Is Harry Potter "Witchcraft"? Are Parents Overreacting By Banning Their Children From It?

Honestly. Harry Potter is not some brain-washing weirdo series. It's a fantasy series about magic people who use wands. According to our Wonderland source, "witchcraft" doesn't even involve wands. There's nothing religiously wrong with the series; they aren't saying God doesn't exist, or you go to, I dunno, Bunnyland when you die. It's just a good story about a boy who matures and fights evil, like the Lightning Thief. Heck, that's about Greek gods, and you don't see parents banning it.

Don't be like the forever tainted South Korean government. Harry Potter is not evil. Okay, so maybe your personal tastes aren't acclimated to it. Don't go around saying, "Oh, that Harry Potter series? The one about the witchcraft and killer bunnies? Yeah, my parents banned it 'cause they said it was pure evil." Yeah, that's an exaggeration, but it's not my intention to point fingers. I'm jus' sayin', parents are getting worried about the wrong things these days. Why spend time you could be using to warn kids about drugs and STD's freaking out about Harry Potter of all things?

~Tobi~

I see what you're saying, now you must see what they're saying...

http://www.chick.com/bc/2001/harrypotter.asp

While the quote section is a little forced, you get the fears in parents. They don't mind kids taking an interest, they mind kids getting obsessed. With ANYTHING. And I'm not slow to add that we worship and adore God, but Satan can twist even that. For example, did you know the bronze calf built by the Israelites when Moses was getting the ten commandments was originally meant to be a tribute to God? However, people got obsessed and began worshiping that instead of God, which is why the Lord commands us not build idols of ANYTHING in heaven, hell or on earth.

Harry Potter is one of the best selling books out there... period. Best selling books and as a bonus targeted at children. What parents find so distressing is that it finds its roots in Wicca. If not then we'd have tons of people claiming it's 'a bloody lie!' But they're not. Because, although I haven't read the books so can't talk, it may be true.

Look at the purpose of the book. I don't want to say J.K Rowling is a witch because the media can twist that, but if she is then she's up to something nasty. If not, then the Potter series has been effectively twisted, whether while Rowling knows or not. First and foremost it has been mass marketed and things weren't kept under tight regulation etc. Therefore something really evil could've easily slipped in whether in the planning phase, the editing out... JK might have tried to over-do what she had in for example, her first draft. She might have laid everything much deeper.

I have a friend that *did* read the Harry Potter books. He was constantly plagued, night and day, by fear. And Fear is never good. He's Christian, by the way. And he's decided he doesn't like the Potter books (not because of other people) because they really disturbed him (He read them at a young age, I think age four to six).

It has very advanced language and isn't as playful as other series. Perhaps parents are hypocritical when it comes to Percy Jackson, or perhaps they don't realize what they don't like about Potter. It's targeted at the young, it's violent and it's fantasy. Children want to live in a fantasy world. The only thing is that Potter is not entirely fantasy, is all.

Thanks you, Hero, for posting that. I wasn't really sure how to say that, and you took the words right out of my mouth! This isn't going to be long, sorry. But still, it was great for you to stick up fr us little kids.
-Rachelle41

I don't know. I think it's mostly Christian parents that worry about that stuff. Sometimes parents do freak out, like if a parent thought the Chronicals of Narnia were bad cause they have magic, but. . . to me Harry Potters different. According to a source I will not name (no one on this site) the hoods or cloaks or something they use at a certain point are the same cloak thingys that witchcraft people use for worship or something. And-I don't know. I can't really debate about this since everyone has been brought up differently to believe If he's bad or good or evil or fine. Everyone has different opionions too. But what's above, that's my opionion. Thanks for reading.

. . .Actually, yes, perhaps the EVIL people in the series DO wear cloaks. As a person who has read and watched the entire series, NO, IT IS NOT FOR SMALL CHILDREN. It's aimed at young adults, meaning (at least) 10+. Most people ages 4-6 cannot even read well enough to understand the series. Rachelle, you're 13. That means you're a teen, and you're on a mature enough level to handle the series. I'm not saying little kids should go around reading it, but parents shouldn't ban kids of age from reading or watching it because it's "witchcraft". J.K. Rowling IS NOT A WITCH, OR A PSYCHO. SHE HAS KIDS OF HER OWN (though I think they're grown now). This isn't five hundred years ago anyway, so we shouldn't be persecuting people for following Wicca. Are you going to say I'm trying to poison everyone's minds because I'm not neccessarily Christian?

That's what turned me off to the religion in the first place. People kept trying to force beliefs on me. Anyway, J.K. is a great person. She's helping out single parents and people who can't afford to keep themselves alive, as well as people with multiple sclerosis.

