HARRY POTTER AND THE BIBLE: THE MENACE OF MAGIC
Scriptural guides: Acts 19.23-41; John 7.24; I Thessalonians 5.21-22; Hebrews 5.11-14
Harmless fantasy or dangerous fascination? Spiritual discernment is surely at an all time
low in both pragmatic the Church and culture. While spirituality is all the rage in our
postmodern culture, it is deemed a subjective, relative, pragmatic pursuit of personal enjoyment
apart from any consideration of truth, rationality or objective reality. The enticements of post
Christian culture are ubiquitous. Many forms of evil masquerade as innocent, harmless and fun
(see esp. Matt 18.5, 6; John 4.43; Deut. 18.9-14; Gal 5.20; Rev 22.15)
In the midst of “Potter mania,” Richard Abanes has provided a rare voice of sanity,
reason and biblical discernment. (Richard Abanes, Harry Potter and the Bible (Camp Hill, PA:
Christian Publishers, Inc., 2001); see all of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. Major movies,
action figures and an entire multimillion dollar industry of spin-off have broken sales records and
best seller lists.
Abanes does not condemn all fantasy literature; He expresses a positive use (chapter 12,
pgs. 229-246—Tolkien and C.S. Lewis is compare with Rowling).
Stop comparing Harry Potter to The Lord of the Rings. Rowling’s series is elitist kiddie fare
that serves to make modern American children even more narcissistic than they are, and
Tolkien’s is a masterpiece and this is crucial—a completely adult tragedy with profound moral
and religious implications. (Mark G. Judge, “The Trouble with Harry,” The Baltimore City
Paper, July 12-18, 2000)
Stop comparing Harry Potter to The Lord of the Rings. Rowling’s series is elitist kiddie
fare that serves to make modern American children even more narcissistic than they are, and
Tolkien’s is a masterpiece and thus is crucial, a completely adult tragedy with profound moral
and religious implications. (Mark G. Judge, “The Trouble with Harry,” The Baltimore City
Paper, July 12-18, 2000)
Diane Robick, children’s book editor for Publishers Weekly, remarked: “The Harry Potter
phenomenon is unprecedented in children’s literature.” Yet, Rowling’s refers to the “dark acts”
as if they are trivial and benign. There are internet resources that give a “Reading for Research”
section which list the book, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess Worshipers
and Other Pagans in America Today by Margo Adler, a nonagon and leading spokesperson for
contemporary postmodern paganism and witchcraft (Nevil Drury, Dictionary of Mysticism and
the Occult (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), p. 288).
There are three crucial issues in comparing the fantasies of C.S. Lewis and Rowling—(1)
Lewis’ “Christ in Theology” is veiled beneath various characters, such as Aslan the Lion. There
is no direct association between Narnia and postmodern religion. While Harry Potter is directly
linked to resurgent paganism, i.e., witchcraft via his use of current occult beliefs and practices.
(2) the witch in Narnia is evil and based on classic, widely accepted symbols and illustration of
evil, while Harry Potter’s symbols are children who relate to young readers, including age,
attitudes, thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Rowling dissolved the line of fantasy and reality.
She acknowledges that many children believe the imagery as “real” (see esp. chp. 8). (3) Lewis’
conflict between good and evil is not based on any “dark side” concept of power. The “dark
side” versus “light side” battle was popularized “by the force” concept in George Lucas’ film,
Star Wars. Here we see a neutral “power” that has a dark and light side. Both sides of the
conflict are drawing upon the same “power.” The outcome of their battle depends solely on how
adept each participant has become at controlling “the force” (i.e., magic). The “dark side” is in
Harry Potter but not in Lewis’ novels (see my essay, “Shaping Ministry for Power Encounter in
the 21st Century,” from Ephesians 6; Aslan, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, fits the bible narrative
of creation, resurrection, redemption, and revelation).
“The works of Lewis and Tolkien recognize that the crucial issues of morality and integrity are at
stake and dealt with as important and significant concerns.” (Alan Cochrum, “Harry Potter and
The Magic of Bren Inhabu” (Fort Worth Star Telegraph, December 18, 1999; Curt Brannan,
“What About Harry Potter” available on line at www,tbcs.org).
In Harry Potter misbehavior is condoned as long as the eventual outcome is either fun or
rewarding (e.g. Harry’s lying and disobedience). The moral universe is topsy-turvy with no firm
rules of right and wrong or any Godly principles by which to determine the truly good from the
truly evil. Harry Potter clearly expresses postmodern pragmatism as his guide through life. In
the maze of postmodernism there is no “true truth” and no objective moral standards, and this
phenomenon is expressed by the author J.K. Rowling’s creative imagination!
This imagination has generated a “war of words.”
