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I recently read an article in the July 11th issue of the Times, and
I
decided that, as usual, I should give in my personal two cents to the topic as
to whether of not Harry Potter books should be ban.
Firstly, the book DOES indeed get children to read. Some may argue that anything
that gets a child to read is wonderful, and while I do not completely agree, the
fact is, Harry
Potter has gotten children to read. My brother has read every book, and he never
reads, and I must even admit that I have found myself devouring these stories
with as much interest as the rest. To get a child to read is a power that few
authors possess.
Now, as far as the declaration that the magic in these books is one of the reasons that
Harry Potter is trying to get you all to worship the devil, you have to realize
something. All of the religions today that do practice magic are nothing like the
magic in the books. In fact, members of those religions who have read the books
have found them quite
entertaining, but say that there is nothing related to their religions whatsoever.
The books were never intended to get children to worship Satan. As much as
children love the stories, even with their overactive imaginations, they still
know that these sorts of things are not real. There has been evidence of some
children writing J.K. Rowling, addressing their comments to P. Dumbledore of Hogwarts and begging
to be let into the school, but this is a simple result of imagination. It is, in my
opinion, the role of the parent to make sure that their child(ren)
knows the difference between the make-believe world and the real world. Harry
Potter grasps the attention of children, not because it asks them to worship the
devil, but because it asks them to stop to think conventionally and start asking
questions, pondering the every day life. The books give children imagination beyond the wildest means,
and as far as I am concerned, if you take away the
imagination of a child, you take away their entire child hood.
Here is a quote from the second web site I have listed below, saying what
Rowling believes about the idea that Harry Potter is evil:
' "I absolutely did not start writing these books to encourage any child into
witchcraft," she says with an uncomfortable chuckle. "I'm laughing slightly
because to me, the idea is absurd."
"I have met thousands of children now, and not even one time has a child come up
to me and said, 'Ms. Rowling, I'm so glad I've read these books because now I
want to be a witch.' They see it for what it is," she emphasized. "It is a
fantasy world and they understand that completely."
"I don't believe in magic, either," she said.'
Now, if you were to get rid of the Harry Potter books for this reason of magic, you would have to get rid
of MANY children's stories and movies and more. Here is my point. If you can say
that Harry Potter promotes the worship of the devil, then you can also say that
Jack and the Beanstalk promotes theft and murder (remember, good ole Jack
steals from the Giant, and in the end kills him!!!) or that Little Miss Riding
Hood should be banned since she shows that children should not obey their
parents (for Christians, isn't that the fourth commandment?). Even then The
Wizard of Oz should be banned, too! Or what about Star Wars!? Because apparently
these MUST be evil for taking such imaginative views on the world..
As far as I am concerned, Tellytubbies is more of a threat. My two year
old niece was first learning to talk, but after watching that show a few times,
she would talk jibberish because that's all she saw on the show. She actually
reverted from her learning. At least Harry Potter is full of mind boggling
questions and lots of interesting words! My point is NOT that I want any of
these stories to be banned: it's that if you go searching for evil, then that is
all you will find. But if you take the book and read it, or allow your children
to read it, and STRESS the point that this is a make-believe world, then why
worry? Harry Potter only promotes the imagination of children across the world. It does not promote Satanic worship.
I have given a number of sites below for you to read on your own. If you have
parent's that are strongly against the books, just ask them to be open and read
these articles. They make wonderful sense and may allow some to see truth in a
boggled version of now and today.
I have to go now, talk to you all later,
Bettyjoe
http://www.luchau.org/writing/harrypotter.htm
http://www.gospelcom.net/apologeticsindex/p03.html
http://www.judyblume.com/articles/harry_potter_oped.html
The next site, as it clearly states, describes a fake email and creation of a
website that may have started the whole idea of Harry Potter being evil. The
site described is a hoax site:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/harrypotter.htm
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