Harry Potter And The Forbidden Books

[Trynn]

When my parents found out I read Harry potter, I was grudgingly allowed to continue.

Watching the movies, however, was absolutely verboten. I still had to sneak around for those. I have no idea why, my parents have just always policed my tv and music more than my reading.

I'm still a bit bitter about no being able to watches certain a scooby do movie until I was in my early twenties because I stupidly let my mom read the book first, and then someone stole it from the movie rental place.

I can almost kinda see waiting for he kid to age a bit to read some of the latter books just because some of the content in books 5-7 is a lot scarier than the former and there's more violence. With the original audience, the audience was aging with the books so it wasn't much if an issue.

But that depends on the child, and it had more to do with them being mature enough for the content than anything. I mean, if my kid suffered from nightmares, I'm not sure Harry potter books 6 and 7 would be a good choice until they were a little older.

To discourage me from reading Harry potter, my parents made a whole series of family worships about the topic. Some Christian wrote a boom allied beware the crystal dragon, in which Harry potter is condemned because some kid hurt himself by trying to fly on a mop, because he didn't have a broom like Harry.

Even then I thought he book was STUPID.

[PennySycamore]

I heard a priest years ago go off on Star Wars during a sermon once. He just seemed like a loon. Thank the FSM he wasn't our regular priest; he was just visiting.

I never heard that Pokemon was evil either -I think Pikachu is adorable- but these people who think so better never fly on All-Nippon Airways: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon_Jet

[turquoise]

Star Wars is no problem because it came out when they were kids. They know about it and they know that it was fun and awesome.

This. Anything they enjoyed as kids is okay, no matter how similar the content is to newer things they want to ban.

I wonder if the fact that Harry Potter is in a modern setting scares some of them. Since we don't have orcs or elves or talking robots running around, LoTR and Star Wars are obviously fantasy. Harry and his friends are otherwise ordinary teens in modern-day Britain doing magic. Any kid old enough to actually read the books isn't likely to think Harry Potter is real while Star Wars isn't. But fundies aren't known for their critical thinking skills.

I wonder what the people calling to ban HP on religious grounds would say if they actually read the last book.

[SunnyAndrsn]

I was introduced to the HP series by my nephew, who was introduced to them in his tiny Lutheran school. A student teacher read the first book to the class.

I was shocked when my neighbor said they were evil. She was completely irrational about the subject and just kept repeating "yeah but it promotes witchcraft!" and wouldn't listen to reason.

[chissprincess]

I was raised Catholic and was pretty devout right up until my mid-to-late teens. I can actually remember one of the priests giving a sermon about the evils of Star Wars. Which...really pissed me off and confused me because I was pretty sure I was the only Star Wars fan in the congregation and I felt like he must have thought we were all pretty stupid if we couldn't tell fiction from reality (those of you who think religion is just as fictitious as Star Wars, please bear with me here :P ). Oddly enough, though, I don't remember him or any of the other priests in our local parishes ever mentioning Harry Potter at all, and if they ever mentioned LotR it was after I stopped going to church.

[bumblebee]

Harry Potter has zippeddedodah to do with the Occult or any kind of modern wicca and/or paganism. In fact I first learned what the world occult meant after reading an article about churches burning Harry Potter books, which always struck me as entirely ironic. But not nearly as ironic as the fact that Harry is a frakking Christ figure who literally gives his life to save everybody (and says this out loud) and is resurrected because he is so pure in heart (sort of). I could be any more obvious if they had twinkly stars and neon signs.

In some ways the tone is very Traditional Middle England or a traditional boarding school story with some tweaks, including how/why they celebrate Christmas and Easter but not particularly religiously and the culture.

[jerichojones]

In some ways the tone is very Traditional Middle England or a traditional boarding school story with some tweaks, including how/why they celebrate Christmas and Easter but not particularly religiously and the culture.

THIS OMG

i never understood why they celebrated Christmas in the books without commenting on how it was some muggle thing... because logically, the wizarding world would surely have stopped celebrating christmas and other religious traditions around the time they were being burned at the stake and beheaded. i really have a lot of thoughts on this topic.

