Some christians think LOTR and tolkien is wrong because there are wizards in it.
What might reassure him is that Tolkien sees his wizards not as supermen that a child might become by casting spells, but as angels come to earth to help men...
HOwever, unlike Harry potter, where children are encouraged to "develop" their psychic powers, in LOTR, one very strong theme is that such powers are forbidden, and that if one uses such powers even to do good, one will become corrupted to evil in the end...
The whole point of Frodo is that he is humble enough not to seek power, and he is well aware of his weakness as a lowly hobbit so that he is not tempted as a man might be to use the ring to become powerful and rule over men...
And the great men and elves, such as Aragorn, recognize their temptation to the ring and refuse to accept it...(This was brought out nicely in the movies, even more than in the books, that even good men like Boromir could become corrupted by the desire of the ring to do good--and as a result fall into sin)...
HOwever, unlike Harry potter, where children are encouraged to "develop" their psychic powers, in LOTR, one very strong theme is that such powers are forbidden, and that if one uses such powers even to do good, one will become corrupted to evil in the end...
I believe this is a misreading of Tolkien.
"Magic" in Tolkien is morally neutral, it is merely the Middle Earth equivalent of todays science and technology. It can be used for either good or evil, although certain types of "magic" are inherently evil, just as certain types of scientific research are. For instance, those that would require experimentation on unwilling human subjects.
Gandalf, the other good wizards and the elves routinely use magic without it inherently leading to evil. All of the elven kingdoms of The Silmarilion are based on what we would call magic. The implication is that the men of Numenor were also great magicians, otherwise how could they have defeated and captured Sauron? (Even if his submission was partly feigned.)
What is portrayed in Tolkien as inherently and always evil is the desire to dominate other sentient beings, crushing their God-given free will. This is true whether the method used is military force or "magic."
Domination is so against the will of God that even Tolkien's "angels" or demi-gods, the Valar, refuse to go down such a path, even when it is the only way to prevent great evil. If truly superhuman entities such as the Valar cannot dominate others in a righteous way, how can those who are merely human do so?
(Hobbits, ents, elves and dwarves are all on the same plane as Men in Tolkien. Some "species" or individuals have differing powers, abilities or destinies, but it is clear that none are superior beings in God's eyes.)
I think what gives people the idea that Tolkien portrays magic itself as evil is that he portrays the One Ring as inherently evil. But I believe that is because the Ring was made to dominate, not because it used magic.
Inscribed on the Ring was, "One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." As precise a definition of evil as Tolkien could come up with.
This built-in obsession with domination was what made the One Ring evil. After all, the three elven Rings were good (although perhaps misguided), the seven Dwarven rings were portrayed as more or less amoral, and the nine Rings of men were evil perhaps only because the one Ring had collected and dominated them and their bearers.
Tolkien was making, I believe, a much more important point than that "magic" is evil. After all, very few of us will ever have to resist the temptation to use "real magic."
OTOH, the temptation to enforce our own opinions and beliefs on others, perhaps in the belief that we are "right," crushing their God-given free will, is a temptation any of us might face.
Even, perhaps especially, sincere Christians.
Nice, concise tick-list, Ladydoc! Well done.