Nashville Catholic school pulls 'Harry Potter' books over 'curses and spells'

Tennessean ^ | 09/02/19 | Morgan Gstalter

[FewsOrange]

St. Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tenn., has removed the internationally bestselling “Harry Potter” book series from its library, citing the depiction of “curses and spells.”

The Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at the Roman Catholic parish school, told The Tennessean newspaper that the seven-book series had been removed from the school library. "These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception, Reehil said in a statement to the paper. "The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text."

The decision to pull the massively popular J.K. Rowling-penned series, which has spawned 10 blockbuster movies, was made after Reehill said he consulted with several exorcists in the U.S. and Rome. Rebecca Hammel, the superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, told the outlet that the Catholic Church does not have an official position on the Harry Potter books, which tell the story of a boy wizard and his friends at their wizardry boarding school.

For more than 20 years since the first book was published, the boy wizard who faces off against the evil dark wizard Lord Voldemort has faced criticism that it gloried witchcraft and the occult. The American Library Association in 2006 named the “Harry Potter” series as the most challenged books of the 21st Century.

Hammel said the school’s pastor “has canonical authority to make such decisions for his parish school." “He's well within his authority to act in that manner,” Hammel continued, adding that the series is still on the shelves at other school libraries in the Nashville diocese. She said that parents are the ultimate judges for what media thy determine to be appropriate for their children. "We really don't get into censorship in such selections other than making sure that what we put in our school libraries is age-appropriate materials for our classrooms,” the superintendent said.

[Maine Mariner]

Excellent observation!

[bwest]

Stunts like this only serve to make Christians look stupid.

[EEGator]

Eight movies.

[frogjerk]

First Commandment stuff on this thread being laughed at.

[Night Hides Not]

I am sure somewhere in the world a person died the instant you finished saying the curse.

On a related note, I still feel bad about the dog that was killed because I didn't buy that issue of National Lampoon:

My attitude resembles my parents' attitude about what I read growing up: "the boy's reading something, that's the important part." My boys liked Goosebumps, among other things. At least they were reading books. Now, I need to direct my grandson away from the Ipad and towards more book reading.

Outside of school, I rarely read anything other than a sports publication until I was well into high school. I tested at 12th grade reading levels when I was in 6th grade, too.

Let the kids read Harry Potter, while letting them develop their critical thinking skills while distinguishing fact from fiction. Otherwise, you might find more people wanting to pet bison and other wild animals when they visit Yellowstone Park.

[Night Hides Not]

Stunts like this only serve to make Christians look stupid.

You mean like the Catholic Church and Galileo a few centuries ago?

[frogjerk]

Things like “White Magic” or “Good Magic” saving the day - It cannot because it is against the First Commandment

[Tired of Taxes]

Early on, many evangelical Christians were opposed to the HP books.

IMO, the first book in the series was fine. But the writer was very sneaky with the others.

[VietVet876]

Many are ill informed. Some are stupid. A good many don’t care.

[frogjerk]

Christians look stupid when they don’t follow the Ten Commandments and what Christ taught us because they don’t want to seem uncool.

[bigbob]

Private school can do whatever it wants, but this is absurd. Part of being an adult is leaning the difference between what is real and what is imaginary.

[the_daug]

Deu 18:10  There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, 
Deu 18:11  Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. 

[al_c]

Yeah, well public schools ban To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn.

[surroundedbyblue]

We have “heard about it by now”.

Numerous exorcists have spoken about the deliverances they have been involved in where the demonically possesses or oppressed allowed the demonic to gain access to them via HP.

And if you don’t think the uptick in evil over the last 20 years got a foot hold thru these sorts of “pop culture” occultism (yoga, HP, horoscopes, psychics, etc) then you haven’t been paying attention.

[bwest]

So you agree with me.

[bwest]

I don’t see the connection.

[Skooz]

Hammel said the school’s pastor “has canonical authority to make such decisions for his parish school." “He's well within his authority to act in that manner,”

Period.

[northislander]

To hell with all that Harry Potter crap...

[surroundedbyblue]

Apples & oranges. C.S. Lewis didn’t use names of actual demons, use actual spells, and write from the ethos of “the ends justify the means”.

This pastor is doing the right thing and actually looking out for the souls under his charge. When Benedict XVI, Fr Amorth, Fr Ripperger, Fr calloway, Fr Realya, Fr Clovis, and numerous other orthodox priests & exorcists warn of the dangers, I listen. There are plenty of other books out there that provide for the development of imagination & critical thinking gskills.

[bgill]

Did they also take Bambi, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz and Heather Has Two Mommies out of the library, too?