Here, as dusk settles on the sixth book in the Harry Potter series, I thought it might be useful to review the considerable criticism that has amassed from Christians writing and thinking about J. K Rowling’s books. As we travel through this bibliographic essay, I think you will find that, far from what I had imagined which were fringe whackos dressed like seventeenth century pilgrims wearing stockings, breeches, doublets, ruffs, and broad brimmed felt hats, tarring and feathering Professor Dumbledore, drunkenly running him through town on a pole, and tossing him into Salem Harbor, this group of Christians is quite sober and serious about saving our souls from the occult. Their opposition to the Potter books is rooted in two main concerns: first, they believe the books violate specific commandments set forth in Bible verses, and, second, they believe that Rowling, unlike C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, blurs conventional notions of right and wrong, good and evil, authority, and hierarchy.

One such serious Christian is Stephen Dollins who published a slim volume called Under the Spell of Harry Potter through The Prophecy Club, a Topeka, Kansas, ministry dedicated to disseminating messages of biblical prophecy and warning. Dollins writes:

So here is Satan’s plan: You whet the appetites of children who are confused and not quite grounded in family morals, values, and standards (especially those young enough not fully grounded in their faith in Jesus) and introduce them to Harry Potter, a boy wizard who learns and practices the art of Witchcraft and Sorcery. You then bolster their interest in these practices and instill in them the idea that there is no good or evil, only magic, and that it’s okay to practice witchcraft, because it is a moral, wholesome thing to do, as well as the fact that you will receive a reward from it. Finally when their interest in these practices is at its highest peak, offer the use of the Internet, which is exploding with information that is theirs for the taking, and teaches them how they too can be just like Harry Potter! From what the Lord has shown me thus far, I believe this is the strategy Satan is using to recruit our children into his ranks!

Apparently, Dollins knows of what he speaks. For seven years, he was a High Priest at Anton Lavey’s Church of Satan, and he has also published another book called The Occult in Your Living Room in which he documents the dangers behind the Ouija board, astrology, Tarot cards, psychics, and more. He concludes Under the Spell of Harry Potter by offering a list of things that “can be done about Harry." Dollins begins by suggesting prayer and quotes 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. Casting down imaginations. And every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." He goes on to urge support for ministers and ministries that are working to expose the evil, to call for organization, and to encourage education through the dissemination of his book. He also calls for his readers to write to Christian leaders, boycott corporations promoting Harry Potter, and keep watch for other Satanic devices.

Similarly, Christian writer, producer, and occasional minister Richard Abanes worries about the impact of the series on people in general but on children in particular. In his book Harry Potter and the Bible, published by the Christian publisher Horizon Books, he lists the “underlying lessons communicated through Rowling’s novels":

-Lying, stealing and cheating are not only acceptable, but can also be fun.
-Astrology, numerology, casting spells and performing “magick" can be exciting.
-Disobedience is not very serious, unless you get caught.
-Being “special" means you deserve to escape punishment for behaving badly.
-Adults just get in the way most of the time.
-Rules are made to be broken.
-Revenge is an acceptable course of action.

Abanes counters these lessons with advice for parents, and he encourages them by offering some biblical verses: “Bear in mind that according to God’s Word, the Holy Spirit dwelling in us is far more powerful than any force of darkness in the world (1 John 4:4). Moreover, no Christian should ever harbor fear regarding the contents of a book (1 John 4:18). God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but one of power and love (2 Timothy 1:7)."

Abanes cautions parents against banning the books. Rather, he suggests that “parents should give examples of where the Harry Potter series is unbiblical and explain why God is against some of the things in Rowling’s books, both from a spiritual and moral perspective."

In J.K. Rowling: A Biography, published by Greenwood, Connie Ann Kirk documents one of the most publicized book burning events which occurred in December of 2001: “During the holiday season which just happened to coincide with the first theater release of the first film, and just days after Rowling’s second wedding. Jack Brock, founder and pastor of Alamogordo, New Mexico’s Christ Community Church, led his congregation in a burning of the books. Participants sang ‘Amazing Grace’ as they threw copies of Harry Potter books into the fire."

Kirk also mentions that other congregations, notably one in Pennsylvania, have participated in book burnings. According to the website factmonster.com:

Harry Potter fans were shocked to hear reports that the Harvest Assembly of God Church in western Pennsylvania had burned Harry Potter books. The church's minister, Reverend George Bender, called the books "supernatural." Bruce Springsteen albums, the Disney movie about Hercules, and other items deemed "ungodly" were also cast into flames. Only 30 people watched the blaze, which was held in the church parking lot in late March. But word of the event soon reached national news sources. Reverend Bender is happy for the attention, saying, "It's good to have publicity."

