1st August, 2005

JIM REIHER

Ever since J.K. Rowling came to fame with her cleverly written books about Harry Potter, some Christians have not let up on a relentless campaign against her and her books. Sometimes people ask me for an opinion on the books. Have I read them? Yes. Have I seen the movies? Yes. Shouldn’t Christians avoid them? Read on...

PICTURE: Tony Tremblay (iStockphoto.com) "Is Harry a poor role model for the kids that are so fond of him? No. On the whole, he is actually a good role model. He does not swear, or blaspheme. He does not drink alcohol or go too far with girls. He does not question his sexuality. He does not take drugs. He is not often rude to adults (abrupt at times, but respectful)."

What do we actually have in these books? A story about an orphaned boy being raised by unloving relatives. An evil magician killed his parents when he was a baby, and had tried to kill him too. Harry somehow, miraculously, survived. He carries a scar on his forehead from that encounter.

At the age of 12 Harry discovers that he is a wizard and has innate magical powers. He is sent to a special private school - one for wizards - and there he begins seven years of study to develop his skills and knowledge about magic.

Each of the books by J.K. Rowling represents another year of Harry’s schooling. He encounters some wonderful friends along the way, and he wins some enemies.

The issues that the books tackle include bullying (by Malfoy and his gang); injustice (by Snape and others); snobbery (pure blood versus half-blood magicians); slavery (the house elves); and friendship and loyalty (Harry, Ron and Hermione, and of course Hagrid). The series travels through Harry’s adolescent years, and so he becomes easily identified with by almost every reader.

Is Harry a poor role model for the kids that are so fond of him? No. On the whole, he is actually a good role model. He does not swear, or blaspheme. He does not drink alcohol or go too far with girls. He does not question his sexuality. He does not take drugs. He is not often rude to adults (abrupt at times, but respectful). In all these areas, the books are better for young people to read than many others that do not include the "wizard stuff".

But of course, that is there too. Harry is a wizard. He is more often called a wizard than a magician, and I think the author does that on purpose. He has inner powers that are naturally there. He is not a regular human being, (a ‘muggle’), but rather a wizard. Regular human beings cannot be wizards, and wizards cannot be regular human beings. In the imaginary world of J.K. Rowling, you are simply born that way.

Magic or sorcery in the Bible is a very different thing, of course. That which is forbidden in Scripture is occult activity whereby a person opens themselves up to a spirit, to possess them. Once possessed by a spirit, that spirit is invited to do things through the host. Demon possession and spirit control are not the focus of the Harry Potter books. Inbuilt natural magical powers are. And that is pure fantasy - even Christians have to agree with that!

There is a very evil character in the books: Lord Voldemort. He is the closest thing in the book to someone possessed, or possessing others - and every child who reads about him, knows he is evil and that he hurts people. Hmm . . . not much of an ad for good old-fashioned possession! Voldemort is clearly ugly, nasty, cruel, and evil. He wants to kill Harry after all. No one reading the book will aspire to be like him.

But will children try to copy Harry and pretend to be wizards? Probably. They will do imitate things in play times, just as they do with Woody and Buzz Light-year, or Superman and Spiderman, or Wolverine and Jean Grey. But they will quickly learn that it doesn’t work. Perhaps after watching the first movie, they will put a broom on the ground outside and hold their hand over it and call out “Up!” But when it does not jump up into their hand, they will probably conclude that it is all pretend.

But won’t some children search the net and find websites that are about magic and maybe be introduced to real magic in the modern world? Well, let’s break that question down to its component parts. Yes, some children will search the net for stuff on Harry, and they might come across websites about magic in the modern world. At that point many will go no further. Some might decide to dabble in those web sites a bit more and sign up for things. That is possible. Might some join a witch’s coven as a result? Not all that likely. But if even just one does that, then aren’t the books evil? Haven’t they led to a child ending up in a witch’s coven?

