Posted on 11/27/2001 9:28:58 AM PST by John O
The release of the first Harry Potter movie is pouring gasoline onto a controversy that already has many parents burning. Parents everywhere are grappling with the presence of Harry Potter in their childs book bag, toy box and even their classroom.
Last spring, the childrens series reached a milestone, hitting the 100 million worldwide sales mark in only three years.
The J.K. Rowling series continues to top sales charts internationally. Four of seven titles have been published so farHarry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Each has been translated into 42 different languages, including Zulu and Albanian.
This is an unprecedented publishing achievement anywhere in the worldeither for adult or childrens books, said Rowlings agent Christopher Little. Every time we publish a new Harry Potter book, the first one goes back up to the top of the bestseller list.
Warner Brothers has spent about $150 million on the movie version of the first book, directed by Chris Columbus of Home Alone fame. A sequel is planned for release next year. And when anything is this captivating for children, there is marketing.
Harry Potter-themed school supplies, bed linens and toys are on store shelves waiting for the pandemonium expected from the movies release. Sears, Target and J.C. Penney are heavily marketing Harry Potter toys, bedding and even clothing. Mattel is marketing Harry Potter action figures. Hasbro is producing a trading card game, and video games are also available. Potter will appear in McDonalds Happy Meals this fall, and the boy wizard will also become a new Coca-Cola spokesman.
Even before Pottermania reached this level, parents found keeping children away from the books occult themes an uphill battle.
Beginning last school year, my 6- year-old grandson Jesse was ostracized from the reading class that his teacher conducted everyday, said Verda Unrau of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. Her daughter, Jesses mom, went to the teacher when she learned that the first Harry Potter book was to be read in class.
She was told that Jesse could either sit in with the other kids or go to the office and sit. We assumed this would only be for a week or so, but it turned out to be the whole school year that this teacher dwelt on this book, Unrau added. Jesse and another little boy missed the reading time for their whole first year of school.
That has been the essence of the two-year-old Potter-in-the-classroom debate. Parents who have been told that Christianity must be kept out of schools due to the separation of church and state are now trying to protect their children from classroom discussions about paganism and the occult.
Now, publications by Scholastic and Beachams SourceBooks have upped the ante. Not only are the Potter books featured on school shelves and read aloud in class, some teachers are also incorporating them into lessons. This means the Harry Potter phenomenon requires parents to deal directly with the topic of witchcraft, whether or not they allow their children to read the series or see the movie.
Thats the way with all cultural change, Rev. Robert McGee, co-host of the video Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged, Making Evil Look Innocent told Family Voice. Cultural engineers establish change one small step at a time. Now that Harry Potter is seen as acceptable childrens literature, its not surprising that this series, and other occult themes, are being pushed deeper into the classroom.
Shape Shifting and Druids
Beecham Publishings Exploring Harry Potter is written by Elizabeth Schafer, Ph.D.,* an expert on childrens literature. This immense volume directs teachers and parents on how to incorporate Potter into history, geography, science and English lessons. Ideas include sports played at the mythical Hogwarts school, the foods Harry and his classmates eat, spelling lessons on Potterisms, and the books symbolism.
The Beecham Sourcebook manual goes so far as to undermine Biblical faith by referencing theologians and mystics who deny the inerrancy of Scripture and the deity of Christ. Further, it covers mythology, witchcraft, and Wiccaa natureworshipping pagan religion. The books suggestions include:
Make a collage of the habitat and food for an animal you would like to shapeshift into.
(Shape shifting is a psychic phenomenon in which a person voluntarily and temporarily thinks he is taking on the form of an animal. In Harry Potter, Harrys dead father appears to him in the form of a stag. Many pagansthose who follow occult religionsbelieve that meditation and concentration can change their form into that of an animal.)
Write a paper about how efforts to ban the Harry Potter novels because of their themes of evil, sorcery and witchcraft, and to forbid children from wearing witch and devil costumes, resemble historic witch hunts.
Learn about the role of witchcraft in different cultures. Either make a costume for yourself or a doll, or use paint, crayons, or construction paper to design the attire of witches in a specific geographic area.
The book also provides a bibliography of 28 books on magic, witchcraft and other occult variations that highlight the making of potions, casting spells and communing with the dead. Titles include:
Miranda J. Greens The World of the Druids, which describes the history, mythology and literature associated with Druids in addition to discussing modern witchcraft and sorcery practices that are Druid-inspired. (Druidism is a pagan religion that attempts to recreate the practices of ancient Celtic peoples, which historically included human sacrifice.)
Margot Adlers Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, which describes modern witchcraft practices in the United States.
Further, Exploring Harry Potter includes a large reference list of Web sites, including links to active pagan, Wiccan and Druid groups.
Enter Scholastic Publishing
Scholastic, the American distributors of the Harry Potter series, also offers online teacher discussion guides written by Kylene Beers, assistant professor of reading at the University of Houston, Texas.
The following discussion guide features summaries of the plot, theme, conflict, setting and characterization, as well as a number of questions designed to encourage conversation, writes Beers on the Scholastic Web site.
