Harry Potter Controversy

I have seen all kinds of articles about the Harry Potter series that seems to put it into a bad light. See The Problem With Harry Potter for a good listing of these articles. Even Pope Benedict XXVI has supposedly said that he is not a fan of the books. See, Has the Pope Condemned Harry Potter? Since Alex has been engrossed in all of the books the past few months, I thought that I had better take a better look into it. I decided to reply (in red) to the following ten arguments against Harry Potter that were responded to positively in letters by Cardinal Ratzinger.

Ten Arguments Against Harry Potter - By Gabriele Kuby author of Harry Potter: Good or Evil

1. Harry Potter is a global long term project to change the culture. In the young generation inhibitions against magic and the occult are being destroyed. Thus, forces re-enter society which Christianity had overcome. This really sounds like a wacky conspiracy theory. You don't really believe this, do you?

2. Hogwarts, the school of magic and witchcraft, is a closed world of violence and horror, of cursing and bewitching, of racist ideology, of blood sacrifice, disgust and obsession. There is an atmosphere of continuous threat, which the young reader cannot escape. To escape this world, slowly...put...the...book...down.

3. While Harry Potter appears in the beginning to fight against evil, in fact the similarities between him and Voldemort, the arch-evil adversary in the tale, become more and more obvious. In volume five, Harry is being obsessed by Voldemort, which leads to symptoms of personality disintegration. We all must fight the evil that is within us. Hopefully in the end, we choose the good.

4. The human world becomes degraded, the world of witches and sorcerers becomes glorified. Not unlike the angels and saints.

5. There is no positive transcendent dimension. The supernatural is entirely demonic. Divine symbols are perverted. Have you even read the books?

6. Harry Potter is no modern fairy tale. In fairy tales sorcerers and witches are unambiguous figures of evil. The hero escapes their power through the exercise of virtue. In the Harry Potter universe there is no character that endeavours consistently to achieve good. For seemingly good ends evil means are being used. Huh?

7. A (young!) reader's power of discernment of good and evil is blocked out through emotional manipulation and intellectual confusion. Another leap. I have more faith in a young reader's ability to know the difference between good and evil. With the help and support of a caring adult, many great lessons can be learned from the books.

8. It is an assault upon the young generation, seducing it playfully into a world of witchcraft and sorcery, filling the imagination of the young with images of a world in which evil reigns, from which there is no escape, on the contrary, it is portrayed as highly desirable. Again, have you read the books? They are out on video too! How about books-on-tape?

9. Those who value plurality of opinion should resist the nearly overwhelming power of this peer pressure, which is being accomplished through a gigantic corporate and multimedia blitz--one which displays elements of totalitarian brainwashing. Oh, now I understand where you are coming from, you are an anti-capitalist (socialist?).

10. Since through the Potter books faith in a loving God is systematically undermined, even destroyed in many young people, through false "values" and mockery of Judeo-Christian truth, the introduction of these books in schools is intolerant. Parents should refuse permission for their children to take part in Potter indoctrination for reasons of faith and conscience. Don't you think that parents should help the child learn and grow through discussion and discernment instead of through unnecessary censorship?