[browngrl]

I personally think that the real reason fundies can't handle fantasy or speculative fiction is because these types of works encourage you to ask "what if" and to question. They (fundies) take the bible literally and seem to need many concrete rules and barriers to keep themselves in line. With fantasy - there are are things beyond the bible which is unacceptable for fundies.

Lady bibliophile has written a whole series of posts about fantasy. She is something. She whites out offensive bits of books and can't write a proper review (gives away the entire plot) but nonetheless sees herself as some sort of guide. The series on fantasy starts : Tuesday, August 7, 2012 and continues on for about 5 more posts. Find it by putting "fantasy" into search on her blog which is : ladybibliophile.blogspot.ca/

[Childless]

I think that Star Wars is allowed because many Christians see it as the bible in space. Heck, the bible is filled with all sorts of magic, but it's okay because god determines your magical powers. Likewise, the Force ("holy spirit") determines your abilities. And, they dont use "witchcraft," they use "Jedi powers." Totally different. Cause witchcraft is "of the devil" while "Jedi powers" is not condemned in the bible.

Hell, Harry Potter and Star Wars are damn near the same story. Three friends (Harry, Ron, Hermoine/Luke, Leia, Han) battling the villian (Lord Voldemort/Darth Vader) who happens to share a part of himself with the story's hero. The story has the funny duo for comedic relief (the Wesley twins/R2D2, C3PO) and that special something that can be used for good or evil (magic/the force). There's the evil army of the villian (Death Eaters/Storm Troopers) and the whole thing ends in an epic battle where good comes out the victor.

My religious nutball of a sister always banned Harry Potter in her house, but her kids were permitted to watch Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz. She even let her pre-teen daughter read the Twilight series (WTF?!?!?). Her kids are now allowed to read Harry Potter. That's only because she switched churches and her new church sees nothing wrong with Harry Potter whereas her old church did. My sister is more of a follower than a leader and will latch on to whatever her church leadership tells her. But then, most people who fall into cults are followers rather than leaders. It's what makes cults so successful. If people actually questioned the cult's leader, the whole thing would fall apart.

[salex]

I first realized some of our former coworkers were more fundie than I'd imagined when one of them was going off on Harry Potter. I said "But it's fiction.... there are witches in the Wizard of Oz, should kids not read that either." and he said "probably not." I was amazed.

As far as Star Wars go, on May Fourth, I posted a "May the Force Be with You" post on Face book and my sister and my mom both responded with "And also with you...." :lol: so I guess my whole family is doomed.

[Arete]

First of all, and always, you have to remember that fundies have very poor reading comprehension plus they tend to see or read what they want into things.

Can't explain Star Wars, but the LoTR is a whiter-than-white world despite the dwarfs & orcs. It is also a male world populated by manly men with only a few maidenly women.

Fundies seem to overlook, however, the fact that both Tolkien & C.S. Lewis were Catholics.

C.S. Lewis was Anglican, not Catholic. And I suspect the fact that Tolkein was Catholic is the reason why the LoTRs books are not gushed over and used for manly cosplay in the fundieverse.

There is a lot more Christianity in HP than the characters celebrating Christmas. The whole thing is allegory of the story of Jesus, and there are even Bible verses, one of them from Revelations no less. But hey, there are wands, so must be evil. :roll:

[louisa05]

Seventh graders read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in class at the Christian school. Several parents opted their kids out because there was a witch and the book (and the whole Narnia series) thus promoted witchcraft. They also objected to Lewis's ties to Anglicanism and Catholicism which meant he wasn't really a Christian.

That school also featured parents who objected to The Scarlet Letter because it portrays Puritans in a bad light. One such parent harassed me with phone calls, letters condemning me to hell and visits in which he prayed at my classroom door that I would be released from Satan's hold. Since he was a pastor of a "home church" and allegedly educated in such matters, the principal didn't have the guts to put a stop to it.

I was long gone from there when Twilight came out (and the school was actually closed by then), but as I understood it from a now non-religious friend who had taught there and was an alum, that crowd loved Twilight because it advocated abstinence until marriage. Never mind the abusive nature of the relationship,.

