Potter Mania: Should Christian Kids Read 'Harry Potter'?

Breakpoint with Chuck Colson ^ | 7/20/2007 | Chuck Colson

[Mr. Silverback]

My wife and son are taking turns reading it. I cheated and read the last chapter and epilogue. I won’t give it away.

That's good. You see, you'd have to kill anyone you told, and it's very hard to dispose of a body...um, that's what I hear anyway.

[TheZMan]

Agreed. Personally, if your kid cannot tell the difference between a fictional story they read in a book, or a video game that has shooting in it and real life, then you are failing as a parent.

I just think this anti-Harry Potter thing is just silly. I have not read any of them, but I saw the movie, and...I enjoyed it. No reason a kid cannot do the same.

It needed to be said again.

[TDA2]

You are absolutely correct. These books were written for entertainment and for the things you mentioned. Give the kids a break, let them be kids for a while. I doubt any of them will turn out as wizards, witches, etc. They will turn out as adults with an imagination that a happy childhood brings. I do remeber the towels and masks that we used to be Superman or Batman. I also remember the silver with pearl colored plastic gripped guns we used to play Gene Autry or Roy Rogers while we chased the bad guys. What kind of life we give our kids when we deny them these experiences.

[oneamericanvoice]

And why not? No nudity, no sex, no human sacrifice. Lots of friendship, loyalty, defeat of evil....yet not good enough for kids?

[SuziQ]

But the big question many parents have is: Should their kids be reading novels about wizards and witches and magic?

Why ever not? What better way to glean the good lessons of good vs evil from the books, while assuring the kids that no, there is no such thing as magic? If you limit your kids to reading only what supports your and their worldview, how are they ever going to learn the tools to defend their beliefs when they leave home and go out into the big wide world?

The magic in the books is just a vehicle for the moral of the story, that good will win out over evil, and sometimes, folks have to pay a heavy price in order to do that which is good.

I read the last one before the kids got to it. ;o) I've really enjoyed the series, and it's fun to talk about the characters as though they are folks we know, and about the trials and triumphs. They are like any other fiction series in that regard; you come to 'know' the characters very well.

[Revolting cat!]

I don’t think any kids should be reading them.

I don't think anyone should be reading them.

[Logan1492]

"I think it's the same with Harry Potter. Advertising has made it a phenomena, but parents can make their children understand that it's only a story." The point being...what? Parents can also make their children understand that the Bible is just a story.

[rockrr]

I read the book backwards and it taught me how to break spells ;'}

[RFC_Gal]

It isn’t that hard.

[Calpernia]

>>>>I don’t think any kids should be reading them.

>>>I don't think anyone should be reading them.

I didn't like Them either.

[RFC_Gal]

Why?

[Shadowstrike]

The point being...what? Parents can also make their children understand that the Bible is just a story. The point of this thread was -- Potter Mania: Should Christian Kids Read 'Harry Potter?'

I'm going to make a big assumption here, but Christians aren't going to teach their kids that the Bible is just a story.

[Mr. Silverback]

Please understand that I would almost certainly write these same words even if I agreed that Harry Potter is bad for kids.

So you'd have no problem then with your child reading Mein Kampf or The Communist Manifesto? How about Playboy or Penthouse? How about any books by Aleister Crowley? How about Manson In His Own Words?

Parents have a responsibility called discernment.

And you've shown you have none by comparing a children's novel to the most evil crud ever put on paper.

[yldstrk]

If you believe in God and the Other, yes. Read it.

[Sans-Culotte]

Well, Colson seems to think it's sorta OK to read them with qualifications. Whoever said that reading a Harry Potter book constitutes subscribing to a new religion and world-view? They're just stories.

I have never read them and likely never will, but not for "moral" reasons. I've seen all the films, and frankly, I do not find HP and his world all that interesting. But that's just me. I read A LOT, and cannot make time for Potter.

[Barnacle]

As Christian children, we weren't told we couldn't go see Dracula, or the Wolf Man, or Frankenstein. We were told that these things were not real, that they were 'legends' or stories made up by people. I think it's the same with Harry Potter. Advertising has made it a phenomena, but parents can make their children understand that it's only a story.

The big difference I see between those stories and the Potter stories is that the others show the weird stuff as weird. Where as the Potter stories shows the weird stuff (the occult) as something that can be accessed to one's advantage.

Thus, whereas only the very weird child would aspire to create a Frankenstein or be a Wolf-man. The Potter books present the occult in a palatable sense, with heroic possibilities and broad appeal.

The occult is real, and it's real dangerous.

[conejo99]

The existence of a soul is quite explicit in these books.
Heaven is very heavily hinted at (the Kings Cross station scene). God gets a capital ‘G’. The books a deist, but not Christian,

[TexasTransplant]

Muslim kids should read these books and watch the Movies

TT

[Mr. Silverback]

Why?

[JenB]

The most interesting thing was... in the latest Potter book, Rowling wrote the best Passion-scene I’ve read in many years.

I think she “came out” in this book and showed her true allegiances, and I like ‘em.