Il Padrino on July 20, 2007 at 12:29 AM

So she banned me from her site after begging me to go there and post something.

What was I expecting anyway? Something rational?

Always preferred Burroughs, Howard and Wells. (“Phoenix Prime” is a classic take on “wizardy” by Ted White.)

I read the first 5 or so pages of Rowling’s 1st Potter book when it came out, and found it to be a nice kids book…

The films look like murky exercises in being stuck back in school, which I didn’t much like as a kid, so why would a kid want to read about being in school? Even (or especially) with magic powers?

If the magic powers can’t get you out of school, they’re ultimately useless.

(I would guess the final book’s ending would be: that a spell is cast upon Harry and he ends up in a world of only wizards, who long to be normal kids… because magic is a flaccid-making excess-of-power which ultimately corrupts.

You should be grateful Allah and Michelle are as accomodating and good people as they are. On lots of websites, kicking up dirt and demanding people talk all about it over on your blog is grounds for banning.

But hey! If the ticking up of a digital counter is all it takes to buoy you up out of whatever emotional morass provided the groundwork for your adolescent outbursts, more power to you, lady.

Does anybody actually believe that they win souls for Christ by giving that kind of “Hey, I’m a nutjob!” witness?

Awesome!

And I hear you on the witchcraft stuff! One time I read this book with a guy named Jesus in it – I think he was like a Latino or something – and he went around turning water into wine, walking on water, making the blind see … this book was FULL of magic!

Professor Blather on July 19, 2007 at 5:38 PM

Heh. I’ve never understood the tendency of some religious people to just come unglued over books that are clearly not only fiction but fantasy fiction, and make no pretense of being anything else. And by “come unglued”, I mean freak out more than they would over something like abortion, which I can understand people getting emotional about. Getting mad about Harry Potter is like getting mad about Superman or Bugs Bunny–they’re all fictional characters who can do things that people in the real world can’t. That’s why they call it fiction.

I knew a guy that owned a comic store, and one day a couple of people came in, bought some comics that they’d decided were “Satanic” (they weren’t), and proceeded to set them on fire in the parking lot. And he stuck his head out the door and told them to put that out (they did) or he was calling the cops–he didn’t care what they did with them after they’d paid for them, but if they wanted to burn them they could do it on their property, instead of ruining the sealer on his parking lot. But I wonder about the mentality of people like that–did they think they’d won some great victory for the Lord that day, burning a few issues of a comic they bought out of a back issue bin, that 99.99% of the people in the world never even heard of anyway? Does anybody actually believe that they win souls for Christ by giving that kind of “Hey, I’m a nutjob!” witness?

My objection isn’t about “magic” or “Christianity” for me, but the MORAL RELATIVISM and HUMANISM that pervades and coarsens our society in the form of Rowling’s “harmless” pop pulp.She is a GIFTED writer, as I have said. But she is no Lewis Carol. Her early stated intentions for POTTER are much more sinister.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

AND TO THE THREE AMIGOS who ragged me here all day and said that I was being ignored, blahblahblah…JOKE’S ON YOU.

SPIN(.)com LINKED ME and between you three mouth breathers and the SPIN link I have a TIDY four digit bump in my steady four digit daily average. THANKS GUYS!!! Y’all behaved exactly as scripted.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is the last I will say here, in my friend’s forum, and will expect that your reluctance to come to my blog to finish this (Esthier and company) is cowardice on your part. Surprise.

SPIN ON THAT.

My objection isn’t about “magic” or “Christianity” for me, but the MORAL RELATIVISM and HUMANISM that pervades and coarsens our society in the form of Rowling’s “harmless” pop pulp.She is a GIFTED writer, as I have said. But she is no Lewis Carol. Her early stated intentions for POTTER are much more sinister.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

AND TO THE THREE ASSHATS who ragged me here all day and said that I was being ignored, blahblahblah…JOKE’S ON YOU.

SPIN (dot) COM linked me and between you three mouth breathers and the SPIN link I have a TIDY four digit bump in my steady four digit daily average. THANKS GUYS!!! Y’all behaved exactly as scripted. Suckers.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is the last I will say here, in my friend’s forum, and will expect that your reluctance to come to my blog to finish this (Esthier and company) is cowardice on your part. Surprise.

SPIN ON THAT.

Let me say up front that I’m on your side vis a vis the Potter books. It is so easy to find wonderful literature for children to read without them being trained toward such thinking as prevails in those stories, and I would strongly protest any public school that allowed them as an approved part of curriculum, if I didn’t homeschool.