[OkToBeTakei]

Coming from a country with a state church AND a national school curriculum oh ze horrors :lol:

This whole conversation amazes me. Age appropriate seems to be about the only limit, which seems acceptable. Sounds like most of these parents need a really good psychiatrist and nowhere near child rearing.

I wonder how they would have reacted to Bob Geldoff's autobiography being an O' level text back on the nineties :)

[crazyforkate]

As a tween, I attended a summer camp led by the woman who wrote "The Gospel According to Harry Potter", which basically explains all the possible religious references in the book and, most of all, shows why it's not evil and OK for Christians to read. You would not believe the shit she went through - death threats, harrassment, vandalism to her home - all because she suggested that a kid's book might be, you know, okay for kids. And these people call themselves Christians?

And then once my cousin dragged me to this Bible camp where they told us "You can read Harry Potter, but you can't enjoy it." I am not making this up. I guess they thought it was a "reconnaissance on the enemy" type of thing.

[RosyDaisy]

Now see, my parents would have been upset over drugs and alcohol, not HP books and others in that genre. We sis and I) were taught from a young age that books, magazines, music, and movies for the most part are entertainment and not to be taken too seriously.

[louisa05]

Now see, my parents would have been upset over drugs and alcohol, not HP books and others in that genre. We sis and I) were taught from a young age that books, magazines, music, and movies for the most part are entertainment and not to be taken too seriously.

They take everything exceedingly seriously, though. Never mind just books at Christian school, there were also bans on trading cards of any kind (since some are valued more than others, they were deemed to be a form of gambling), any reference to "worldly" television shows (except the admins were generally clueless enough that high school kids got away with stuff like talent show skits based on SNL, "Central Perk" t-shirts, and Seinfeld references--because the teachers that knew what it all was --like me--were not about to tell as we would have outed ourselves as watching such "ungodly" stuff), Disney, rainbows (I think that telling 6 yr old girls they can't wear a shirt with a rainbow on it because they are promoting homosexuality is utterly absurd, but they did it), and (for a short time until some faith healer/evangelist con man booked the place) attendance at any event at the city's then new arena because the governing board is called "Metro Entertainment and Convention Authority" or MECA commonly pronounced "Mecca". The secretary got a large group of parents and staff up in arms that it was somehow promoting Islam and everyone was warned that supporting it could lead to expulsion for students or firing of staff.

[lilah]

THIS OMG

i never understood why they celebrated Christmas in the books without commenting on how it was some muggle thing... because logically, the wizarding world would surely have stopped celebrating christmas and other religious traditions around the time they were being burned at the stake and beheaded. i really have a lot of thoughts on this topic.

it was an excuse for the characters to get presents?

[Micah]

Harry Potter wasn't written when I was a kid, but I wasn't allowed to read certain Enid Blyton books because "MAGIC OH NOES!" But I WAS allowed to read The Chronicles of Narnia. :roll:

I remember my Dad subjecting me to a half hour rant when he found me reading Mr Pinkwhistle (Enid Blyton). Because apparently being able to turn yourself invisible is the height of evil and demonic influence. They never found out that I'd read the Magic Faraway Tree :lol: .

If Dad had still been going through his fundy idiot stage when Harry Potter came out I'm sure he'd have started foaming at the mouth.

[Hane]

An earlier poster suggested that parents might think Star Wars is OK because they grew up with it, but Harry Potter is evil because it's new and unknown to them.

The Oz books got the same treatment from some hyperreligious types back when they first came out.

[PennySycamore]

Harry Potter wasn't written when I was a kid, but I wasn't allowed to read certain Enid Blyton books because "MAGIC OH NOES!" But I WAS allowed to read The Chronicles of Narnia. :roll:

I remember my Dad subjecting me to a half hour rant when he found me reading Mr Pinkwhistle (Enid Blyton). Because apparently being able to turn yourself invisible is the height of evil and demonic influence. They never found out that I'd read the Magic Faraway Tree :lol: .

If Dad had still been going through his fundy idiot stage when Harry Potter came out I'm sure he'd have started foaming at the mouth.