Here we go, practically an essay on Rowling's religious beliefs:

Over the years, many religious people have decried Rowling's books for supposedly promoting witchcraft. However, Rowling identifies herself as a Christian. She attended a Church of Scotland congregation while writing Harry Potter and her eldest daughter, Jessica, was baptised into that faith. "I go to church myself", she says, "I don't take any responsibility for the lunatic fringes of my own religion". She once said, "I believe in God, not magic." Early on she felt that if readers knew of her Christian beliefs, they would be able to "guess what is coming in the books."
In 2007, Rowling described her religious background in an interview with the Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant:
<BLOCKQUOTE>
I was officially raised in the Church of England, but I was actually more of a freak in my family. We didn't talk about religion in our home. My father didn't believe in anything, neither did my sister. My mother would incidentally visit the church, but mostly during Christmas. And I was immensely curious. From when I was 13, 14 I went to church alone. I found it very interesting what was being said there, and I believed in it. When I went to university, I became more critical. I got more annoyed with the smugness of religious people and I went to church less and less. Now I'm at the point where I started: yes, I believe. And yes, I go to the church. A protestant church here in Edinburgh. My husband is also raised protestant, but he comes from a very strict Scottish group. One where they couldn't sing and talk.</BLOCKQUOTE>
Rowling has occasionally expressed ambivalence about her religious faith. In a 2006 interview with Tatler magazine, Rowling noted that, "like Graham Greene, my faith is sometimes about if my faith will return. It's important to me." In a British documentary, JK Rowling: A Year in the Life, when asked if she believed in God, she said, "Yes. I do struggle with it; I couldn't pretend that I'm not doubt-ridden about a lot of things and that would be one of them but I would say yes." When asked if she believed in an afterlife, she said, "Yes; I think I do." She further said "It’s something that I wrestle with a lot. It preoccupies me a lot, and I think that’s very obvious within the books." In a 2008 interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Rowling said, "I feel very drawn to religion, but at the same time I feel a lot of uncertainty. I live in a state of spiritual flux. I believe in the permanence of the soul." In an interview with the The Today Show in July 2007, she said, "... until we reached Book Seven, views of what happens after death and so on ... would give away a lot of what was coming. So ... yes, my belief and my struggling with religious belief and so on I think is quite apparent in this book."

~Tobi~

Okay, so there's always the witchcraft thing coming up. But let's get something straight: People who study and practice witchcraft do NOT worship or serve the devil. In their beliefs, there is no devil. Yeah, some do wear cloaks and capes and carry around herbs and stones for good luck, but that doesn't mean they're evil or worship the devil. J.K Rowling said
"People think that Harry Potter is from the devil? That's rubbish! It's completely absurd! I created this series merely to bring the myth and mystery of magic to life, not to poison the minds of children."
See, I can understand why people don't like the Harry Potter series, but they should base their opinions on the quality of the book, not by where they think it came from. I am extremely convinced that this debate will not come to an end, because everyone has their opinions about Harry Potter, weather you just came on the site or not.
When the debate comes to a close and dies, I'll probably lock it and put it as a Sticky.

I LOVE HARRY POTTER! Sorry for that. I started reading it when I was 9 and read the whole series in a couple of weeks. It IS mainly Christian parents that ban it. I am not pointing fingers. So parents are overreacting about the books. The movies are less violent then they seem. So, watch the movies.

~Giraffe22~
~May the odds be ever in your favor~

I just want to point out one thing.... Harry Potter Is Not Witchcraft. It's magic, but Harry Potter isn't REAL. It's just a bloody story. Witchcraft and magic are slightly different. An Elf has magic, not witchcraft. Faeries have magic, not witchcraft. You see my point here? Witchcraft isn't magic, it's more like asking whatever deity you serve (Note: DEITY, not devil.) for something. Like praying to God. If it happens, it happens. If not, well, it' doesn't happen, does it? Yes, there are some out there that ask for harm, but they get harm in return. Have you ever heard of the Times Three rule? What you send out into the universe, be it good or bad, comes back times three. This is like a karma thing. Help an old lady pick up her bag, and maybe something good will happen. Send negative energy out into the universe and something bad will happen. There is no evil in Wicca/witchcraft. But there is good and bad.

Anyways. What I'm saying is... .Harry Potter is a story about Magic. Not Witchcraft. Is it evil? No. Like I said, IT"S JUST A STORY! Hear me? S-T-O-R-Y. Nothing more, nothing less. J.K. Rowling is not poisoning the minds of anyone. I suggest you tell your kids it's just a fantastic story about a boy who has magic. Are parents over reacting? I think they are. I don't think they're getting the fact that it's not real.

And one last thing. Notice that Harry and his friends are GOOD and that Voldemort and company are BAD? Not Evil, just bad. As far as I can remember, I don't think Evil and Voldemort was ever connected. I could be wrong, though, so you might want to double check that one.

Sorry about the rant... But it's just my opinion.

~Scar.

Voldermort and his lot are bloody awful. Harry and his friends are good......in most situations. Even though they break rules alot they are still better than Voldermort and his Death Eaters. Voldermort and Evil ARE connected. Not that you would see a picture of Voldermort in the dictionary under evil, but that is what it should be. Because it is TRUE.

Sorry that I had to get all ranty but it was for the better good of this debate.

~Giraffe22~
~May the odds be ever in your favor~

Thank you for correcting me. I couldn't remember if he was connected to evil or not, hence the I could be wrong comment.

~Scar.

I used to object to the "Wheel of Time" series. As it turns out, the writer was a Christian and may even have been telling a story about the end times. So, you should never judge a book (or series) by its cover.