Why do some Christians have a problem with Harry Potter?

[chipmonkey]

Genuine question, no criticism intended!

Ds2 has a friend, a teenager, who is not allowed to read Harry Potter or watch the movies. He is allowed to watch Batman etc. His Dad is a Christian minister but I don't know what church, except that it's not Catholic.

I understand that it's the "witchcraft" references that are a problem but if so, why does it only seem to be Harry Potter? Is Lord of the Rings OK?

To me, they are all works of fiction and no-one claiming they are true and there have always been references to magic in childrens stories down through the years

Because they are stupid. Generally (quite apart from the fact that believing in gods is inherently stupid, it is a harmless little hobby for plenty of people) the more things any Christians are opposed to, the more likely they are to be nasty little arseholes with no empathy and no sense. They'll ban their kids from reading Harry Potter but fill their heads with racism, misogyny and homophobia instead.

Agreed Startail, the people I know are also IMO OTT about Hallowe'en. I have one friend who is genuinely scared on Hallowe'en and spends the evening terrified :(

I know lots of people like that.

The local scary Evangelical church has an alternative party, which would be lovely if only they accepted that other people do not share their beliefs - their Pastor came into the children's school last October with stories about the devil that elicited complaints from several parents about nightmares etc. (The devil presented as a real, physical creature who hates boys and girls because they look like God, so he chases them and tries to hurt them. No exaggeration, that's word for word what my kids told me he said.)

My mother won't join in Hallowe'en because it's "inviting Dark Forces" into the world. She also has an issue with HP, but has got over it, at least partly because my DS1 has ASD and a Very Strong Interest in HP, nothing like hearing the story verbatim a few million times to bring you round!

On this estate, people who do celebrate put lights/ pumpkins out the front, and are really cheery and welcoming (I usually have a gang of about 15 kids going ToTing) Those who don't join in leave their houses dark, and it is mostly respected.

Our Minister based several sermons on Harry Potter when publicity was very high a few years back. His kids have all the films - they see them as good stories, and can discuss with their friends rather than being seen as weird for not knowing what everyone else is talking about. Doesn't mean they will all start believing in Witchcraft.

What about the magic of Father Christmas coming down the chimney whilst riding a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer at 6000 times the speed of sound? Is that allowed?

ds invited one of his classmates to his halloween party-she was too frightened to come and asked her mum if it meant that he loved the devil. I kid you not. What kind of scary shit has that child been told??? it was some party games, some sweets and fancy dress costumes!

i know a christian woman who is v anti harry potter and in fact anything to do with witches at all. kids are not allowed to dress up as witches or read any books with witches in and she does not approve even of people saying 'touch wood'

Fundamentalist religion is far more damaging to children than reading books is. The more restrictive the religion, the more unpleasant and harmful it will be.

There are churches (scary ones) round here that don't do Halloween at all and view it as, basically, devil worship. They are the same ones who don't allow HP, Pokemon etc. etc.

In fact, my DD attends GB and has done for many years, one of the leaders has recently moved on from the mainstream church to one of these fundie, evangelical type places that only lets you have your hair cut by one of the faithful. Last year, her section didn't have a Halloween party, they had some sort of Lights party because joining in Halloween was inviting in Satan and glorifying him instead of God, and, obviously, "you wouldn't want to that, would you girls?" I find that she has become very, very insular since changing churches, no longer even coming along to Parades and the like and she has removed her own DDs from the GB in favour of more bible study groups within her own church. She uses GB as a way of evangelises her won beliefs more and more, now, and it is starting to generate complaints.

Hmm it just comes down to a complete misunderstanding of paganism then, in the end? Which has a separate mythology to Christianity and therefore bugger all to do with Satan. Probably just some education is needed of the poor simple Christians, but many pagans are quite introverted, quiet types who just want to mind their own business, so tend not to bother trying to explain things to people who are following their own religion... if only all were the same!!