Random HP Question..(ns)

booknerd226 · August 2013

So this weekend I was talking to a friend's mother and, since we found out we both like reading, we were discussing our favorite books. Among others, I mentioned HP and she was all "OMG, no, those books are not good! Don't ever read them again." And basically said they were evil and against Christianity or some shit.

I was a little (okay, a lot) confused and irritated. First, I thought yay for a new book friend, and then she ruined that forever. I love these books.

I've heard this crap before but mainly just a religion v. HP thing forever ago. But I don't understand. Any idea what the big deal is?

RevJen · August 2013

What I want to say isn't coming out right every time I try to put it into words.

nocturnalintimacy · August 2013

I have no words for this. I can almost guarantee that she's never read them.

I am ashamed to say that my mother went on a similar rant about Dan Brown's book. I finally threw a fit and said that until she read it she couldn't talk to me about it. Once she did, she completely changed her mind on the subject.

ewill7911 · August 2013

booknerd226 said:

So this weekend I was talking to a friend's mother and, since we found out we both like reading, we were discussing our favorite books. Among others, I mentioned HP and she was all "OMG, no, those books are not good! Don't ever read them again." And basically said they were evil and against Christianity or some shit.

I was a little (okay, a lot) confused and irritated. First, I thought yay for a new book friend, and then she ruined that forever. I love these books.

I've heard this crap before but mainly just a religion v. HP thing forever ago. But I don't understand. Any idea what the big deal is?

My ex SIL said the same thing, UNTIL I convinced her to read them and not to just go off what she THINKS they are about. Its a fantasy story not a how to guide on devil-worshiping. It is hard when people say things like that, but you have read the books, there arent hidden messages in the text calling demons or anything. Its just hard for people to accept at face value as a young adult fantasy adventure series because there is witchcraft in it. Once my ex SIL read them, she fell in love with the series and was able to change her mind.
IDK how people get that kind of an idea about things, but I guess its a lot of assuming and just saying 'nothing with witchcraft or spells can be good', when its just a fantasy story. It would be the same in my mind as saying Lord of the Rings is evil because Gandalf is a wizard. Its really sad that she said those things, because she probably would have really enjoyed the series if she treated it as fiction, like it is.
:-S

ewill7911 · August 2013

RevJen said:

What I want to say isn't coming out right every time I try to put it into words.

I had to re-type mine a few times...

sneetches · August 2013

I have a good friend who also thinks HP is the devil. For her, witchcraft = evil. Period. I just don't bring it up in order to maintain our friendship. She also won't decorate at Halloween with witches or ghosts.

RevJen · August 2013

I think a lot of it is ignorance, fear and reluctance. Challenge her to read them and see for herself if she never has before.

EliStar · August 2013

I seriously am flabbergasted by comments like these. Why do people insist on judging things they know nothing about? Le sigh.

booknerd226 · August 2013

I asked if she had read them and she said she hadn't and never would. How do I fight the ignorance??

I did add that the main themes in the books are friendship, love (especially a mother's love for her son), doing the right thing, and rather than being about evil witches it's more of a good vs. evil thing.

And that, you know, it's a story. Not a how-to guide for satanists or something.

nocturnalintimacy · August 2013

booknerd226 said:
And that, you know, it's a story. Not a how-to guide for satanists or something.

::snort:: You can't fight it. Just take a deep breath and move on.

booknerd226 · August 2013

nocturnalintimacy said:

booknerd226 said:
And that, you know, it's a story. Not a how-to guide for satanists or something.

::snort:: You can't fight it. Just take a deep breath and move on.

I think I'm just still shocked. I could understand if she read them and they just weren't her cup of tea. (Maybe. It's HP after all). But this was just infuriating. It seemed like a soapbox thing for her too.

GilliC · August 2013

I read this book once about this magical good guy who was trapped in an epic battle against evil. He could do all kinds of cool magic tricks like making wine out of water and making food magically replicate. He did some kind of healing stuff too. And then in the end, he gets killed and comes back to life. It was totally against Christianity! ...Oh wait, no, I'm thinking of The Bible.

ewill7911 · August 2013

booknerd226 said:

I asked if she had read them and she said she hadn't and never would. How do I fight the ignorance??

I did add that the main themes in the books are friendship, love (especially a mother's love for her son), doing the right thing, and rather than being about evil witches it's more of a good vs. evil thing.

And that, you know, it's a story. Not a how-to guide for satanists or something.

I asked my ex SIL if she liked LOTR, she said yes. I asked her what the difference between Gandalf and a devil-worshiper were. It kind of made her stop and think about it. Fortunately she didnt write off LOTR too and just tell me I was evil. I think it depends on how much the person wants to believe that they are evil. My parents bought me the first book when it came out, I was 11 when I read it, so I grew up with the HP characters and I told that to her that. About 4 or 5 months after our convo she started reading them because other people told her the same thing.
I think the biggest thing for me - is that its a fantasy story, nothing more. If she cant accept that, I would suggest avoiding all fantasy books when talking to her and maybe talk to her about other kinds of books instead.

GilliC · August 2013

nocturnalintimacy said:

booknerd226 said:
And that, you know, it's a story. Not a how-to guide for satanists or something.

::snort:: You can't fight it. Just take a deep breath and move on.

What? You guys can't cast a simple Alohomora after reading just the first book?

