Pope Opposes Harry Potter Novels - Signed Letters from Cardinal Ratzinger Now Online

LifeSiteNews.com ^ | July 13, 2005 | LifeSiteNews.com

[dsc]

"I have a strange urge to become"

Can't help you there, but I do have reservations at Club Med Pellucidar.

[Oztrich Boy]

"It's a big rock. Can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big"

[Politicalmom]

Apparently you are not following the conversation. That ridiculous chart you provided has several outright lies.

Example: Harry NEVER broke the law by performing magic in book 2. A magical creature did so, and framed Harry.

[Modernman]

Do your presuppositions allow for the existence of spiritual powers?

I've never seen evidence of any such thing.

[Aquinasfan]

At least not with powers like Glinda or Harry Potter. In other words, they're not real.

Glinda's a bit ridiculous. But yes, satanists, witches and warlocks can cast spells and curse people. Yes indeedy.

[Quinotto]

She is a great kid, every morning she actually has the discipline to read the Bible for about 10 minutes and then she prays. She is active in the Church's Youth Activities Club and knows that HER Master and Saviour is Jesus and not afraid to say so. She also knows that HP is all fantasy and was quite upset when the movies substituted the original "Merry Christmas" greetings and Christmas being mentioned to the secular "holidays".

She's a funny kid too, I overheard her one time when one of her more "hip" friends was mocking her choice in music, calling it "old people" music and my little ray of sunshine, my sweet niece said to her with an amused voice that Christ is not telling her not to have fun, quite the contrary and that she likes listening to Christian music.

[DarkSavant]

I've never seen evidence of any such thing.

What would be sufficient evidence to make you believe in such a thing?

[dsc]

"Apparently you are not following the conversation. That ridiculous chart you provided has several outright lies."

I think you didn't follow my conversation. The other fellow claimed to have debunked *all* the points in the chart. He may have pointed out some inaccuracies, but at least several of his arguments were irrelevant or invalid, and in the end he failed to argue effectively against the premise that the books present a false picture of the occult.

[JenB]

Book 3, which this quote is from, is the best in the series, with 5 running a close second. Her style improves although she is in serious need of an editor.

You either find her work witty and amusing or you don't. I thought the first two books were laugh-out-loud funny but not many people have that reaction.

[dsc]

Well, then, it seems we can hope your niece will escape the risks inherent in exposure to false ideas regarding the occult.

Other children will not be so fortunate.

[Aquinasfan]

The Potter books are not this sort of thing.

But the use of "magic" or occult powers for good ends is promoted. It's all about the normalization of the occult. Since Rowling's books are less overtly hostile to religion than Pullman's books, Rowling's books are probably more effective in desensitizing children to the occult.

[GipperGal]

Re: Wiccans, as I've already mentioned somewhere on this thread, I've known quite a few. They tended to be at least one of the following: a)a@@holes, b)moral midgets, c)creepy, d)have poor personal hygiene, e)loony lefties.

Generally speaking, these were not the sort of people I think you want your children to become.

[PetroniusMaximus]

***Both of you stopped reading where you wanted to.***

No Cory! - it's that your post was so long winded I had trouble getting though it!

:)

[PetroniusMaximus]

Well, we would have to address that first wouldn't we.

[DameAutour]

It is that these calls I'm seeing on this thread for the banning and censorship of these works are ludicrous.

NO ONE CALLED FOR THE BANNING OR CENSORSHIP OF THESE BOOKS.

[dsc]

"I just noticed that a few of my snarkier posts have vanished."

Too bad. You had me rolling in the aisle.

[dsc]

"Since Rowling's books are less overtly hostile to religion than Pullman's books, Rowling's books are probably more effective in desensitizing children to the occult."

There it is. It's all about subtlety.

[GipperGal]

You either find her work witty and amusing or you don't. I thought the first two books were laugh-out-loud funny but not many people have that reaction.

Yes, that is the opinion of a good friend of mine who's opinion I also respect. I must admit, I was biased from the beginning because I was forced to watch the movie version of the first book during a flight from Boston to LA a few years ago.

[Modernman]

What would be sufficient evidence to make you believe in such a thing?

Physcial, scientific evidence that has been reviewed by disinterested experts.

[Oztrich Boy]

There are real monsters under the bed. Believe it or not.