Another website, kidSPEAK.com documents other such protest activity: a “Jesus Party" book-cutting event, the passing of a resolution by the Arkansas Baptist State Convention protesting the sale of Potter books, a Pennsylvanian police boycott – they refused to assist the YMCA triathlon because kids attending the YMCA after-school program were read Potter books which did not serve “the will of God." In Merritt Island, Florida, Robert McGee spread “the word about the ‘evils’ of Harry Potter through his own anti-Harry video, which claims that J.K. Rowling’s books introduce kids to human sacrifice, witchcraft and even Nazism." And in Oskaloosa, Kansas, the library dropped a Harry Potter reading program after fielding many complaints.

In the essay “Controversial Content in Children’s Literature: Is Harry Potter Harmful to Children?", published by RoutledgeFalmer in the edited collection Harry Potter’s World, scholars Deborah J. Taub and Heather L. Servaty note that much of the religious objections to the book are rooted in Deuteronomy 18: 9-12. They quote the Revised Standard Edition:

When you come into the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, any one who practices divination, a soothsayer, or an augur, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a medium, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosever does these things is an abomination to the Lord; and because of these abominable practices the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Taub and Servaty reference websites like crossroad.to and pawcreek.org as places to find the Christian perspective on the Internet. On crossroad.to, in an article entitled “Harry Potter & The Power of Suggestion," writer Berit Kjos argues that Rowling plants suggestions in the impressionable reader’s mind. Specifically, he states that she offers:

1. A vision of a better world: link main characters to pagan practices.
2. Rebellion against Biblical authorities: link traditional authority figures
to intolerant "muggles."
3. An idealized view of paganism: link occult images to "good" wizards.
4. A pagan alternative to Christian values: link courage and loyalty to a
common quest for occult empowerment.
5. Mystical experiences that excite the emotions: link "good" spells to
victory in the timeless battle between good and evil.

From this article, Kjos links to many other pieces he has written also posted on the net. A quick click of the mouse will take you from “Twelve Reasons Not to See Harry Potter Movies" to “Bewitched by Harry Potter."

On pawcreek.org, you can find an article by Joseph Chambers, “Harry Potter and the Antichrist," in which he argues that the Potter books encourage kids to take drugs, practice astrology, glorify the devil through the character of Voldemort, believe the idea of reincarnation, and substitute Harry in for the Messiah. Chambers concludes his article by stating, “When people love imagination, superstition, paranormal intrigue, witchcraft, and sorcery better than they love truth, the Creator will allow them to be filled with their own desires. When the cup of sin is full, the King will say, ‘It is enough.’ My heart tells me the cup is at the brim. The King will soon have the final word and righteousness will win the day."

Taub and Sevaty also reference K.W. Gish’s article, published in The Horn Book Magazine. In “Hunting Down Harry Potter: An Exploration of Religious Concerns about Children’s Literature," librarian Gish shuns banning the books but, as a conservative member of the Assembly of God church, she admits the texts are problematic. She is particularly concerned with the role of divination, possessions like that of Ginny Weasley in Book Two, and the negative, “unenlightened" portrayal of muggles." Gish writes:

In our faith, the spiritual education of children is considered crucial. This stems largely from attention to Proverbs 22:6: "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Because those of my faith believe that casual exposure to the occult through media sources such as television, movies, games, and books can desensitize a Christian to the sinful nature of such beliefs and practices, any exposure is commonly prohibited. This includes reading books that portray the occult in a positive light.

In the edited collection Reading Harry Potter published by Praeger, we find the essay “Harry and Hierarchy: Book Banning as a Reaction to the Subversion of Authority" by Rebecca Stephens in which she pinpoints an objection somewhat different than the one Gish and others have noted. Stephens writes, “The Rowling-Lewis comparison thus raises an interesting paradox: what makes one book depicting the supernatural ‘Christian’ and the other somehow ‘dangerous’? The answer, I believe, lies in the way that authority is represented in each set of books and the way these representations lead to different understandings of the role of values within contemporary culture."

Stephens goes on to explain the blurred moral boundaries in the Potter series, a concept perhaps most clearly articulated by John Andrew Murray in an article called “Harry Dilemma" posted on James Dobson’s Focus on the Family website, family.org. Murray argues, “Rowling’s work invites children to a world where witchcraft is ‘neutral’ and where authority is determined solely by one’s might or cleverness. Lewis invites them to a world where God’s authority is not only recognized, but celebrated — a world that resounds with his goodness and care." Stephens then points out what Christians like Murray fear, which is the “subversion of traditional hierarchical power structures."

