man do in such a such a case.

Well some people would tell us that the reasonable man or child is a weak thing easy to manipulate, that we must protect them as they are almost incapable of protecting them self’s. I don’t think this means that these people want to dominate or restrict are freedom, but is possibly based on personal experience where when push came to shove they were weak.

If I was to describe a reasonable man or child I would say a lot stronger both mentally and emotionally because I would judge it on my own experiences, my life was not apple pie, and I went through and mixed with some rough people but I came out ok.

There will always be those who no matter what you do are determined to screw there life up somehow and when asked hwy they will always point to the latest fad and say it or they made me do it.

Tony