Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, a Christian Parent's Nightmare? -- Headlines55555

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Date Posted: 17:43:35 02/05/02 Tue
Author: Matt(Webmaster)
Subject: Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, a Christian Parent's Nightmare?

'Magic has a universal appeal. I don't believe it in the way that I describe it in my books, but I'd love it to be real'
J K Rowling

At the start of every term, the Hogwarts express leaves from platform nine and three quarters at Kings Cross station to take Harry Potter and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger away from the world of Muggles to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For Harry is a junior wizard, left orphaned when his parents were killed by the evil Lord Voldemort...

The Harry Potter phenomenon
Two different Christian responses
A critical Christian response
How to handle it when Christians disagree
More resources
using this article

Now showing at a Cinema near you...
The release of the first Harry Potter film, 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' (in the US 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone') on 16th November was eagerly awaited by millions of kids and adults across the country. It built on the frenzy created by the four Harry Potter books already published. Christian parents fall into two broad camps: those who 'can't see any harm in it', and who are probably taking their own kids to see it, and those who believe it encourages an interest in the occult, and should be avoided as evil. This article examines the Harry Potter phenomenon itself, explores the different Christian responses, and encourages careful thought and discussion, whatever conclusions you and your family reach.

The Harry Potter phenomenon

'The biggest children's publishing phenomenon of all time'
Andrew Carey, Church of England Newspaper

J K Rowling's first four adventures of the boy wizard from Hogwarts ('Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' (in the US: 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'); 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'; 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'; and 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire') have already broken all records, with three more adventures still to come.

More than sixty million copies of the books have been sold worldwide in 200 languages. J K Rowling is the first-ever author to occupy the top three slots on the New York Times best-seller list at the same time. According to the Sunday Times Pay List on 4th November 2001, Rowling is the second-highest earning woman in Britain, on �24.8 million a year (after Madonna, on �42 million per year). Since November 16th, the first of the books has hit the big screen in the UK, backed by a massive merchandising operation worldwide. But what is the amazing appeal of the Harry Potter stories? There are many possible answers. Here are just four:

What happens next? Harry's adventures are well-constructed stories that keep you turning the pages because you don't know what is going to happen.
'Magic has a universal appeal', as J K Rowling says. We were made to live in an enchanted world, and too much that happens in our mundane lives dis-enchants us.
There is a dark side to the stories. They aren't 'nice' little patronizing books for the kiddies. The villains are genuinely sinister, and people get hurt. (In the 'Goblet of Fire', one of the characters dies.). The stories appeal because they are scary.
A vulnerable hero. Harry Potter isn't an unbreakable superman. He's a school kid with glasses, a kid whose parents have died, and who - more than anything - wants them back.

Two different Christian responses
The problem with Harry Potter, from a Christian point of view, is that the books are full of magic, witches, wizards, spells, ghosts, poltergeists, and all the other stuff that we associate with 'the Occult', and we see the occult as something dangerous to be avoided. There have been two kinds of response by Christian parents to Harry Potter:

'I can't see any harm in it. It encourages the kids to read. It gets them thinking about good and evil. It's just a story - the kids know it isn't real. It's no different from Roald Dahl or C S Lewis. I'll probably take the kids to see the film myself when it comes out.'
'It's dangerous. It encourages an interest in the occult. We should avoid it. I won't let my kids see it at all.'
Is there a better way? The purpose of this article is to help us towards a more thought-out response to the Harry Potter film and books.

A critical Christian response
I'm not using the word 'critical' here to mean 'negative', but rather to mean 'analytical', that is, a thought-through response, rather than just a knee-jerk reaction. This critical approach means thinking carefully through the issues raised.

A double standard?
A lot that we see on TV or in films is harmful or destructive from a Christian point of view. In fact, you can make a strong case that TV is by its very nature, corrosive of truth and values. (See the article 'Television: Agent of Truth Decay', by Douglas Groothuis.) However, what concerns me here is the way Christians sometimes seem to demonize one particular film or series, while blandly and blindly accepting others that are just as destructive. I wonder how many Christian parents are banning their children from watching Harry Potter (because of the witches and wizards), while they themselves have quite cheerfully been to see �Eyes Wide Shut� or something equally pornographic, �Gladiator�, or something equally violent, or will watch TV programmes that offer us nothing but a shallow and materialistic view of reality. If we�re going to reject some films and TV shows because of their anti-Christian messages, then we really should reject almost everything we currently watch.

