Conservative Christians: Harry Potter

[katilac]

We are not anti-magic--we do read fairly tales, Lord of the Rings (ds9 is reading The Hobbit right now), etc. I just don't know if I should allow the HP series to become a dominant factor in my son's mind by encouraging him to read the books. More importantly, how does this affect him spiritually? What do you think?

 

I haven't read the other replies, but if you allow magic, why would Harry Potter be any different?

[SailorMom]

 

 

My objection to HP has to do with the personal relationships modelled. Everyone lies to everyone. No one trust anyone. Adults are always either evil or feeble-brained, and not to be trusted.

 

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Wow - I really disagree with this. The only adults I see as addled and evil are usually the ones Rowling is intentionally protraying to seem ignorant - usually because they are working against Harry. Many of the adults in the books are wonderful - Too many to name.... I mean - yes, they are human, and many have human faults, but this makes them more believable. A pure, perfect character is so unbelievable there is no connection to what a real person is like. I think my kids get a lot more out of seeing real people do good things even though they are not perfect.

[love2read]

Kelly, I haven't read the replies but wanted to tell you our rule that has served us well over the years. If there is any question about the suitability of a book or series we stay away from it because there are SO MANY excellent books available. If something is controversial it probably is not in the "beautiful and true" category and as classical homeschoolers we try to stay close to that ideal. My older children never felt like they were missing out and now that some of them are adults, that don't regret that choice. They fit in fine with all kinds of people and I believe they have more of a backbone because they learned early to swim against the current from time to time.

[Peri]

Thanks for the clarity. I was seriously wondering.;)

 

Haven't figured out how to double quote yet- but I agree that to read or not read HP is totally the paren'ts perogative -we don't moniter our older kids reading lists. They have a conscience (and the Holy Spirit) to guide them. We do moniter the notsolittles. Our 10 yo recently read Revelation. Scared him to death. The thing that really freaked him out? The verse that talked about how brothers would rise up against each other. He adores his older bro. My dh gently re-directed him to the Gospels . We won't go down the Twilight path either, but then lots of folks think we'll burn in h*ll regardless cause my dh is a pscyhologist.

 

Could you please explain to me what the problem is with psychology?

[Veritaserum]

IMO, there is really no way to form a legitimate opinion about Harry Potter until after you have read all seven books for yourself. I love the individual stories and the overall theme of good vs. evil and love/selflessness vs. hate/selfishness. Are the good characters always good? No, they make mistakes. One of the reasons I enjoy the series is because of the conflicted characters. They are far more realistic and enjoyable to read about. Snape is one of my favorite characters from any series.

 

As a Christian, I have absolutely no qualms about my children reading an rerereading the Harry Potter books. My 6yo is about halfway through book 7 (we have the excellent audio books). She loves the stories and has made some very astute observations about various aspects of the plots for the different books. Are there dark things in the books? Absolutely. Do I think these are damaging to my children? Absolutely not.

 

I will not, however, allow my (immature) children to read Twilight. I read all four books and am not comfortable with my kids being exposed to a glorification of an unhealthy submissive/controlling relationship (Bella and Edward). The vampires and werewolves don't bother me, though. ;)

[MicheleinMN]

I wanted to add, the first 3 books are written slightly differently then the last 4. As the children get older and as the evil force gets stronger the books do get darker and more involved. I would not let a young child read these (under 11), the first three I have no problem with for the under 11 crowd.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[snipsnsnailsx5]

Haven't read the replies (wow! A lot of them!) But I just wanted to say that Harry Potter isn't primarily about magic. Yes, there is a magical element...but its not a black magic how to guide. ;)

 

The moral to the entire Harry Potter series is that good conquers evil. Love conquers hate always.

 

My boys know that Harry Potter is Fiction (duh, dragons and flying broomsticks...lol). They know that magic is not real and its just a fun imaginative read. If it gets them to love reading, then its alright in my book! ;)

 

That said, I've read all the Harry Potter books...three times. I've never done that with a a book series.

 

Just a side note, before anyone "judges a book by its cover" (lol) at least read the book first before you jump to conclusions!

[Hedgehogs4]

I haven't read the other replies, but if you allow magic, why would Harry Potter be any different?

 

i'm not sure that it is...hence the post.