Discussion questions include comparing various Potter characters to those in ancient mythology. Another asks about similarities between the masked wizards that torment muggles (normal humans) and real group members who have worn hoods when tormenting others.
Still other questions ask students to ponder moral themes, like self-sacrifice, choosing what is right over what is easy, and free will versus preordinationthemes better left to parents, since they will likely lose their value under the morally relativistic constraints of todays public school system.
Christian anti-cult expert Caryl Matrisciana finds this intrusion into classrooms disturbing.
This is a complete indoctrination program in the schools, Matrisciana says in the Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged video. First they interest children in the occult with delightful fantasy literature, then they bring the books into the schools, along with teachers guides to fuel the interest in exploration of the occult. Now with this Beechams Sourcebook, any computer-literate child can access genuine witchcraft training classes right in his home or classroom.
A Dangerous Trend
Many applaud the Potter series as harmless fantasy literature and credit the long tomes for getting children to read. But those familiar with the reality of the occult world arent taking them lightly.
Matrisciana says witchcraft is real, and she adds that elements of the books symbolize pagan deities. J.K. Rowling majored in Mythology at Exeter University in England. She researched the occult in order to present an accurate representation in her books.
Harry Potter is part of a larger trend to bring occult themes to younger children. Just as the seemingly innocent Sabrina the Teenage Witch is followed by darker, teen-themed Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so Potter is followed by darker and more ominous books like the Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman.
But Rev. McGee points out that the Potter craze has a particular danger.
With Harry Potter children are for the first time seeing other children, step by step, learning to access demonic power to get what they want, he said.
Marcia Montenegro, occult expert and founder of the ministry Christian Answers for the New Age, disputes claims that the books center on the theme of good versus evil.
There is no moral center in Harry Potter, said Montenegro. Good and evil are depicted as being two sides of the same coin, which is an occult worldview.
Why is Harry considered good? He breaks the rules, gets away with it, and is even rewarded for it. As one of Harrys professors says in book three, Harry is a law unto himself. From a Christian perspective, this cannot be.
A former astrology professional and occult practitioner, Montenegro now serves as a missionary with Fellowship International Mission of Allentown, Pennsylvania. She is also working on her masters degree in apologetics.
This seeming training ground for occult beliefs comes at a critical time in our culture. The Pagan Federation International claims its numbers have grown tenfold in the past decade. Online pagan networks estimate there are anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 practicing pagans in the United States aloneand the Internet has provided an easily accessible resource for those seeking deeper occult involvement.
The Internet is fabulous for learning about it, 19-year-old Kes Davidson told the Evening Times of Glasgow, Scotland, where occult practices are flourishing. There are millions of Web sites out there.
Occult influences are also growing rapidly in the United States.
When I first began speaking on the occult in 1995, it was mostly older teens who were experimenting with it. Now you see children as young as 11, 12 and 13 involved, Montenegro said.
The occult is very attractive to kids who are seeking power, affirmation and acceptance, especially those from dysfunctional homes, Montenegro added. Harry Pottertargeted at children in the critical ages of 9 through 13feeds that thirst with practices prohibited by the Bible. I cant understand why Christian parents wouldnt be concerned about it.
Rev. McGee, who founded Rapha, a Christian counseling ministry, agrees with Montenegro about the power of occult influences.
I counseled many with backgrounds in witchcraft and the occult, said McGee. Breaking an addiction to drugs or alcohol is easier than leaving demonic spiritual forces behind. Several of my patients confirmed that many of todays witches, pagans and other occult practitioners continue the practices of the ancients including drug use and ritual sex. he added.
Yet, the American Library Association (ALA) and other liberal groups label parents who oppose the trend of occult fantasy literature as book banners. Last September, the ALA issued its annual report on challenged or banned books. The ALAs Judith Krug, head of the Office of Intellectual Freedom, told The Tennessean that the Potter books now top that list, becoming one of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the decade.
The challenges we have had [to Harry Potter] have been in schools, which means the children are going to be deprived of what appears to be the biggest phenomenon childrens publishing has ever known, Krug said.
Despite the heavy-handed influence on schools of liberal organizations like the ALAand the book industrys attempt to exploit the Harry Potter phenomenon in the classroomRev. McGee says parents cant give up the battle for the hearts and minds of their children.
Parents have to be prepared to look foolish if they plan to stand their ground, said McGee. The media have been feeding us a candy-coated version of what the occult is really like, and kids today have lost the sense that witchcraft is dangerous.
The challenge is also on churches to once again educate parents and children to the realities and dangers of the occult and spiritual warfare, he said.
If a child is mentally and spiritually mature enough, Montenegro says parents dont necessarily have to be seen as strict disciplinarians. She has spoken with many Christian children who have decided to stop reading the Potter series on their own.
Explain to them why you are concerned. Show your child the Biblical passages condemning the casting of spells and contact with demons, Montenegro said.
Parents neednt be alarmed or fearful. The Holy Spirit is on their side.
Despite the impact her familys opposition to Harry Potter had on her grandson, Verda Unrau says they will hold firm to their convictions.
