Baptizing Harry Potter

[lilwriter85]

I was going through FB feed awhile ago and the "I am an Atheist" page posted this. At first I kind of thought that it might be fake, but I looked it up on Amazon and it is real.

http://www.amazon.com/Baptizing-Harry-P ... 1587680580

[Blahblah]

And given that Daniel Radcliffe is a self-described militant atheist that's even more ironic.

[laura oz]

:head-desk:

[fundiefan]

Well, they believe in a god who doesn't exist so why shouldn't they believe they can baptize an imaginary character? It actually fits.

[snarkyjan]

It reminds me of the kerfuffle that broke out a few years back when the "Narnia" movies came out. It was revealed that Skandar Keynes, who played Edmund, is also an atheist. There was a lot of pearl-clutching that this young actor was playing a Christian-oriented character. If somebody had cast Mr. Keynes as a young Jack the Ripper, would he have to prowl the slums of London looking for prostitutes to vivisect?

[boxerlover24]

I hate this so much!! Leave my Harry Potter alone...gaahhhh!!!

[dairyfreelife]

If they can baptize a fictional character and christianize a non-existent world, can I still get my letter to Hogwarts? :stir-pot:

(they pot is as close to a wizard/witch smilie as it gets)

[tralala]

It doesn't appear to be any different from the other Christian analysis books of Harry Potter I've seen. There is no description on the amazon site so who knows if the content is ultra fundie or something, but John Granger wrote a book called "Looking for God in Harry Potter" and he ended up getting interviewed for several TV specials as a "superfan".

The title is a bit weird though. I don't think Harry would appreciate being baptized without his knowledge.

[mockingbird]

I mean... I guess it's better than banning it because of MAGIC!!111!?

[Loveday]

And given that Daniel Radcliffe is a self-described militant atheist that's even more ironic.

He's definitely an atheist, but when did he call himself 'militant?' He seems more the 'live and let live' type to me. And I really don't see the irony--actors aren't the characters they play. :think:

It doesn't appear to be any different from the other Christian analysis books of Harry Potter I've seen. There is no description on the amazon site so who knows if the content is ultra fundie or something, but John Granger wrote a book called "Looking for God in Harry Potter" and he ended up getting interviewed for several TV specials as a "superfan".

The title is a bit weird though. I don't think Harry would appreciate being baptized without his knowledge.

The title is weird, but the book does sound like it's in the same vein as Granger's. I've read Looking for God, so I think I'll skip this one.

[Loveday]

I mean... I guess it's better than banning it because of MAGIC!!111!?

This. If books like this get even a few fundie parents to allow their children to read Harry Potter, I don't care how many of them get published. :lol:

[Mela99]

I was going to have a heart attack if this was some kind of Mormon ceremony.

But if it gets kids to read...

[yewchapel]

I don't think the book is literally about baptizing Harry Potter, more like a Christian reading of the books. Which is hardly a new thing (and speaking as a Christian, I see all kinds of links to Christianity in the books). Also it never says in the books that Harry was never baptized - it wouldn't surprise me if the Dursleys DID have Harry christened, because a lot of British people that never set foot in church otherwise have their children christened for 'respectability'.

I'm mostly offended by the use of Papyrus font :lol:

[Rowan]

Baptizing Harry is nothing - he is a good guy through and through.

Now if they managed to baptize Voldemort, THAT would be a book worth reading.

[Blahblah]

He's definitely an atheist, but when did he call himself 'militant?' He seems more the 'live and let live' type to me.

Radcliffe said in an Esquire interview, “[i’m] a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation.â€

[salsa]

I don't think the book is literally about baptizing Harry Potter, more like a Christian reading of the books. Which is hardly a new thing (and speaking as a Christian, I see all kinds of links to Christianity in the books). Also it never says in the books that Harry was never baptized - it wouldn't surprise me if the Dursleys DID have Harry christened, because a lot of British people that never set foot in church otherwise have their children christened for 'respectability'.

