This is the third and final part on on my three part series on religion (but not the last). In this one we look at the ignorance and arrogance of religious groups against literature. Regimes, and governments ban books, films, and other forms of media, under the idea that they are protecting moral fabric of their society, because they fear what they contain. The Nazi’s banned books because they feared they might under mine their fragile power base. This can also apply religious groups as well; if your belief in God is so strong and instilled this faith in your children, how can a simple fantasy novel destroy it?
True faith comes from something deep within and can years, a life time, to achieve. Human creations can destroy it or undermine it. It is a powerful and deeply personal part of one’s life. So your faith has to be paper thin, if you think “Harry Potter”, or violent games, or “Dungeons & Dragon” will ruin it. I know that is is an old argument, and at the moment doesn’t have much relevance; however is crops up from time to time. People will always be trying to ban something because it “de-roots” their beliefs. So once again, enjoy!
Sometime ago I decided to take a look a the website: “Chick Publications”, a company known for it's very right wing, fundamentalist Christian views. They trash other religions as false and leading people down a path away from salivation. I happen to be Catholic (as mentioned earlier) and Catholicism is one of major targets of this company, making false accusations that can easily be explained away with a understanding of history and common sense. But this organization is most famous for their attacks on the popular “Harry Potter” series. They claim that it promotes Witch Craft and Devil worship. Those who have read the books know that this is false and very far from the truth and in fact the series promotes values that are actually very compatible with Christian beliefs.
Our journey to debunking the beliefs that “Harry Potter” is causing the destruction of Christian values begins with a look at a summary of a book they have advertised on their site. It starts out with quotes from young kids saying how much they would love to go to “Hogwarts” and learn how to do magic and cast spells on their teacher. What kid wouldn't? It is adventure and excitement, traveling to new mysterious places and meeting new friends along the way. And what kid wouldn't want to bewitch their teacher so that they would get no homework? That fact that he uses theses quotes to say how the books are destroying our values and promoting witchcraft, shows how detached they are from reality.
They then try to go into how the books are promoting witchcraft and the religion Wicca and compares it to Devil worship. First of all in my understanding of Wicca is that it's origins come from pagan beliefs in ancient Europe before the spread of Christianity and even predate it by a few thousand years. Also their use of Animal sacrifices was bring about good conditions for harvest, similar to the ancient human Sacrifices of the ancient Mayan and Aztec cultures, which had no knowledge of Christianity. Not to mention that their are no animal or human sacrifices in “Harry Potter.” As well as being a huge difference between the beliefs and practices of Wicca versus the witchcraft and wizardry or “Harry Potter”, look it up, it's on wikipedia.
The true values of “Harry Potter” is loyalty, courage, love, friendship, forgiveness, and to stand against evil. These are values that are more than compatible with Christianity. It has also got nearly an entire generation more interested in reading and writing, hopefully inspiring many people. Those at Chick Publications might want to look at the believe in and reevaluate it based on actual research, reading the books, and having historical perspective. But sometimes that is like asking a brick wall to move, it's just not going happen, ignorance can be a terrible thing.
Next up on, a review of the 2012 film “Act of Valor”, a poorly reviewed film that I did enjoy. After that a review of the video game “Destiny”, and after that my favorite subject “Tolkien”!
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