The majority opinion belongs to pro-Potter journalists, educators, religious
liberals and freedom of speech advocates. The minority consists of a coalition of Harry
Potter critics comprised of Christian parents, pastors from diverse churches and countercult ministry workers. (Richard Abanes, The Menace Behind the Magic (Christian Pub.,
p. 247)
Left wing media has consistently taken great pains to paint Harry Potter’s critics as ignorant
Bible thumpers and “narrow minded moralists.” (Julia Keller, “Should Harry Potter be Expelled
from the Classroom?” The Holland Sentinel (West Michigan), Nov. 28, 1999). The very
negative Jewish World Review article (Dec. 7, 1999) by Suzanne Fields, entitled “Casual
Censors and Deadly Know Nothings” called Rowling’s critics “Barbarians” whose attacks
amounted to “ignorance parading as piety.”
Not every Potter supporter has resorted to name calling. Some of the “fairer” analysis and critics
are the following: (1) The Magic of Harry Potter has “complex moral rules. . .moral rules
dictating when to and when not to use magic” (Pamela Johnson, “Dark Side of the Force” World
Magazine (May 31, 1997); see esp. Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth (Doubleday, 1988) for
the influence of myth and occult practices since the 1960s, e.g. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Science
fiction and virtual reality, etc. (see my bibliography on Occult and New Age Pantheism on the
web address to be cited at the end of the paper).
2
There are, of course, “rules” about magic and its use, but these rules are often broken by Harry
and his companion, usually with no negative consequences. Ultimately, the use and non use of
“magic” is completely dependent upon subjective determinations of right and wrong made by
individual characters. Therefore, the so-called “moral rules” of magic in Rowling’s stories are
insignificant.
(2) Most Christian experts agree that the world of wizards and spells created by Rowling is not
the same as the occult practices the scriptures condemned (also the PBS program, “The Power of
Myth with Bill Moyers.” Campbell was a rare intellectual in American life; a serious thinker
who has been embraced by the “popular culture.”) Yet, many knowledgeable Christian experts
on occultism object to all Harry Potter books and films.
(3) “If you ban all books with witchcraft and the supernatural, you’ll ban ¾ of children’s
literature.” (J.K. Rowling in The Washington Post, October 20, 1999). Of course, no one is
advocating banning all books (a’la’ Hitler’s Germany) with witchcraft or the supernatural. The
ultimate question is banning Harry Potter in the public school curriculum. This is not a question
of First Amendment rights; it is a question of a fair amount of time in the curriculum for
Christian works like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Harry Potter mirrors real occultism as
practiced by neo paganism (e.g. Wicca, unlike the stories of Hansel and Gretal or Sleeping
Beauty.
(4) There is no teaching of witchcraft or neo pagan religion where the goddess, Mother Earth
and her male consort, the horned god, are worshipped. In Rowling’s works there are no
celebrations of the turning seasons, no Full Moon or New Moon ritual and no invocation of
goddess. But there are many occult themes in Rowling’s work, such as fortune telling, medium
ship, channeling, astrology, and numerology, etc...
(5) Even if Rowling’s works do contain “occultism” that does not mean the contents should not
be discussed in public education. The novels are just fantasy! Only a fool would deny that
Rowling’s works express “religion.” The occult practices are discussed in a positive light and
employed as the basis for children’s activities. According to the anti-Defamation League and
left wing courts and lawyers, religion must be discussed in a neutral mode since this is
impossible there is bias in the curriculum.
ABC’s of Religion in the Curriculum: Religion in public schools “must be discussed in a
neutral, objective, balanced and factual mode. . . A public school’s curriculum may not be
devotional or doctrinal nor have the effect of promoting or imbibing on religion.” (ABC’s on
Religion in the Curriculum” Anti Defamation League—on line www.adl.org.) Neither the
teacher nor the student can be neutral. Mere description of alternative belief systems (e.g.
cultural anthropologist) can never examine whether or not the belief systems are true! For this
reason, one of the crucial consequences of Cultural Anthropological studies of alternative belief
systems claims that “All” systems are internally true for the practitioners (e.g. Wittgenstein’s
“Language Game.” See my essays, “The Shift from Pluralism to Multiculturalism: the Greatest
Challenge/Opportunity in our Postmodern World;” “Demise of Truth in Postmodern
Interreligious Pluralism;” “Death of Truth—From True Truth to Relevance)
3
(6) “Restricting the use of books that kids want to read violates their First Amendment Rights
and helps produce an illiterate society (“Purpose Statement,” Muggles for Harry Potter web
site—www.mugglesforharrypotter.org) This statement is not only illogical but also legally
inaccurate. First, children already are restricted from reading and purchasing materials that state
and local governments have ruled as obscene, adult and/or inappropriate for children. Second, it
is logically absurd to assert that widespread illiteracy among our nation’s youth will be the end
result by not allowing children to read as relatively small amount of material amend the
thousands of volumes unanimously viewed as appropriate for children.
(7) According to the newly formed Free Expression network, (i.e., a coalition comprised of
people for the American Way, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Council of
Teachers of English), restricting the Harry Potter books from public schools would create “a
veritable avalanche of school-based censorship.” (Jonathan Zimmerman, “Harry Potter and His
Censors,” Educator Week, August 2, 2000 (www.edweek.org). These same organizations fully
support book censorship in schools when it relates to volumes they judge as inappropriate for
children (e.g., Little Black Sambo (1889), a book that represents the shiftless, carefree African
clown of American folklore (see Zimmerman above. This analogy is not a paradigm case for
examples of suppressing censorship; it is admissible when the political climate is correct).
