Defending Harry Potter

If provoking others to sneer is your thing, I've got the trick: Just walk into a room of Christians and say, "I love Harry Potter!" It works like magic.

Take the case of Beliefnet writer Anne Morse, who has taken it on the chin for her support of J.K. Rowling's series of children's novels centered on the muss-haired, bespectacled boy wizard.

"Dear Ms. Morse," one reader began, "You are the handmaiden of Satan, a succubus from the pit of Hell." I suppose few folks ever win points for timidity, but isn't this going too far?

The four Potter novels I've read have been very well written. The characters have deepened and grown considerably since book 1, making their continued stories of great interest. Rowling's humor works, and her sense of pace is nearly perfect. As the plots gain complexity from book to book, this is especially important. Rowling carried off the 700-plus pages of book 4 with hardly a bump – unless we're talking about "witchcraft."

Sure to trip up at least some Christian readers (Frank Sinatra did say it was "strictly taboo"), I put the term in scare-quotes because the kind of "witchcraft" you get in the Potter novels is like the stuff you get from the green lady with the warty nose in the old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

My wife, a Wiccan before converting to Christianity, can well attest to the fact that flying broomsticks, wands, magic potions and the like are all, for lack of a better term, hocus-pocus. The use of these items in the Potter novels is pure fantasy and fancy.

Rowling ties some of the "magic" to the darker arts, sure, but that is only to create the necessary evil in the story. No conflict, no story. No bad guys, snore. In the end, the type of "magic" used in Harry Potter is no more diabolical than the so-called "magic" of the Tolkien or Lewis stories. (Note also a few other great Christian novelists who use "magic" to entertaining ends: Charles Williams, George MacDonald, Stephen R. Lawhead.)

What's more, Douglas Jones, senior editor of evangelical culture-and-thought magazine Credenda/Agenda, makes an insightful argument about the general shape of worldviews and the hat-tip that Potter – however unconsciously – makes toward Christianity, not against it:

One of the most overlooked features of modern stories like the Potter series is their implicit confession of the triumph of Christianity. This compliment to Christianity is not just the fact that the Potter stories are decidedly Christ-figure stories – an elect son, threatened at birth, who sacrifices His life for his friends and triumphs over evil in an underworld, even coming back from death for a feast. Those narrative categories are complimentary enough, but the deeper compliment is the story's use of a Christian psychology. In its generic sense, a psychology is just a worldview's characteristic way of interacting with life. There is a distinctive Christian psychology, a Hellenistic psychology, a modernist psychology, a postmodern psychology, a Wiccan psychology, and so on. The Potter characters could have been written with any of these. They could have acted like those resentful infant-adults of the Iliad; they could have had the psychology of ancient druids. But they don't. Instead, the Potter stories give us largely Christianized witches, witches who have fully absorbed Christian ethical categories: love, kindness, hope, loyalty, hierarchy, community, and more.

Young Potter and his friends learn the importance of bravery, self-sacrifice, duty and defending the weak. And the story portrays a striking moral divide.

Take just the first novel: The lie of the main antagonist, Voldemort, spoken through an enslaved professor from Potter's school, is that "There is no good or evil, there is only power, and those too weak to pursue it." Harry knows the truth and fights to the point of death to keep Voldemort from seizing the power he desires.

On a more minor scale, The Mirror of Erised ("Desire" backwards) teaches a lesson about covetousness, contentment and spending too much time wishing after things wanted instead of going out and actually doing.

Some have complained about Potter's disrespect for authority and how he is seemingly rewarded for breaking school rules. This is poppycock. Rowling puts Harry into situations that make for good storytelling: The rule says one thing, but not confronting the danger lurking around the corner is far worse than the consequences of breaking the rule. The dilemma creates the tension that motivates the character. Moral and ethical dilemmas are what make or break stories. In short, Harry isn't rewarded for breaking rules; he's rewarded for sacrificing himself, saving lives and fighting evil.

