Harry Potter in the Context of Religion

November 7, 2007, 5:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hosted.ap.org

[font=Arial]The adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter can stay in Gwinnett County school libraries, despite a mother's objections, a judge ruled Tuesday. Laura Mallory, who argued the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft, said she still wants the best-selling books removed and may take her case to federal court."I maybe need a whole new case from the ground up," Mallory said. The woman, who said two of her four children attend public schools in the county, was not represented by an attorney at the hearing.The ruling by Superior Judge Ronnie Batchelor upheld a decision by the Georgia Board of Education, which had supported local school officials.County school board members have said the books are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination.J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, published by London-based Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, tell stories of children with magic powers. They are the most challenged texts of the 21st century, according to the American Library Association.

At Tuesday's hearing, Mallory argued in part that witchcraft is a religion practiced by some people and, therefore, the books should be banned because reading them in school violates the constitutional separation of church and state. "I have a dream that God will be welcomed back in our schools again," Mallory said. "I think we need him."

What do you guys make of this? I mean, it's already been thrown around there that the books harbour witchcraft and promote it, and that it should be banned because it teaches kids witchcraft (yes, really

) or corrupts their morals or some other b.s. like it.

I think that parents like Mrs. Mallory really don't get it. Does she really think that kids know better than to take a book like this seriously? They're too young to know the implications of what historical witchcraft is really about, in my opinion. I think she's just being too uptight about it. I'd post more, but my mind went blank

November 8, 2007, 11:38 AM

People love to bitch about anything that may affect their children ins ome way, eg Pokemon, Harry Potter, etc. They feel better when they can have a good old moan about something popular. Mainly becayse they dont understand what the hell their children see in it

Sad bastards..

November 8, 2007, 12:25 PM

I hate religious fanatics, I hate any fanatics for that matter, this woman makes no sense.
People fear what they don't understand

Crap, this is like saying that most fantasy novels are blasphemy, and that children shouldn't have access to them.

These are people with no imagination at all.

Really sad.

November 9, 2007, 8:41 AM

I agree completely. Harry Potter is by no means my favourite book series but I am a big fan of the fantasy genre and to call it blasphemous is to go back to a very archaic mindset. It is simply idiotic.

November 10, 2007, 12:07 AM

Not only that but it displays a narrow outlook on the parents' part.

November 10, 2007, 9:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Warbourne

Not only that but it displays a narrow outlook on the parents' part.

Damn right, but often as not the parents (orthodox religious ones in particular) want to be careful about what their children get desensitised to.

November 10, 2007, 10:14 AM

I guess Ms. Mallory is just jealous that Harry Potter can be found in the school library and not the bible. Harry Potter books gives kids a sense of fantasy, just like every other book on the shelves of any library. If she wants to bitch and moan about that then she needs to try and have libraries banned altogether.

Although, I can see her side of the story in stating that witchcraft is a religion practiced by many. And religion has no place in today's public schools as outlined by today's laws. But it's not really an accepted religion and therefore her argument should not hold any ground in any court room anywhere in America.

November 10, 2007, 7:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimmufan

I guess Ms. Mallory is just jealous that Harry Potter can be found in the school library and not the bible. Harry Potter books gives kids a sense of fantasy, just like every other book on the shelves of any library. If she wants to bitch and moan about that then she needs to try and have libraries banned altogether.

Although, I can see her side of the story in stating that witchcraft is a religion practiced by many. And religion has no place in today's public schools as outlined by today's laws. But it's not really an accepted religion and therefore her argument should not hold any ground in any court room anywhere in America.

Or anywhere else in the western world for that matter.

November 10, 2007, 8:00 PM

One thing about this, is they are only looking at Harry Potter. What about other books that promote magic, and even stories like Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, even Aladdin all promote magic.

If you were to remove books like Harry Potter or any books that promote magic just because magic and witchcraft is wrong accourding to Christianity, but what about those who don't believe in Christianity and actually find that offensive? Then you could argue that you could get rid of any books that have any kind of relevence to the bible, or even have the word God in it.

November 11, 2007, 12:10 AM

It sounds like that parent is trying to indoctrinate her own children by suggesting that another faith is WRONG. Fucking hypocrite.

If that's so, why not ban books like Of Mice and Men, To Kill A Mockingbird and such like? There's murder in them, there's violence, there's swearing, there's breaches of the bloody bible bashing bull ... so why not get rid of them?

Because it'd be a stupid idea.

EDIT:
I just realised I'm echoing what Bei Bei's just been saying. Awcht well.