I have had several arguments lately concerning whether or not Harry Potter can be seen as a gateway to Satanism. It REALLY annoys me when people say it is. Ooooh! Witchcraft in a book with childish fairytale elements like wands and broomsticks and making potions from slugs. That sure sounds mightily similar to some neopagan religions. There was even that bit in Harry Potter where they danced naked around a pentagram....oh wait. NO THERE WASN'T.
That, FYI, was sarcasm.
Also I think that it is a HUGE jump to go from Wiccan/Neopagan religions to outright satanism. These religions really don't have anything to do with the Christian idea of Satan. That's a whole other rant of mine. But my arguees thought that witchcraft and satanism were synonomous so that's why I'm discussing it in terms of those religions.
I put it to to whole world (or at least any bored surfers who stumble upon my blog): Harry Potter is fairytale style magic. Like Lord of the Rings, The Wizard of Oz, Narnia Series, Cinderella etc etc. You want magic that even closely resembles any real-life wiccan/neopagan religion, then read Witches of Eileanan or watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Ah...but it's the values behind the magic in Harry Potter that's so dangerous, the Haters say to me. It's the way they use magic.
Really? A young boy fighting a fight he didn't ask to be in, just because it's right. A brainy girl working not for her own glory but for the good of the people she loves. An adorable redhead kid who at the end of the day just wanted to use magic to get a yellow rat. Are these bad uses of magic? And throw in the messages of tolerance, inclusion, belonging, anti-slavery, bravery, sacrifice, kids with glasses being cool and LOVE as the greatest weapon and you've got a morality bomb. As it it will bomb the world with good, strong values. Actually a bomb really isn't the best metaphor here, but you get my meaning.
The people I argued with tried to tell me that I'd missed the point, that you can bring across all these values without presenting dangerous ideas of magic. And I argued back strongly with examples from the books (which they admitted they haven't read) and they just kept knocking me back and vice versa and I don't care at the end of the day. Well, I care enough to blog about it but I just like the sound of my own voice mostly.
I don't care because no one has written a non-magic contemporary book that has affected the world so deeply and has such good messages as Harry Potter. I'm don't disagree that they could, but my point is no one has. J.K Rowling has done that through her unique, wonderful, magical world. She took the world by storm and a lot of lives are better for it. I know mine is.
So the HP Haters can go on squawking from their pulpits about how it will lead children to Satanism while I go out and watch what's really happening: kids, teens and beyond coming together and connecting with each other over the last movie this July. Having imaginative fun without drugs or alcohol which I think we can all agree are more widespread health problems than satanism anyway. People will be dressing up, getting excited and just a for tiny moment, they might even believe in magic again, just like when we were kids and we were waiting for Santa on Christmas Eve. I don't kow about you, but I think it's marvellous that Harry Potter can make one feel like that again. I think that's a remarkable gift to the world.
So Thankyou, J. K Rowling. You made my childhood really special. You helped me find my Best Friend. And your world can still make me believe in magic. Thankyou.
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