In the world but not of it
The problem with this is that we cannot avoid the junk that the world throws at us, unless we cut ourselves off completely from contemporary culture. Hundreds of years ago, serious Christians went out into the desert, or into monasteries, to try to avoid the temptations of the world. But they found they had taken temptation with them, because the problem is not only the world outside, but also the world within me. We cannot isolate ourselves from the world and from its culture pressing in on us. We may not be able to prevent our kids watching the Harry Potter films, even if we decide that this is what we want to do.

Safe in the world
When the Lord Jesus prays for his followers in John�s Gospel chapter 17, he says to his father God, �I�m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.� (17:15). His purpose is not that we should withdraw completely from the world, but that we should be salt and light in the world.

Mindless amusement
One great problem with the visual media, whether it's the Harry Potter film, or a TV show like �Popstars� or 'Big Brother', is that the continuous flow of images bypasses our critical faculties. We watch. We absorb mindlessly. The one thing we don�t do is to think.

Asking questions
If we want to function as Christians in the world today, we need to recapture the ability to think critically about what we are watching. This does not mean jumping mindlessly on the latest Christian bandwaggon. It does mean asking questions about what we see � asking ourselves, asking our kids. (This is one of the key principles of the 'Facing the Challenge' course - see especially session 3). There are three �generic� questions that we can ask of almost any film or TV show that will help us to start towards a thought-through response, and will lead us towards more specific questions:

What worldview is this film or show presenting? What is it saying (or implying) is true about the way things are? What values is it encouraging?
Is there anything in this worldview that I as a Christian can agree with?
Is there anything in this worldview that I as a Christian must disagree with?
And based on my answers to these questions:

What sort of things could I ask a non-Christian friend or neighbour about this film or TV show, that would get them thinking too?

Non-Christian stories, books, and films, may contain key themes that we can pick up and work with. Rather than banning our kids from seeing the Harry Potter films and reading the books, a more constructive approach might be to see how we can use them for good. John Houghton expands on this in his book 'A Closer Look at Harry Potter' This is also the approach of the Connect Bible Studies.

So what are the issues? There are many that we could pick out, but here are just a few of the important ones:

1. The place of fantasy and imagination
John Houghton has a very helpful chapter on this in his short book 'A Closer Look at Harry Potter'. The important point is that as human beings we are made in God's image, and this includes our imaginations:

'Our stories and images enable us to reflect morally and spiritually about ourselves, and without them we have neither civilization nor society.'
John Houghton

Our kids will use their imaginations. If we simply try to stifle their imaginations, we shall run into all kinds of difficulties. Our responsibility as Christian parents is to make sure that their imaginations are fuelled by the right kind of things. (Philippians chapter 4 verse 8). What we allow may be different at different ages, and for different individual children. Not everything in our culture is negative and destructive, even if much of it is. This is one reason why we need to exercise discernment.

Are we happy to let our children watch and read Harry Potter?
If not, what good alternatives will we provide that will feed their imaginations in a positive way?

2. Good and evil
It's often been argued that the Harry Potter books and films have a strong emphasis on good vs. evil.

'It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.'
Professor Dumbledore
'Rowling believes that it is only by letting children experience the real consequences of evil actions that they can understand Harry's moral choices'
Readers' Digest, December 2000, p.62

However, this is really a bit naive. Richard Abanes points out that 'good' and 'evil' in the world of Harry Potter are muddled and confused. Harry and his friends lie, cheat, and break the school rules without suffering any consequences. The message here could be that it's OK for special people to break the rules. In the world of Harry Potter, the means justifies the end. 'Good' people do bad things. 'Bad' people sometimes do good things. The conflict between good and evil is actually very confused.

