Can a Christan read "Harry Potter"?

Introduction

I started reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" after a brief discussion in Sunday School class.

It was the Fall of 2002. "Goblet of Fire" had been out for a while and it was still almost a year before "Order of the Phoenix" would be released.

At this point, I don't remember if somebody in class brought it up, or if the teacher's literature had discussion points about it. All I remember was that a short discussion was initiated and I set off on a quest to see what it was all about.


Some Background

I was raised in a full-gospel church (Assembly of God, if you want to get specific). We moved around to other denominations during my teens but I've always been pentecostal, Holy Ghost, with "fire & brimstone" folks that still have a problem with playing cards, movies, and secular music. (... and don't even think about smoking, drinking, or dancing ...)

By this time, I had been teaching Sunday School in our small A/G church for about 16 years -- most of it at 4th/5th/6th grade level -- but recently moved up to the Jr/Sr High School class. The majority of the kids in my class had already put up with me for three years in the previous position so I already had a good idea of where most of them were in their relationships with God and what their likes/dislikes were.

Most of these kids had also been around me for several years as lay youth leader ("lay" just means unpaid). I had been doing that for about 18 years at that point (started when I was in high school).


Study

A/G (Assembly of God) folks (and others like us) often have problems with the whole arena of "powers" that aren't necessarily demonstrated to come straight from God. (i.e. it's okay to be a great artist but Superman can be troublesome to deal with if you think about it too deeply).

Enter "Harry Potter" ...

As a teacher, I have enough trouble getting students to read aloud in class. As a Sunday School teacher, I only have them for an hour a week but I want them to be able to read in front of their peers. In class, we (of course) read from the Bible but I know that reading proficiency and confidence comes from reading lots of stuff and that only happens if you can find stuff you enjoy reading -- not just reading the assignments from class.

I also have the opinion that, if I'm supposed to (according to the teacher's guide) tell the students something that I'm not entirely comfortable with, I am free to state what I'm supposed to tell them, tell them what part I'm uncomfortable with (and why), and tell them to study it or dig into it themselves and form their own opinions.

Now, when I say this, I'm not talking about things like smoking and drinking. Stand outside of a bar at 2am on a Saturday morning and watch the people coming out. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that those vices are nasty stuff. I'm talking about discussion points like when the rapture occurs or different methods of baptising believers. In fact, I'm the kind of teacher (at least at this point) that would encourage my students to actually go watch people come out of a bar -- just to see how bad it can be. (I once took the class to the cemetary on Sunday morning for a discussion about death & dying.)

At any rate, there were lots of "religious" people at the time hollering about Harry and his evils. As I say, however, I was used to being told that even *touching* playing cards would invite a visit from the devil himself -- which, I had discovered several years earlier, was not actually true.

I still don't dance, smoke, drink or do any of those other nasty things -- but I do investigate things for myself that don't appear to be as evil as everyone (who claims to have researched things on my behalf) likes to go on and on about.

Harry fit that profile.

Not that the teachers in public schools are the guardians of virtue, but there were several classes that were reading the books and discussing them -- all without any students sudden having demonic visions. As I said before, we were about half-way between the third and fourth books and I was hearing more & more good things about the books at the same time I was hearing more & more discussion of their evils in the "trade" publications of the church.



Conclusions

I have cousins who still aren't allowed to read Harry. And I can't watch the movies when they're on TV if I'm at my sister's.

I Corinthians 10:31-33 (NIV)
     31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— 33even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

If you're going to cause serious problems for yourself or someone else if you read Ms. Rowling's works, then you're better off avoiding it. Otherwise, I will tell you the same thing I told my students (I'm sort of "retired" now) -- try it for yourself. If you enjoy it, read it.

When it comes down to it, if you can read Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings", you should not have a problem with Harry Potter. If Gandalf is forgiveable as a wizard in "fantasy" times; Harry is in the parallel reality that Jo Rowling has created.

For that matter, if you can watch X-Men, SpiderMan, or Fantastic Four, you are but a stutter-step away from Harry's universe already.

Harry Potter is no saint -- J. K. Rowling is not writing another "Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe" -- but you will find stories about a young man who is committed to his friends, who despises evil, and who (most of the time) tries to please his elders -- all written lovingly and very readably. Her characters have the depth and detail of JRRT's without being quite so hard to read. Her stories poke fun at everything from governments to dating rituals.

... and it would *not* hurt for a few more Christians to learn the tolerance that she preaches -- remember always that as much as God hates our sin (almost to the point of being allergic to it) He loved us miserable little sinners enough to sacrifice His Son to bring us back to Him.

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