[Homemama2]

I've read them all and love them. LOVE them. :D But I have not let my oldest read them yet (he's only 8). One reason is that they have cussing (not a ton), another reason is I think 'he' would be too scared. Also, I want him to be mature enough to handle the books...without becoming fascinated w/ the spells etc. I think this age would definitely depend on the child...but I plan to not let him read them until middle school or so.

 

While I agree 100% about not reading about the occult etc., I do not believe the author really believes in witchcraft (I mean the kids do spells like turning a rat into a tea cup and it goes wrong so the tea cup is furry w/ a tail.) Now, as others have mentioned, the farther in the series you go, the darker they get. And I wouldn't want my ds reading the later ones now....but once they start the series they will want to know how it ends...so for us, we are waiting until they are mature enough for the later ones.

[ereks mom]

We did not allow our dc to read Harry Potter when they were younger. We wanted to be absolutely certain that they were firmly grounded as Christians so they would be able to practice discernment. Now, EK is 16 & ER is 20, and just this year we have begun reading the books together and discussing them. It's so much easier to read and discuss since we don't have to be on guard the way we would have when they were younger and less mature in their faith.

[ereks mom]

I wanted to add, the first 3 books are written slightly differently then the last 4. As the children get older and as the evil force gets stronger the books do get darker and more involved. I would not let a young child read these (under 11), the first three I have no problem with for the under 11 crowd.

 

:iagree:

[ereks mom]

My husband and I love the Harry Potter movies (admittedly, we have not read the books, but I hear they're great!).

 

The books are SO much better than the movies! Dh commented just today that he doesn't see how someone who watched the movies without reading the books can even understand what's going on! The books have much more subplot than the movies. The movies leave out so much, or change parts completely, so I want to encourage you to read the books too. :D

[Dana]

Now, as others have mentioned, the farther in the series you go, the darker they get. And I wouldn't want my ds reading the later ones now....but once they start the series they will want to know how it ends...so for us, we are waiting until they are mature enough for the later ones.

 

I don't have the witchcraft/occult concerns, but I did have the same concern about the darkness in the books for my son. We've handled it by reading the books aloud (lets us talk about any topics) and holding the books to one a year. So when my son finishes the school year, I read a book aloud :) We're at the end of Goblet of Fire right now. By knowing that he'd only hear a book a year and making it a family thing, it's worked well for us without our son begging for the next book.

[mama2cntrykids]

I've let my oldest ds read up to book 5 (I think). I will probably wait a couple of years for the last two books. I've read all of them and loved them.

[Brenda in FL]

thanks for the major spoiler. :glare:

 

:confused: Yeah - Thanks from here to. :glare:

[siloam]

We waited for a while, then dh read them aloud to us. We paused to discuss behavior and such. We actually didn't have to discuss the witch and magic issue much. What is in the book is SO different from what is practiced today as magick (the way they spell magic to differentiate it from the Hollywood portrayal of it).

 

In fact a person I know who is a practicing Wiccan sent me this quote:

 

"Magick, in the broadest sense, is any act designed to cause intentional change.(Crowley, Magick, Book 4 p.127)

 

She went on to explain that what we call prayer they would consider magick.

 

My point? They don't see the magic portrayed in Harry Potter as real anymore than we do. It just uses some of the same terminology. Although from what I am hearing they are even moving away from that. What is disturbing is they see us (as in Christians) as spellcasting when we pray.

 

My fear is we (as Christians) are so caught up on the old terminology we are not even following what the movement has really become. My friend confirmed that there are a lot of "Christians" who participate in their rituals (all at helping, benefiting the earth) but when they pray they direct it to God not "the goddess" as she does. We are missing the real danger to our kids, because it won't look like Harry Potter, it will look very much like Christians who are concerned about nature, at least at first.

 

I agree that the movies are unnecessarily dark. I think my kids have only seen the first one.

 

Heather

[simka2]

To this day if you google my dh's name you will come up with an article about 2 pastors...on for HP one against. Dh was the against. Wow, how we have changed!!!!

 

Every argument brought up against, is an argument I used to believe in. Thinking back, I'm amazed at how much my belifes have changed!!!

[beachpotato]

The Bible says that witchcraft is an abomination to the Lord. So, no HP for us. :)