The movies take out a lot of the Christian emphasis of the books.
Every book has a moral lesson strongly rooted in Christianity, which I find interesting. I was so disappointed to see the lesson cutfrom movie 5, which for me was the crux of the book.
Harry spends pages in despair after his godfather, Sirius (the star that leads) is killed dueling an evil wizard. He finds himself at the end of the year talking to a slightly strange girl everyone ignores. She looks at him while he is grieving, and she says, We will always see them again. You know that.
I can’t say much without being a spoiler for the last book for a lot of people, but I will tell you, after reading all the books, one of the major themes is life is a journey with choices, and we choose which side we will fight on - life is spiritual warfare between good and evil, even though most don’t see it.
At the end - well, there is no end. We go on, and oh geez, I can’t say it without being a spoiler. Let’s just say she borrows heavily from the New Testament.
The only thing “witchy” about the books is the setting. The backround themes are strongly Christian.
Exactly! "Magic" is the plot device Rowling uses to create a story about choosing between good vs. evil, courage vs. pacifism.