While I understand and share your passion for the hearts and minds of children, your vehement comments on this thread do come across as excessive. Sadly, too many people have failed to learn how to be consistent about standards and convictions. When I see a person defending the Christian faith in one thread, then going on and on about a woman’s chest in another, I feel mildly grieved. This isn’t the venue to call them out on it, however, so I have to select silence. I’m sorry this topic causes you such strong emotion, I just wanted you to know you’re not alone.

It was bound to happen. It seems that the NYT wanted to publish their review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows early, so they found a book dealer with no morals who sold them a copy before the midnight…

No, you’re not a LIB. You’re a LIB!!! Didn’t I cover this? You dumb pagan.

Sorry..sorry…I will try to do better.

Just type — http://www.seejanemom.com –and like magic, you’re here!

Oh, dear God, Allah, and Rowling … that is the most ironical irony I’ve ever seen.

Like magic!

What sort of things do you find wrong with it (if you can discuss any of them without spoiling)?

Also, you’re pagans, and you hate God.

Wait…I thought I was a LIB.

Slublog on July 19, 2007 at 3:53 PM

No, you’re not a LIB. You’re a LIB!!! Didn’t I cover this? You dumb pagan.

As a Potterhead myself, and a Christian, here’s how I take the books ….My father, when he first became a Christian, struggled with the idea of my brother and I watching anything in regards to witchcraft (he was new, after all) because he was afraid that we would take it as “real” and want to do it ourselves.

Can’t read Harry Potter and be a Christian. Aren’t you paying attention? You’re a pagan. Probably a wrinkled one, too.

And I hear you on the witchcraft stuff! One time I read this book with a guy named Jesus in it – I think he was like a Latino or something – and he went around turning water into wine, walking on water, making the blind see … this book was FULL of magic!

It was abominable. I threw that pagan book across the room and immediately started homeschooling my kids. And using lots of capital letters.

Oh, I don’t know. If you’re childless, you can’t really talk about this subject.

The authority has spoken!

Esthier on July 19, 2007 at 5:16 PM

Yup. Authority … the absolute moral kind! (Hey, that’s vaguely familiar …)

———————–

The above snark-fest was brought to you by the Gore/Sheehan ’08 Campaign. I’m a Chilean Seabass, and I approved this message.

As for the online book that’s floating: There’s soo much wrong with it that if it IS the real one, Rowling will be roasted. Absolutely ROASTED. For her sake, I hope it’s a fake.

my future kids
Oh, I don’t know. If you’re childless, you can’t really talk about this subject.

The authority has spoken!

Esthier on July 19, 2007 at 5:16 PM

I have stepkids, but hubby and I are trying for our own. And I’m starting masters classes to be an English teacher. So there. :-P

;-)

my future kids

Oh, I don’t know. If you’re childless, you can’t really talk about this subject.

The authority has spoken!

As a Potterhead myself, and a Christian, here’s how I take the books.

1) They’re not real.

2) They’re a great story.

3) People get too wound up about it.

My father, when he first became a Christian, struggled with the idea of my brother and I watching anything in regards to witchcraft (he was new, after all) because he was afraid that we would take it as “real” and want to do it ourselves. After he let us watch a few Disney movies (a lot of the early Disney movies have a lot of it, which never occured to him), he realized that my brother and I would take it as “make-believe” and left it at that, satisfied that we weren’t going to go towards the “dark arts”. (Although I will admit that after reading Stephen King’s “Carrie” I wanted her powers because I was getting picked on in school a lot)

When the Harry Potter craze started hitting its stride, he decided to watch at least the first movie in the series, curious about the things that he had read online about the “evils” of the movie because there was “witchcraft” in it. (I was well beyond the stage of protection by this point, I should add) His reaction — it was a good movie that clearly showed the values of friendship and loyalty, and the clear difference between good and evil. And he left it at that. And he was as Christian as you can get.

So there you go. Bite at it as you will. But even as a Potterhead, I know that it’s still a book. In the end, all that matters is that the series is complete, and I can pass these down to my future kids over the years so they can also have a good story to read.

It’s awfully funny that these modern day Narnian tales can inspire such controversy. Then again, C.S. Lewis was obviously a Christ-hating Pagan, too, right? ;)

Professor Blather on July 19, 2007 at 3:42 PM

Well, the DO have magic in them, don’t they?