In “Harry Potter and the Disenchantment of the World," published in the Journal of Contemporary Religion, Michael Ostling lists the Christian protests against the books:

We learned of court challenges in Georgia; of children who had to leave the room when their teacher read Harry Potter to the class ...; of Christian booksellers refusing to stock the series...; of libraries pulling the books from their shelves; even — in early 2001 — of a church-orchestrated book burning in rural Pennsylvania.... Conservative Christians rushed to press with books demonstrating the occult dangers lurking in Rowling’s series, e.g. Pokemon and Harry Potter: A Fatal Attraction...; web sites exposed the Satanic significance of Harry’s lightning-bolt scar and postulated a diabolical source for the books’ amazing popularity....

Notable in this list is the book Pokemon and Harry Potter. The author, Phil Arms, a pastor-evangelist with radio, television, and public speaking credits argues that “a clever Satanic camouflage" conceals the “true diabolic nature" in children’s games and books like Rowling’s. For a writer like Arms, the Potter books are nothing more than a celebration of murder, demons, Satan, violence, witchcraft, and the occult wrapped in an entertaining, child-friendly cloak of invisibility.

Of course, the most well known of all the Potter critics is Pope Benedict XVI. Then Cardinal Ratzinger thanked Gabriela Kuby in a 2003 letter for her book Harry Potter - gut oder böse (Harry Potter - good or evil?) in which Kuby argues that the books corrupt our youth by hindering their understanding of good and evil thus damaging their relationship with Christianity in general and God in particular. "It is good," wrote the now Pope, “that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly."
LifeSiteNews.com, who posted the Pope’s letters to Kuby, has also posted a comment from the Catholic novelist and painter Michael O’Brien. He states, "This discernment on the part of Benedict XVI reveals the Holy Father's depth and wide ranging gifts of spiritual discernment." O’Brien also said that the Pope’s comments were consistent with many of the statements he has been making since his election to the Chair of Peter, indeed for the past twenty years, "He is a man in whom a prodigious intellect is integrated with great spiritual gifts. He is the father of the universal church and we would do well to listen to him."

I must point out before concluding, however, that as many Christians as there are opposing Rowling’s series, there are equally as many endorsing it. Critics like John Granger, described as a homeschooling Christian and father of seven, are defending the Potter series in books like his Looking for God in Harry Potter from Tyndale House. Likewise, in Thomas Dunne Books' God, The Devil, and Harry Potter: A Christian Minister’s Defense of the Beloved Novels, John Killinger writes:

There are two basic premises in this book…. The first is that the detractors are wrong and that the Potter series, far from being “wicked" or “Satanic" (one widely quoted e-mail accuses Rowling of having written “an encyclopedia of Satanism"), are in fact narratives of robust faith and morality, entirely worthy of children’s reading again and again, and even of becoming world classics that will be reprinted as long as there is civilization. And the second premise is that much of that faith and morality is derived not only from the archetypes and legends of world literature, but from the wealth of Christian tradition that has spawned the author and her hero – a tradition that her detractors in their mean-spiritedness and narrow-mindedness (someone once spoke of an acquaintance so narrow-minded that he could peer through a keyhole with both eyes at the same time!) apparently do not know or else fail to appreciate.

For Killinger, the Potter books stir our imaginations and show us a magical world in which good ultimately conquers evil.

In Waterbrook's What’s a Christian to Do with Harry Potter?, Christian writer, speaker, pastor, Connie Neal argues that the Potter books can provide an interesting opportunity to evangelize, proselytize, and convert. She suggests connecting events in the books to Bible passages in order to discuss “Biblical truths" and make the “Harry Potter phenomenon pay off in ministry." In her second Potter book published by Westminster John Knox Press, The Gospel According to Harry Potter, Neal practices what she preaches. In other words, she takes passages from the Potter books and relates them to Bible stories and lessons. In her "Afterword," she states, “I wrote this book for several reasons, but one was to extend God’s welcoming invitation to you. I particularly hoped that some would hear the gospel who had never heard it before, perhaps because they were turned off by the way it has been presented." In the next paragraph, she goes on to explain, “Another reason I wrote this book was to challenge my fellow Christians to think again about the Harry Potter books. Many non-Christians share my discomfort with the fact that many critics of Harry Potter have never read even one of the…books for themselves. It is hard to be adamant if you choose to remain personally ignorant by relying only on impressions and hearsay without reading the story in question for yourself." For Neal, the books provide an opportunity to open a dialogue with non-Christians and invite them to eat in God’s “banquet hall."

In our review of the literature that has amassed against the Potter series ever since the release of Book One, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (the Philosopher’s Stone in the original British version), we find that those opposed to the books are very serious about their concerns, rooting their dismay in Bible verses and the absence of a clear moral authority or God. For these detractors, Satan, magic, witchcraft, and the occult are very real, as real as the existence of J.K. Rowling herself. They believe that this fight is not only worth having but is the fight for the ultimate prize. No less, they would say, than the fight for our very souls.

November 2005