I'm mostly offended by the use of Papyrus font :lol:

Harry had a godfather, and since godparents stand as witnesses to infant baptisms, it's implied that Harry was baptized.

There are cultural ways of establishing who the godparents are, but typically godparents are those named at the baby's baptism to be the ones who will assume responsibility for the child in the event that the parents can't care for him/her.

[yewchapel]

Harry had a godfather, and since godparents stand as witnesses to infant baptisms, it's implied that Harry was baptized.

There are cultural ways of establishing who the godparents are, but typically godparents are those named at the baby's baptism to be the ones who will assume responsibility for the child in the event that the parents can't care for him/her.

I'd forgotten that Sirius was Harry's godfather.

[Loveday]

Radcliffe said in an Esquire interview, “[i’m] a militant atheist when religion starts impacting on legislation.â€

Ah. Yes, I do remember that now. He did qualify his militancy, though; unlike a lot of so-called Christians who constantly shout their brand of religion, he doesn't go around screaming atheism in people's faces all the time (of course, most other atheists don't do that, either! :lol: ). Even though I'm a Christian, I can get a little militant about religion impacting on legislation, too, I don't like it any more than he does.

And I'd totally forgotten that Sirius was Harry's godfather. :? I call myself a Harry Potter fan? *slinks off in shame*

[salsa]

I'm currently reading the series for the first time. I'm on #6 and there are references to Harry's grief over Sirius' death (and before that, his frustration that he couldn't go live with Sirius), so the books' content is more recent to me.

I'm also reading the series as an adult, where the wisdom of years gives me more interest in the people and what might be making them tick, compared to a youngster's reading, that would be more interested in the adventure and shenanigans (and those are fun, too!).

[/ thread derailment]

[tralala]

I'd forgotten that Sirius was Harry's godfather.

While its never mentioned in the books themselves, Word of God confirms a very hurried Christening due to the family needing to go into hiding. Thus, why Harry has no godmother.

/hardcorepotternerd

[snarkyjan]

I'd forgotten that Sirius was Harry's godfather.

IIRC, Harry also spent the Christmas and Easter holidays with the Weasleys. I remember in book 7, after Harry, Hermione and Ron went on the run there was a passage about how the Weasleys got Ginny out of Hogwarts's during Easter vacation. They were just in the nick of time because the entire family had Death Eaters breathing down their necks.

[Rachel333]

The inscription on James and Lily's tombstone, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death", is straight out of [link=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A26&version=KJV]the Bible[/link]. There's a ton of Christian influence in the series, IMO, and it doesn't really bother me if Christians want to focus on that.

[mockingbird]

The inscription on James and Lily's tombstone, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death", is straight out of [link=http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15%3A26&version=KJV]the Bible[/link]. There's a ton of Christian influence in the series, IMO, and it doesn't really bother me if Christians want to focus on that.

So was Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also from the Dumbledores' graves.

JK Rowling has said she did not write specifically with Christian imagery in mind but she feels Christians who ban the book are "missing out" as she grew up going to church and thought she was influenced by that. She is agnostic.

[yewchapel]

While its never mentioned in the books themselves, Word of God confirms a very hurried Christening due to the family needing to go into hiding. Thus, why Harry has no godmother.

/hardcorepotternerd

Ahh thank you. Godmothers aren't a requirement though - or any godparents at all. Many infant baptisms happen with no godparents, especially hurried ones (like those of terminally ill babies), and godparents aren't the norm for adult baptisms.

[VaSportsMom]

I mean... I guess it's better than banning it because of MAGIC!!111!?

I lost my dad to lung cancer several years ago and he went into the hospital for the last time (2 weeks before he died) the night that the last book came out. My husband took my son to the midnight release in my place and then brought me a copy to read while I sat in ICU waiting. My very devout Fundy family raised hell over me having "a book about witchcraft" in their presence but they went way over the line at the funeral when one aunt said that my dad died to punish me for reading that "devil book". I drew back to hit before I realized it and only the funeral director grabbing her and telling her to leave saved her.