Bunch of muggles!

myJunegirls · August 2013

I've had people say similar things to me and my response is always the same "Have you actually read the book? No? Than you can't make comments like that to me. Now if you want to read the books and form your own opinion, then I'll be happy to have a conversation with you about YOUR thoughts and how you think they represent ________" (insert whatever moronic evil they think applies.

sfgiantsjo · August 2013

My father thinks EVERYDARNTHING is "witchcraft". Growing up, I wasn't allowed to have candles in the house. Regular scented candles. No go. For him, it isn't even religious based. He just thinks it's all voodoo. He's sort of nuts, but I love him.

So anything that mentions witches or wizards would be taboo for him. (Thanks goodness he never said I couldn't read those books, he just wouldn't.)

GreenBride624 · August 2013

GilliC said:

I read this book once about this magical good guy who was trapped in an epic battle against evil. He could do all kinds of cool magic tricks like making wine out of water and making food magically replicate. He did some kind of healing stuff too. And then in the end, he gets killed and comes back to life. It was totally against Christianity! ...Oh wait, no, I'm thinking of The Bible.

Word!

MrsC7 · August 2013

I can no longer engage in this type of argument. It is a no-win situation. "Those people" will never hear you so I don't bother anymore.

I just limit my interaction with The Stupid because it burns.

Menrandes · August 2013

I've heard a lot of arguments against it. Sure, children (and adults) that read it sometimes wish they were magical. So what? It's fantasy. I would pretend to make it through the Fire swamp or go on epic journeys to destroy a ring with my family when I was younger. What's the difference? It's certainly not teaching children how to do witchcraft. I mean in Harry Potter, you're either born with it or you aren't.

ewill7911 · August 2013

Menrandes said:

I've heard a lot of arguments against it. Sure, children (and adults) that read it sometimes wish they were magical. So what? It's fantasy. I would pretend to make it through the Fire swamp or go on epic journeys to destroy a ring with my family when I was younger. What's the difference? It's certainly not teaching children how to do witchcraft. I mean in Harry Potter, you're either born with it or you aren't.

Jealous muggles... thats what they are...

pinkybooklover09 · August 2013

Menrandes · August 2013

ewill7911 said:

Menrandes said:

I've heard a lot of arguments against it. Sure, children (and adults) that read it sometimes wish they were magical. So what? It's fantasy. I would pretend to make it through the Fire swamp or go on epic journeys to destroy a ring with my family when I was younger. What's the difference? It's certainly not teaching children how to do witchcraft. I mean in Harry Potter, you're either born with it or you aren't.

Jealous muggles... thats what they are...

I'm totally a jealous muggle myself.

ajpufky · August 2013

Funny story when the books first came out my great uncle was the one who suggested i should read them, he was a Catholic priest. Then the whole thing blew up about the books having some evil side to them. So my parents sat down and read them and realized they were just stories about wizards not how to cross over to the dark side or learn dark magic or whatever other evil things are supposed to be in the books.

84Lauren · August 2013

@pinkybooklover09, the depth of my love for you cannot be described.

booknerd226 · August 2013

I'm just glad I now have a support group for dealing with these types of muggles.

RevJen · August 2013

My husband keeps insisting that I'm a muggle. I smile and don't say anything because I don't want to break the Statute of Secrecy. It's for his own good, really.

Raeily · August 2013

When the books came out I bought one for a friend for his birthday. His mother gave it back to my mother because they don't read "satanic" books.

I was so sad.

I know that here, working with kids, I would always have to be careful about what book I recommend to them because parents have been known to come back and complain about the "devil worshiping" books like HP. It's sad, but you can't change their minds 99% of the time.

booknerd226 · August 2013

Raeily said:

When the books came out I bought one for a friend for his birthday. His mother gave it back to my mother because they don't read "satanic" books. I was so sad.

I know that here, working with kids, I would always have to be careful about what book I recommend to them because parents have been known to come back and complain about the "devil worshiping" books like HP. It's sad, but you can't change their minds 99% of the time.

@Raeily That's awful!

courtneyjilll · August 2013

I live in the middle of the Bible Belt, and it's pretty common around here. I have taught HPSS before, but always had a kid who couldn't participate. I know a LOT of Pentacostal preachers around here have preached about it. It just infuriates me how narrow-minded people are. I don't teach it anymore, but I still promote it ALL the time.

jackiback · August 2013

The thing I've always found strange about this is that a lot of kids books and movies contain fantasy or elements that aren't real and we know that our kids are smart enough to descern what is real and what is just fiction.

The enormous, talking bird on Sesame Street, the whole idea of superheroes, even (to bring in an example from Christian sub-culture) the talking, dancing vegetables on VeggieTales. Also, Snow white (hello, crazy witch mom!) and every other fairy tale ever.

We start exposing them to this kind of stuff pretty early on and I really do think that they get good at figuring out real vs fake.

I imagine when parents are talking about how evil HP is, the kids are thinking, "um, mom. It's fake. It's just a story."

I could understand the squeamishness if it were a straight up spell book... But it is obviously not.

I think it is the same ignorance and shortsightedness that makes parents try to get TKaMB banned for racism and language. =P~

aggiebug · August 2013

These comments always make me so sad and frustrated. As a Christian I have a hard time understanding this line of thinking.

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