Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire

Ahhh… the new movie was out as of Friday and I have yet to see it. I’m hoping we will get the opportunity Monday or Tuesday. It’s funny, ever since I’ve made public my enjoyment of the Harry Potter series, occasionally I’ll get an email with dire warnings. Here’s one that just came today…

On 2005-11-19 at 09:49:46,
The following information was submitted:
From Host: xxx.xxx.xxx.xx
name = Xxxx Xxxx
submit_by = xxxxxxxxxx@aol.com
how_found = Through your wife’s site
message = Hi, I read your bio and found it to be interesting. Please don’t take offense to this, as it sounds like you have a lot of great values and character. However, upon reading you are a “Harry Potter Fan”, it is somewhat disturbing to me. Harry Potter novels blatantly teach children and others how to be a witch and perform witchcraft while pretending to be just another exciting adventure series. You can take this for what you will, but if you love your children and family like you say, I hope you will rethink allowing this type of media and what it represents to be in your home. You can call me crazy or a fanatic if you like, but I hope you will take this as a warning from someone who also home-schools her children and is not only concerned about the quality of their education, but the value of their souls as well.

Blessings to you and yours,
Xxxx Xxxx in Ohio

Now I actually respect this woman’s point of view and her letter was very polite and well written. I just don’t understand or agree with it.

For the record everyone… I don’t believe in Witches and Wizards. Nor do I believe in Warlocks, Goblins, Ghosts, Zombies, Ghouls, Vampires, Werewolves, Hags, Banshees, Trolls, Giants, Leprechauns, Fairies, Mermaids, Sasquash or the Loch ness Monster. I don’t believe in Hobbits, Elves, Nymphs, Gnomes, Spiderman, Batman, Superman or Santa Clause.

My life experience has taught me to classify the above as fictional fantasy characters. If someone were to attempt to profess themselves as any of the above, I’d have to certainly regard them as “Mental”. That being said… Mixing eye of toad and tail of newt in a cauldron will net about the same result as stirring oatmeal together with cream of corn. I think my children are aware of this! I can read the works of J.K. Rowling and correctly compartmentalize the “Witchcraft & Wizardry” content for what it is… Fantasy. I also give my older children enough credit unto their “Moral Foundation” to be able to do the same with some good old fashioned parental guidance. What about Tolken? Gene Rodenbury? George Lucas? William Shakespeare? Edgar Allen Poe? or Mark Twain for that matter? Am I as a parent obligated to forbid my boys from playing “Cowboys & Indians” because of the atrocities that were inflicted upon Native Americans?

Even Christianity has a brutal & dark history involving countless people being put to death in very horrendous ways in the name of God. This is not from a book or someone’s imagination, this is fact, it actually happened. Still my children read the bible almost every day, they say the Lord’s Prayer at every meal and they hold their belief in Jesus near and dear. Why? because I as a parent am able to understand that regardless of what has happened in the past, the Bible is the correct foundation for their moral upbringing. I’ve compartmentalized the Inquisition, the Crusades, Burning people at the stake, etc… etc… as a bunch of overzealous religious “Nutters” who really had not a clue as to what Jesus was trying to teach them.

So Harry Potter is just like any other fantasy read out there. The religious far right is so caught up in the premise of “Witchcraft”, nothing else matters. Underneath is quite a wonderful read about the bonds of Friendship, Family, Love & the struggle of good overcoming evil. I don’t think anyone who has actually read the series can honestly say the books are blatantly attempting to convert our children to be Witches and Wizards. That is absurd to my mind.