What about the danger that people will miss the obvious moral message and heroism and succumb instead to the supposed proselytizing for paganism? Jones has the blunt instrument: "Harry Potter can't be a threat. Wizardry doesn't really work. And if your kids are really tempted to join a coven, then it's not a giant leap to say that you've failed miserably as a parent."

This may be too general a statement, but I think it's generally true: The morality of the Harry Potter novels is impossible to miss; the immorality has to be blown out of proportion or imported entirely.

Perhaps instead of railing, my fellow Christians should start reading. The Potter novels certainly get many things wrong, but they get a lot of things right, and if we are discerning, we can learn from both.

Rome's Chief Exorcist Warns Parents Against Harry Potter

NEW YORK, Jan 2, 02 (LSN.ca) - In early December, Rome's official exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth, warned parents against the Harry Potter book series.

The priest, who is also the president of the International Association of Exorcists, said Satan is behind the works. In an interview with the Italian ANSA news agency, Father Amorth said, "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil."

The exorcist, with his decades of experience in directly combating evil, explained that J.K. Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, "the satanic art." He noted that the books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil."

In the interview which was published in papers across Europe, Father Amorth also criticized the disordered morality presented in Rowling's works, noting that they suggest that rules can be contravened and lying is justified when they work to one's benefit.

Of note, the North American coverage of Father Amorth's warnings about Potter significantly downplayed the warnings. The New York Times coverage which was carried in many other media outlets left out most of the information in the European coverage which is quoted above. It only quoted Father Amorth as saying, "If children can see the movie with their parents, it's not all bad." The Times report also fails to mention that the movie version has significantly cleaned up Harry's image, making it less troublesome than the books.

First, some children may find witchcraft as a way to have power. True. But until I see hard evidence that more than just a few Harry Potter readers are converting to white or black magic, I don't think this should mean the books are evil in themselves. They are fantasy.

First, thank you for a non-hysterical reply. Now, to address your arguments...

I don't know how many Potter readers are converting to white or black magic. I don't think anyone does. All we can do is take an educated guess. From the testimony of the authorities that I trust, and that I've actually read (the chief exorcist of the Vatican and the exorcist for the archdiocese of NY), I believe that the danger is real.

Moreover, we have the testimony of the head of England's largest pagan organization, who claims that enquiries to his group from children requesting information regarding witchcraft has increased significantly since the advent of the Potter phenomenon.

Next, there is no doubt that Ouji Boards etc. open the doors to the demonic realm. I had HS classmates who had some incredible and unexplainable things happen to them after using a ouji board.

Pay attention scoffers.

But Harry Potter is not the equivalent of actually trying to initiate contact into the other realm. Reading a fantasy book does not do this.

True. Few children probably pick up the book with this intention.

It is only if they act on what they read and start reading spell books, the Book of Shadows, etc., that the door to the evil one is truly opened.

And that is precisely my concern. Children copy what they see. What parent can argue that? And one can safely assume that children who become interested in witchcraft are very likely to attempt spell-casting and other occult activities that are modelled in the books.

Most kids are able to see Harry Potter is fiction, not reality.

True. But it's the minority that I'm concerned about. And how can we know which children will become interested in the occult after reading the Potter books before the fact?

Liar. Prove it.

I doubt any evidence will suffice for you, but I present the following for any fair-minded lurkers.

