Times Editor, you saw this one coming. ;-)
I just got done reading a few Times article when I saw one called Witchcraft or Fantasy? Now, I had to take a look. It is my belief that Harry Potter is just a well imagined fantasy book. It doesn't "teach" witchcraft, and parents have no reason to be upset because they think their children are being converted.
Personally, I think it is a bit of an insult to the modern-day pagan community, but it is a good series. The only thing the book teaches is probably that kids will start to think they can make things float and other "magic" like that. But true magick isn't "black". The only people who would call it that are probably the ceremonial magicains (a sect of paganism).
The books have a charm to them and are good for teaching younger kids to get into reading. But I know for a fact that 99% of what is in those books isn't true witchcraft or magic. Also, what Ray10 may have heard of, a book about "Dark Wicca magic", is a book called Nocturnal Witchcraft. And if this is the book, then it's just ordinary Wicca, but with a focus on deities of the night.
-Magick