(8) It is wrong to restrict reading material from children; parents should “just let them go do
what they need to do.” (M.R. Rowling, quoted in Michele Harry, “Harry Potter author reveals
the secret of getting kids to read children books (USA Weekend, Nov 4, 1999).
As Christians, we must be aware of the fact that children of all ages need guidance. The
psychologist, Bruno Bettelheim, author of The Users of Enchantment: the Meaning and
Importance of Fairy Tales (NY: Vintage, 1989), states that children do not analyze literature or
fictional characters as adults do. Alison Lentino’s “Harry Potter: Occult Cosmology and the
Corrupted Imagination” SCP Journal (vols. 23; 4-24.1), p. 26). Children perhaps engage in
imaginative stories via an indirect method: “the question for the child is, ‘Do I want to be
good?’ but ‘who do I want to be like?” (See references above). Even a child must have a clear
delineation between good and evil in order to mature within themselves a moral center of being.
This does not occur in the Harry Potter series. Rowling’s fantasy presents a morally confusing
(often contradictory) world where good characters (e.g., Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, etc.)
consistently resort to unethical behavior (e.g. lying, cheating, stealing, deception) to further their
own goals that are supposedly “good” (Rowling gave virtually no guidance). Nowhere does she
empower adults to ever suggest that lying and disobedience are wrong. In fact, these “acts” are
looked upon as accomplishing “good deeds” and “receiving rewards.” This is pure pragmatism
derived from Darwin and Dewey. The “means” are justified, if the ends are “good.” But until
the act is overt, how does one judge the criterion of the action? What is the criterion of a “good
goal?” Who set this goal? Who is benefited positively and who is not? The saying, “the end
justifies the means” justifies overtly evil action to accomplish whose goals?
Apply this behavior to the military, police, FBI or the KGB. Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”
prevails. History is littered with destructive behavior to accomplish the common goal (Hitler,
Stalin, Ben Ladin, all leaders in the Middle East). Ultimately, some children will have skewed
4
perception of right and wrong, believing that they are being good by emulating Harry Potter, at
least the gene pool of Rowling.
(9) Harry Potter books should be read in public schools because they are introducing children
and teens to the joy of books, contra to watching television and showing children that reading is
more rewarding than non educational video games.
a. In Harry Potter there is criterion to evaluate literature unless all literature is of equal
value. b. Understand the destructive nature of some messages being presented in the Potter
stories. The themes in the series must not critique the very successful series, at least three films
and over 40 million copies of Rowling’s works. You cannot beat pragmatic success of any
literary work. In postmodern deconstructive hermeneutics, the significance of any working “art”
is solely in the eye of the beholder. There is no inherent ‘meaning’ in any text. The meaning is
solely in the reader’s mind (e.g. the authority of any work of literature is an expression of
Nietzsche’s “All interpretation is misinterpretation.”
The postmodern mantra is—do not critique the series, just enjoy it; even if it means overlooking
various problems with the characters and underlying message. In our postmodern milieu, the
“Opinion Board” rejects the spiritual and moral failings. “I guess when you read these books
you just have to put your mind in neutral and enjoy.” (Harry Potter “opinion board”)
If a child’s reading is habitually in the area of the supernatural, is there not a risk that he
will develop an insatiable appetite for it, an appetite that grows ever stronger as it is fed? Will he
be able to recognize the boundaries between spiritually sound imaginative works and the
deceptive ones? Here is another key point for parents to consider: Are we committed to
discussing these issues with our children? Are we willing to accompany them, year after year, as
their tastes develop, advising causations here and sanctioning liberation there, each of us, young
and old, learning as we go? . . . Are we willing to sacrifice precious time to pre-read some novels
which we may have doubts? Are we willing to invest effort to help our children choose the right
kind of fantasy literature from library and bookstore? (Michael O’Brian, A Landscape with
Dragons (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1998, pp. 110-111)
Please fuse the reference to O’Brien and the brilliant remarks of Tolkien’s, The Lord of the
Rings Trilogy—
Sing now, ye people of the tower of Anor,
For the Realm of Sauron is ended forever,
And the Dark Tower is thrown down.
Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard,
For your watch hath not been in vain
And the Black Gate is broken.
And your king hath passed through,
And he is victorious.
Sing and be glad all ye children of the West,
For your King shall come again,
And he shall dwell among you all the days of your life.
5
And the Tree that has withered shall be renewed,
And he shall plant it in the high places
And the city shall be blessed. Sing all ye people!
(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (Ballantine, 1983).
Surely Harry Potter reveals the menace behind the magic!
(See my essays on the web site-“Merchants of Commercialism: Postmodern Culture of
Sensationalism and Amusement;” “From Barnum to Barna;” “Nietzsche’s Stepchildren: All
Interpretation is Misinterpretation;” “From Eye Gate to Ear Gate: The Power of the Word in Our
Dot Come Culture.” (Web site: http://www.worldvieweyes.org/strauss-docs.html)
Dr. James Strauss
Lincoln, IL 62656
6