How is the conflict between good and evil portrayed in the world of Harry Potter? How is it similar to the Christian understanding? How is it different?

3. The dangers of the occult
One of the main reasons Christian parents have reacted against the Harry Potter books and films is because they contain witches and wizards and other 'occult' themes. The Bible is clear that experimentation with the occult opens the door to a harmful world, and that as Christians we are to avoid it. (See, for example, Deuteronomy 18:9-14, Revelation 22:15).

However, we can�t say something is harmful just because the subject matter includes witches and wizards. If we wanted to say that, to be consistent, we would have to ban C. S. Lewis�s Narnia books (they�re full of magic!) and J R R Tolkein�s �Lord of the Rings� trilogy. Yet most Christians have been happy to accept these, because their authors were writing from a Christian worldview. How are the Harry Potter books different?

Some Christians have argued that the 'magic' in Harry Potter is not really occult at all. It is

'...purely mechanical, as opposed to occultic.'
Charles Colson
'Children who read about Harry will probably discover little to nothing about the true world of the occult.'
Lindy Beam, Focus on the Family

However, even if this were true of the Harry Potter books and film themselves, some Harry Potter web sites contain links to genuine witchcraft and occult sites, so we still need to exercise caution.

But in fact it is clear that J K Rowling has researched the real world of the occult for her books. Richard Abanes has carefully documented some of the ways the books link to the occult.

We may just take it for granted that our kids are not in danger of being attracted to occult experimentation by films and books like these - but this isn't so:

'Whenever a particularly exciting episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is aired, the Pagan Federation can tell. Its postbag swells with enquiries from teenagers.'
London 'Daily Telegraph' 29th November 2000'

Is the magic in Harry Potter's world likely to lead our children to curiosity about the occult, or to dangerous experimentation?

4. The worldview behind Harry Potter
One of the greatest dangers in Harry Potter may be that it doesn't recognise any genuine supernatural and moral order. There is no God in Potter's world, and ultimately there isn't anything behind the 'good guys' that makes them good rather than evil (perhaps that is why the moral issues are so muddied):

'The spiritual fault of Harry Potter [is not so much that it] plays to the dark supernatural powers, but that it doesn't acknowledge any supernatural powers or moral authority at all.'
Lindy Beam, Focus on the Family
'... there is no authority for the light side to exist, no reason why it should be so. Even the wizard laws... have no basis or appeal to any higher authority.'
John Houghton
'Morality without a message, and a message without an author, is ultimately unsustainable. Harry Potter, following his own instincts, wll break the laws... where occasion demands, simply on the ground of his own innate feelings...'
John Houghton

How does the worldview of Harry Potter fit in with a Christian worldview?
How does it differ?

There are two dangers we can fall into over Harry Potter: one is to see these stories as totally harmless. The other is to see them as a demonic plot to capture the minds of our children. We need to have a carefully thought-through response. If we don't let our children watch the film and read the books, we need to be prepared with some good alternatives (for example: The first part of the film of 'Lord of the Rings', due out only a few weeks after Harry Potter). If we do let them see the film and read the books, we need to be prepared to spend time helping them to think Christianly and critically about the issues raised by Harry's world.

'Find the right cause for which to die, Christians. Harry Potter is not one of them.'
John Houghton

How to handle it when Christians disagree
I have close friends who will probably disagree strongly with what I've just written about the Harry Potter film and books. We're both convinced that we're right, and that the issue is an important one. We aren't likely to persuade each other. So how are we supposed to handle it when Christians disagree with each other about a secondary issue? Go here for more on this.

More resources
Connect Bible Studies have a set of four Bible studies based on themes from 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' for free download

John Houghton's book 'A Closer Look at Harry Potter' is a helpful and balanced response to the books.
Order from the UK
(Apparently only available from the UK at present)

Richard Abanes book 'Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace behind the Magick is a clearly written and carefully researched presentation of why Christians should reject the Harry Potter books and films.
Order from the UK
Order from the USA

Harry Potter and the Meaning of Life, booklet by Philip Plyming, Grove Spirituality series, www.grovebooks.co.uk.

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