We are prepared to make the same stand this year, she said. If I have to go wear a placard and picket the school, I will!
Martha Kleder is a writer and policy analyst for CWAs Culture and Family Institute.
That's an extreme stretch...is all television inappropriate for kids just because some lout on the WWF grabs his crotch? The point here is for parents to be aware of what their kids are reading and keep the communication lines open; something all kids crave of their parents. Just because I think a love of reading is one of the greatest gifts a parent can impart upon a child doesn't mean I'd buy a Playboy for a 6 year old boy.
Let me give you a little story about parents paying attention to what their children read and are given to read in school. When I was in Grade 2 the Gideons were still coming around to schools in Ontario (that's Canada, not CA) making little presentations and handing out copies of the New Testament. Now, being Jewish I knew that this was the "Christian" bible but who cares? My mother was raised a French Canadian Catholic and at that point in my life I had probably been in more churches (family weddings, etc) than I had synagogues. My teacher, knowing I was Jewish and having not yet met my parents (early in the school year) was concerned that maybe bringing a Christian bible home would be an issue with my parents, so she told me I could quietly bring it back if there was a problem. Made no sense to me but then I was just an impressonable youngster that would want to throw out my yarmulke the minute I finished revelations, right?
When I got home after school and we were having dinner I mentioned that the Gideons were in the school and Dad asked what they did (there was still a fair bit of "Jews killed Christ" thinking at the time) and all I could remember was the teachers (admittedly compassionate) concern. He said that we had no problems with any G-d fearing faith in oour house and then sent Mom with me to get a crash course in the New Testament using the bible as a study guide. End of story, right?
The next day I see my Dad coming out of the principal's office at 8:45. Turns out he went in and tore a strip off the principal for, get this, "putting ideas in my son's head that somehow we might have an issue with religions other than Judiasm." Since that day I've always had this voice in the back of my head that keeps saying "if a man means it from his heart when he prays the Almighty cares not his language of his prayer. That's what parental involvement results in.
If I had brought a Satanic book home when I was a kid my parents' response would have been something like this: Where did you get that stupid garbage? Why are you reading it? Here's a better book. Read this and put that junk on a shelf and forget about it.
I read the Watergate tapes when I was 12. All it did (to I'm sure Woodward and Berstien's horror) was teach me about the strength of America and how they could rip themselves apart so and come back and move on. Again, parental involvement and help with interpretation. Reading is good for kids if parents are involved. Period.
Actually, Buffy preceded Sabrina by many many years.
Undoubtably one of millions who passed this letter on to you.
If you believe every chain e-mail you get, send this note on to 500 of your closest friends and you will get a million for it!
I think anyone here who has used e-mail for more than a year can see the 'form letter' qualities of it.
Imagine if I wrote one.. just for fun.. that claimed I was a pastor who was taught sodomy in seminary school by the head master. Pure fiction, disgusting and false. People feel free to do what they must when the cause is good, even lie.
Not too far different than some comic book tales like Marvel's Dr. Strange, or DC Comics Wonderwoman. There are even some characters from Superman that are "supernatural". None of which are "witchcraft".
Actually, Buffy preceded Sabrina by many many years.
Well, there's another organization's credibility down the drain....
Oh really? Let's read what Rowling has to say about that:
And what of the controversy raised by some parents who worry the tale of a young wizard promotes witchcraft and the occult? Her answer is direct and unforgiving. "I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into witchcraft," she says with an uncomfortable chuckle. "I'm laughing slightly because to me, the idea is absurd."CNN, October 1999."I have met thousands of children now, and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, 'Ms. Rowling, I'm so glad I've read these books because now I want to be a witch.' They see it for what it is," she emphasized. "It is a fantasy world and they understand that completely.
"I don't believe in magic, either," she said.
I'd be interested in your source.
Perhaps someone who has spent time in regions where VooDoo is practiced can tell you how well it DOESN'T work.
And the inarticulae and ignorant sheeple, adults and kids alike love it! Go figure. When it comes to God and His Word hardly anyone has time for Him. In fact, to follow Him and His teachings makes one "evil". Oh,how the advarsary is laughing his arse off.
Since Potter is under 18, how is he allowed to "practice the craft?"
And when is this "sometime in the future" so i can be on the look out. Don't want to miss your prediction coming true. More likely to NOT come true though.
There would need to be reliable witnesses too. I have little doubt that somebody on the Internet will claim that such things occur regularly.
Does anyone have even a halfway credible claim? Somebody besides "harrypotteristhedevil.com"?
Time for a new theory.
Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. (Exodus 7:11-12)
Saul then said to his attendants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.""There is one in Endor," they said.
So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. "Consult a spirit for me," he said, "and bring up for me the one I name."...
Then the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?"
"Bring up Samuel," he said.
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"
The king said to her, "Don't be afraid. What do you see?"
The woman said, "I see a spirit coming up out of the ground."
"What does he look like?" he asked.
"An old man wearing a robe is coming up," she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. (Samuel 28: 7-16)
A scientifically verifiable series of instructions for casting a spell would be sufficient.
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