Child abuse research and statistics
Child Victims
  In a twelve state study of approximately 9000 divorces cases, child sexual abuse allegations were made in less than 2% of contested divorces involving child custody...
  An average of 5.5 children per 10,000 enrolled in day care are sexually abused, an average of 8.9 children out of every 10,000 are abused in the home Source: Finkelhor & Williams, 1988...
  In the adult retrosptective study, victimization was reported by 27 percent of the women and 16 percent of the men. The median age for the occurrence of reported abuse was 9.9 for boys and 9.6 for girls. Victimization occurred before age eight for 22 percent of boys and for 23 percent of girls. Most of the abuse of both boys and girls was by offenders 10 or more years older than their victims. Girls were more likely than boys to disclose the abuse. Forty-two percent of the women and thirty-three percent of the men reported never having disclosed the experience to anyone... Source: Finkelhor et al., 1990.
___________________________________________________________
Study says abuse rate by priests 2-6%
By Bill Zlatos
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, March 30, 2002
As the Roman Catholic Church prepares to celebrate Easter, researchers say the sexual abuse scandal surrounding it has unfairly tainted the vast majority of priests.
Between 2 percent and 6 percent of Roman Catholic priests have sexually abused minors, according to three researchers interviewed by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Based on the best data available, they say, that's a rate comparable to sexual abuse by clergy in other religions and that of the general population.
"People see a priest walking down the street with a Roman collar and they think the odds are pretty good that person is a pedophile," said Thomas Plante, chairman of the psychology department at Santa Clara University in California.
"Priests have told me this," he said. "Some had told me they feel embarrassed to wear the collar."
Plante evaluates and treats victims and clergy who have abused minors. He screens seminary applicants and has written the book, "Bless Me Father For I Have Sinned: Perspectives on Sexual Abuse Committed by Roman Catholic Priests."
Plante estimates the actual rate of sexual abuse of minors by priests at 5 percent.
"That seems to be consistent with other male clergy in other religious traditions, and also consistent with the general population of males, and maybe a little lower," he said
Philip Jenkins, a professor of history and religious studies at Penn State University, estimates that 2 percent of all priests have sexually abused minors. He's the author of the book, "Pedophiles and Priests."
"There is no solid evidence that Catholic clergy are any more likely to abuse than any other group involved with children," he said.
Richard Sipe, a retired psychotherapist in San Diego, Calif., has studied sexual abuse in the church for 42 years. He has written the book, "A Secret World: Sexuality and the Search for Celibacy," and has consulted with 129 priests who could be diagnosed as having a sexual problem with minors.
The researchers stress that the incidence of pedophilia — sexual abuse of a prepubescent youth — by Catholic priests is even more minuscule. Plante and Sipe estimate pedophilia among priests at 2 percent; Jenkins, at 0.3 percent.
Most of the cases reported involve sexual abuse of teen-agers, they said. Though horrific, these incidents have been misreported as pedophilia, they said.
The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, said he is not surprised by the findings.
"The difficulty is when you express yourself in that way, people think you're being defensive and trying to protect the church," he said.
Those who have studied the issue offer various explanations as to why the public perception of sexual abuse in the church has been exaggerated.
Jenkins attributes it to anti-Catholicism, even among the media. He cited Tony Leyva, a Pentecostal minister who was convicted of running a child prostitution ring and molesting boys during the 1980s.
"If he were a Catholic priest," Jenkins said, "we'd have heard about him in a major way."
Plante said the public is suspicious of the traditional values of the priesthood — shunning intimate relationships and swearing obedience to the church — because it runs counter to present-day American culture.
"So the average American scratches his head and says this is not American," he said.
The experts said celibacy does not cause sexual abuse of minors, but may contribute to it.
"Sexual deprivation can be a factor toward turning a person toward sexual gratification with a minor," Sipe said.
The researchers also agree that the church has contributed to the problem.
Plante said other religions have boards of directors, including lay people, with the power to hire and fire their clergy.
"You don't have that in the Catholic Church," he said. "It's like the military. If that commander is not paying attention, it turns into a virus that spreads."
The researchers also criticized the defensiveness and secrecy with which the church has addressed the problem.
Lengwin responded that many of the victims reported their allegations in confidence. He said this diocese no longer accepts such allegations in confidence.
Over the past dozen years, Plante has treated 30 priests who have been accused of sexual misconduct with minors. He likens it to treating alcoholics.
"If you have a problem with drinking, we encourage people not to drink. You don't want to work as a bartender. You don't want to be with friends who drink.
"As a rule of thumb, you want to keep them away from potential victims. Luckily, the Roman Catholic Church is huge. There are a lot of jobs in the Roman Catholic Church other than being a parish priest."
Bill Zlatos can be reached at bzlatos@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7828.

Again, while any sexual abuse of children is horrible, the scandal is noteworthy because of the transferral of pedophile priests by bishops, the coverup of the transferrals by bishops, and the ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood.

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