Well, they might have been a contributing factor, yes. But the question one has to ask is: do you ban something (or preach against it) because of the rare occurrence that it helps to lead someone astray? Isn’t it possible that the person so led astray, has things happening in their life to make them much more susceptible to such an action? Shouldn’t we be doing more to meet such people’s needs so that they are equipped not to explore down occult pathways? If we banned everything that ever acted as a trigger to another person's sin, (which is what is being advocated by some with regard to Harry Potter) we would have to ban virtually every movie, nearly every book, and virtually every magazine or newspaper that is produced in our society. Anything with a girl dressed in a revealing way (or not dressed at all). What if it leads to even just one person raping a girl? Any book that has an adultery described (what if it helps lead just one person to commit adultery?) Any newspaper that has a horoscope (what if just one person reads that stuff and becomes convinced that it is real?) We would need to ban virtually everything that we don’t complain about at the moment.

But ignoring that, let’s continue to pick on Harry Potter books. After all, they have spiritual connotations. But so too have horoscopes and I know a lot of Christians who buy magazines like Women’s Weekly, even though they have those sections in them. Why aren’t we campaigning against them? What if one teenager picks up one of those evil magazines and reads the horoscope for the first time, and ends up dabbling more and more into that stuff?

I am trying to show how far short we all fall from being consistent here. Now, it is important to note that this does not mean that you allow lots of evil to continue to grow because we do nothing about some evil that is already in our midst. That is not my point. In fact, to make that my point misses what I am really trying to get to. We should be working with people around us so that they don’t feel a need to dabble in the occult. We should be working in their whole lives and offering such a positive experience of life and faith and joy and love, that to even think of dabbling in the occult would be alien to them.

There is another angle on all this too. The Harry Potter books are fantasy. They are a particular literary genre, and should be read and appreciated as such. They will be understood to be fiction by nearly all their readers, and they will not lead the overwhelming bulk of their readers into any occult activity. They really won’t!

The best thing a Christian parent can do with these books is to read them, and be aware of the storyline, and then decide if they are appropriate for the age of their children. For very young children, some of the images might be a bit scary (the three headed dog that tries to attack the children; or the troll that tries to smash Hermione with his giant club for example). If your children can cope with those images, read the stories with your children, and talk about the themes.

Even talk about the type of magic being described and highlight how it is fantasy. Emphasise that the magic in these books is not the same as the magic the Bible says is wrong, because the magic in Harry Potter is pretend, and it is in the person as soon as they are born. It is not something a normal person like you and I can do. That is really quite different to the evil occult type magic of the Bible, where people let evil spirits into their bodies and allow the evil spirits to do things through them. Ask your child if God wants us to try to be wizards or witches. Of course they will say no. Engage your family in the books.

“What if you use magic to do good? Is that possible?” You could ask those kinds of questions to slightly older children. It would give you a wonderful opportunity to talk about whether or not the ends justifies the means, (it doesn’t - just in case you weren’t sure!), and you could emphasise that every means is an end in itself. “What if Jesus was to come back before you ever reached the long-term end? What if you are using bad things to try to bring about something good, but then you die before you ever get to the good. All you have ever done is bad stuff! No, the ends do not justify the means. Never.” You could have all kinds of meaningful ethical discussions that help your children grow up in maturity, by engaging them with material like these books.

And of course: spend time on the wonderful things about these books too: friendship and loyalty that leads Ron to sacrifice himself for Harry’s sake in the first book (on the giant chess set - fortunately Ron does not die, but it was a possibility). Talk about love that doesn’t ever give up, like that of Harry’s mum for Harry, or Harry’s for his parents. Talk about family love and how important it is. Talk about how bad it is to discriminate against others, like when the pure blood magician families treat the half blood families with contempt. Talk about the child abuse (neglect and lack of love) Harry has to put up with whenever he is with his cousin’s family. Explain how bad that is. Get the most out of these books. Engage them as Christians rather than flee from them!

What are we to do with the Harry Potter books? Use them wisely. Be informed about them. Engage your family over them. Bring lots of good out of them. Oh, and one last thing - enjoy them.

This article above has been taken from a manuscript Jim is working on at the moment: 'Confessions of a Christian Magician'. In that book, Jim tells his story of using creative arts, especially sleight of hand and illusions, in ministry. The manuscript is currently seeking a publisher.

Jim Reiher (BA (double major in history), BA in Theology, Dip Ed. MA in Theology (Hons)) is a full time lecturer for Tabor College Victoria, lecturing in church history and New Testament; and also has speciality interest areas in women’s ministry, creative ministry, and the New Age movement. His views are not necessarily those of other Tabor faculty members or of Tabor College.