I can understand parents being uncomfortable with the early editions of the Noddy books because of Ms Blyton's unfortunate tendency to call black character/dolls "golliwogs". That's changed in the newer versions and in the TV Show. My granddaughter watches Noddy sometimes on Sprout.

[ADoyle90815]

I'm glad I was raised by parents who encouraged reading more than what was read. I was in college by the time the first Harry Potter books were being written, but knowing my parents, they wouldn't have found anything objectionable in the books.

[mockingbird]

They take everything exceedingly seriously, though. Never mind just books at Christian school, there were also bans on trading cards of any kind (since some are valued more than others, they were deemed to be a form of gambling), any reference to "worldly" television shows (except the admins were generally clueless enough that high school kids got away with stuff like talent show skits based on SNL, "Central Perk" t-shirts, and Seinfeld references--because the teachers that knew what it all was --like me--were not about to tell as we would have outed ourselves as watching such "ungodly" stuff), Disney, rainbows (I think that telling 6 yr old girls they can't wear a shirt with a rainbow on it because they are promoting homosexuality is utterly absurd, but they did it), and (for a short time until some faith healer/evangelist con man booked the place) attendance at any event at the city's then new arena because the governing board is called "Metro Entertainment and Convention Authority" or MECA commonly pronounced "Mecca". The secretary got a large group of parents and staff up in arms that it was somehow promoting Islam and everyone was warned that supporting it could lead to expulsion for students or firing of staff.

YESSSSSS. I went to a Catholic elementary school, and it was mostly pretty normal, but I am positive that was what they said about banning Pokemon cards. (I think it was really because they were becoming a distraction in class, and also maybe they were worried about kids losing them at school and kids/parents getting upset, but probably wanted a fancy reason.)

[Joan of Snarc]

One summer when my boys were about 3 and 5, I had them in swimming lessons. I sat and chatted with another mom for a couple weeks while they had their lessons. She asked if we wanted to meet her and her kids, who were about the same age, for a free movie. So I said sure and we met up.

I was sitting next to two littler ones and my older one was sitting next to her. I noticed before the movie that they were deep in conversation. Movie starts, movie ends, we walk out, see ya later bye.

Then I notice son #1, who was sitting next to this lady, looks upset. I ask him what's wrong and he wants to know if the dead are going to rise, like tonight, or really soon. I was like, NO. Not ever. He tells me there's going to be a war and starts shaking and is really upset. I asked him where he heard all this. He said the other mom asked him what he read and he told her Harry Potter, because we had started reading it to him.

She told him Harry Potter was evil and he should be reading the Bible and then proceed unload a crapload of Revelations on the poor five-year-old kid! He had nightmares for a week. Swimming lessons were over and I never saw her again. I didn't even have her number, because it was like, if you want to meet us fine, we'll be there at this time.

If I ever see that woman again, there WILL BE hell to pay. How would it have gone over if I had indoctrinated her kid into Islam while I was sitting next to him? But see, I'm an atheist and have manners and boundaries and common sense and I would only talk to a kid about age-appropriate things. Fuck that conservative Christian bitch for scaring my kid. And like Revelations is such an improvement over Harry Potter. Holy shit! The nerve.

These evangelicals can go too far. They miss with my kids again, and they're going to get their Day of Reckoning. I promise you.

God, sometimes I wish I lived in Europe.

:angry-screaming:

[Trynn]

Man, if I was tryin to brain wash a kid, I'd talk about how great heaven was and how much god loves us, and wouldn't little Johnny like that?

It's still problematic, but it's less nightmare inducing for the small child, I think.

What horrible person tells small children there going to hell, anyway?

[Joan of Snarc]

I know right? He still remembers it and has NEVER wanted to go to church or VBS. I had a hard time getting him to play upward basketball in a church.

:lol:

That crazy bitch actually thought Revelations was a better read for children than Harry Potter. Can you imagine story time at her house?

Hey gather round, kids, let's have a story!

Yeah!

What should we read today? Dr. Seuss, Winnie the Pooh..... Oh, I know! How about Revelations!

Yeah! Read the part about rivers of blood! No read the part about the beast with seven heads! Yeah! My favorite part!

:censor2: