Free Republic

ST. LOUIS | The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri has filed a lawsuit against the city of Poplar Bluff after a library worker claims she was disciplined for failing to work at an event to promote a Harry Potter book. Anthony Rothert with the ACLU in St. Louis says the woman, Deborah Smith, is a Southern Baptist who believes the Harry Potter series popularizes witchcraft and the practice of the occult. He says she was suspended without pay for 10 days when she refused to work at a library event on July 21, 2007, for the release of...

His father, Colin, told how the last conversation he had with his 18-year-old son was about the danger of knives. He said: "There's a lot of fear out there and someone has to change the way we think." A man has been arrested over the killing, the 28th murder of a teenager this year – half of them stabbings. Opposition leaders accused the Government of failing to "get a grip" on the rise in knife crime. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "Tragically, these kinds of horrific incidents have become all too common. We need an overhaul, at every...

A teenage actor who appears in the next Harry Potter film was stabbed to death trying to protect his younger brother from a knifeman yesterday. Robert Knox, 18, who acted alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, became the 28th teenager killed in Britain this year, and the 10th in London to die from stab wounds. Relatives said his role as Marcus Belby in the film, due for release in November, was set to launch his career as an actor. Mr Knox was a member of the same rugby club as Jimmy Mizen, the 16-year-old "gentle giant"...

The following transcript is excerpted from the latest video by Jeremiah Films, concerning the use of the Harry Potter video to brainwash students into experimenting with witchcraft: Each year, thousands of teens are turning their backs on Christianity, and joining witches' covens, in order to learn spells, so as to pass school exams, attract boyfriends or girlfriends, and get rich. The secretary of the Magic Circle Young Magicians' club, credits the Harry Potter books, as the latest rage, which he says has rekindled the childlike approach to the fact that the impossible may be possible. He gives thanks to Harry, ...

Can you believe that J.K. Rowling is suing a small publisher because she claims their 10,000-copy edition of The Harry Potter Lexicon, a book about Rowling's hugely successful novel series, is just a "rearrangement" of her own material. Rowling "feels like her words were stolen," said lawyer Dan Shallman. Well, heck, I feel like the plot of my novel Ender's Game was stolen by J.K. Rowling. A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training...

Most people agree that the wildly popular Harry Potter series has a religious following. But to what extent are the stories about the fictional boy wizard a religious allegory? Danielle Tumminio, a Yale Divinity School graduate student who instructs a course called "Christian Theology and Harry Potter" at Yale would say, "Yes." Her course uses all seven Potter books to examine Christian themes such as sin, evil and resurrection, reports CNN.

LONDON (AP) ― Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling said she contemplated suicide as she suffered from depression before her rise to success, according to an interview with a student journalist. The British writer said she had suicidal thoughts in her mid-20s, when she was a single mother and struggling to establish a literary career. "Mid-20s life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted," Rowling said, according to an interview posted online by student journalist Adeel Amini. Rowling said in the interview, parts of which were published in Edinburgh University's Student magazine, that she sought help from doctors and spent nine...

Potter Author JK Rowling Equates Christians Who Avoid Potter with Islamic Fundamentalists Says "fundamentalists across all the major religions, if you put them in a room, they'd have bags in common! They hate all the same things" By John-Henry Westen EDINBURGH, March 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The newly released edition of the Edinburgh University Student newspaper, the oldest student newspaper in the UK, includes an interview with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.  In the interview Rowling claims to have received death threats from Christians opposed to her novels, calling Christian 'fundamentalists' "dangerous" and comparing them by inference to Islamic fundamentalists....

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The final "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," will be adapted into two films, Warner Bros. said Wednesday. Titled "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," the movies are set to be released in November 2010 and May 2011. They will be shot back-to-back by David Yates, who is directing the adaptation of the sixth novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," due in theatres November 21. Steve Kloves, who has written all but one of the "Potter" movies, also is returning...

As if any more evidence was needed, researchers from Oxford University who have been studying aspects of wizarding genes, found that evidence points to Harry Potter descending from a magical bloodline. The Telegraph has a fun look this evening at ‘an analysis of wizardry’ study on the genetics of wizards from the Harry Potter novels. Their aim is to study wizard lineage in hopes to “address the heritability of magic.” They have found, and have published in the British Medical Journal, that magical ability could indeed be passed down from generation to generation. Basing its research on elements of the...

Whirlwind of Controversy Many thoughtful families are caught in the whirlwind of controversy over the wildly popular Harry Potter series of books by Joanne K. Rowling. That is, are these series of novels just harmless, imaginative, children's adventure stories or do they condition young readers to be more open to the occult and serious witchcraft?It is not easy to answer these questions. Strongly pro-family spokesmen have come out on both sides of the issue.A clue might be that the establishment media and entertainment industry are ecstatic about Harry Potter. The almost universal enthusiasm from the generally anti-family mainstream media...

Funny stuff.

Halloween and Harry PotterMany have asked me my opinion about Harry Potter. There is, among good Catholics, a general unease about the series, but the sense of disquiet is very, very difficult to define. I am at a bit of a disadvantage to comment on any particulars of the books since I have not read any of them or seen the movies, nor do I intend to—I have an aversion to adolescent fads and not enough time to spend on questionable materials when there is so much excellent fare for the soul out there. I do, however, feel it...

PARIS (AFP) - Harry Potter is a left-winger and the seven books by J.K. Rowling are a diatribe against Thatcherite Britain, a French philosopher said Friday on the day of the last novel's publication in French. "It must be said from the start that Harry Potter is deeply political and that the books speak of today's England," Jean-Claude Milner told the left-wing newspaper Liberation. "Reading it, one can see that J.K. Rowling -- like many cultured English people -- believes there was a real Thatcherite revolution, that it was a disaster, and that culture's only chance is to survive as...

What a difference a day makes. Jo Rowling came out of the closet this week—or at least her creation, Albus Dumbledore, did. Take note, Potter fans everywhere, that Rowling—in her great wisdom—has revealed to the world that the wisest, kindest, most powerful (and famous) senior wizard in literary history is gay. The Headmaster of Hogwarts prefers men. According to Rowling, “I always thought of Dumbledore as gay. . . . Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald [a bad wizard he defeated long ago], and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was.” [1] Exactly...

A major character in the Harry Potter series is supposedly "gay," revealed author J.K. Rowling in a recent Carnegie Hall appearance. At the risk of giving the Potter books more publicity, which may be exactly what the author wants, I cannot resist the opportunity to comment. Actually, pardon me while I scream at the top of my lungs, just a little. Here's my scream: "The Harry Potter books and movies are harmful to kids!" For years now, some of us have been decrying the Harry Potter tales, saying they were not for children. They dishonor God, they glamorize sorcery, and...

Philosopher: Potter is a lefty26/10/2007 16:21  - (SA)    Paris - Harry Potter is a left-winger and the seven books by JK Rowling are a diatribe against Thatcherite Britain, a French philosopher said on Friday on the day of the last novel's publication in French. "It must be said from the start that Harry Potter is deeply political and that the books speak of today's England," Jean-Claude Milner told the left-wing newspaper Liberation. "Reading it, one can see that JK Rowling - like many cultured English people - believes there was a real Thatcherite revolution, that it was a disaster, and that...

WAKEFIELD - The summer reading feats of Lynne Bimmler's sixth-grade class are proudly chronicled on the St. Joseph's School website. "The sixth grade reads an average of 7.5 books each with many students in double digits," says a note on the class page. "Of course, Harry Potter was a popular choice." But last month, students found that their favorite series had "disapparated" from the school library, after ... Rev. Ron Barker, removed the books, declaring that the themes of witchcraft and sorcery were inappropriate for a Catholic school. "He said that he thought most children were strong enough to resist...

In an article in the Toronto Globe and Mail we read the following about J.K. Rowling: However, during the 15-minute media conference that preceded the public appearance, the author grew testy as reporters circled back to Dumbledore and Grindelwald. "It's very clear" in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows how intense Dumbledore's feelings for the dark wizard are, she said, feelings that astute adult readers will recognize while children will simply construe as manifestations of friendship. The power of love is one of the major themes in the Potter oeuvre, she noted, and "certainly it's never been news to me...

Recently, J.K. Rowling announced to the world that one of her characters, the heroic mentor of Harry Potter, Dumbledore was gay. Nonsense. There is no evidence of it in the books and the books (at this point) are all that matter. I have always thought the books deeply Christian not because Rowling told me so (which she recently confirmed), but because the text is full of Christian images and ideas. She had a chance to give Dumbledore a boyfriend, but she muffed it. I refuse to denigrate friendship by reading every close one as sexual . . . and she...

A reader can make what she wants of any given text, but some interpretive methodologies better suit some kinds of texts than they do others. If I agree to go shopping for my neighbor, I will want to interpret the grocery list he gives me in accordance with what I believe he intends. If, for example, the list includes "half gallon milk," and I know that he is a vegan, I will read "milk" to refer to "soy milk," even though in common parlance "milk" means "whole milk from a cow." People read fiction for all sorts of different reasons....

'Harry Potter' Author J.K. Rowling Opens Up About Books' Christian Imagery 'They almost epitomize the whole series,' she says of the scripture Harry reads in Godric's Hollow. HOLLYWOOD — It deals extensively with souls — about keeping them whole and the evil required to split them in two. After one hero falls beyond the veil of life, his whispers are still heard. It starts with the premise that love can save you from death and ends with a proclamation that a sacrifice in the name of love can bring you back from it. Harry Potter is followed by house-elves and...

NEW YORK -- Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love." "Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause. She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom...

NEW YORK — Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love." "Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause. She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay. J.K. Rowling, author of the mega-selling fantasy series that ended last summer, outed the beloved character Friday night while appearing before a full house at Carnegie Hall. After reading briefly from the final book, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,'' she took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds ''true love.'' ''Dumbledore is gay,'' the author responded to gasps and applause. She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald,...

J.K. Rowling, author of the world-wide best-selling Harry Potter series, met some of her American fans tonight and provided some surprising revelations about the fictional characters who a generation of children have come to regard as close friends. In front of a full house of hardcore Potter fans at Carnegie Hall in New York, Rowling, sitting on the stage on a red velvet and carved wood throne, read from her seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," then took questions. One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft,...

There’s a war brewing. A deadly enemy from the past is back and doing what he does best—consolidating power, gaining new allies and intimidating old ones into renewing their allegiance. As the enemy’s power grows, he’s content to nibble around the edges and not go toe-to-toe with his most formidable foes. But those who should be in the forefront of opposing the enemy’s murderous plans are failing to act. A government agency entrusted with thwarting the enemy suffers from bureaucratic mismanagement at the highest levels and is more concerned with maintaining high public opinion than in doing its hard duties....

It took four books, but Voldemort, the most powerful of the dark wizards, is back. And his minions, the Death Eaters, couldn't be happier. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire tells the tale of how it happened--in about 750 pages. As with the previous novels in the series, the prose is generally crisp, the dialog is occasionally goofy, and the characters are wonderfully well drawn. Though quite a long book, the plot is tight, amusing and keeps you guessing. My only major criticism of the book as literary work regards the ending. As heroes go, Harry's main virtue in...

Harry Potter: The Archetype of an Abortion Survivor By Marie Peeters-Ney, MD and Philip G. Ney, M.D., M.A., FRCP(C), FRANZCP, RPsychOriginally published in Catholic Insight December 2003Republished with permission and encouragement of authors One could speak about a worldwide "Harry Potter phenomenon," appearing soon after the Pokemon craze. The object of this discussion is to reflect on the possible reasons for the remarkable popularity of Harry Potter. Can the current craze be only due to good marketing skills? Does this book have exceptional literary value? Could the book be an indicator of a deeper cultural trend?  We wish to hypothesize...

Wicca and similar groups are flourishing in America. They're also violating the biblical commandment against idolatry.My kids’ favorite baby-sitter assures me that she’s not a practicing witch, “though,” she says, “I do hang out with a lot of Wiccans.” There was the time, for instance, out on the Kitsap Peninsula, near Seattle, when she joined a group of witches for a “sky-clad” (that is, naked) romp in the woods, a May Day ritual. Having tossed off their clothes, the pagans ran around a maypole chanting in Gaelic. “The pole is a phallic symbol,” thirty-two-year-old Jenny helpfully explains. “They’re white...

Trying to Skirt the Pope's (Cardinal Ratzinger's) Negative Appraisal of Harry Potter By John-Henry Westen TORONTO, August 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Since LifeSiteNews.com first published online scanned copies of the letters of Cardinal Ratzinger concerning Harry Potter, many have attempted to deny the Cardinal- now Pope's - statements on the matter. The latest such claim to hit the news was from a report in the Catholic News Service, the official news agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.  An article headlined "Catholic perspective can be seen in Potter series, says priest-devotee," by Peggy Weber published on June 27...

After another miserable summer fraught with muggle-trouble, Harry heads back to Hogwarts for his third year. As usual, things start to go wrong even before he gets there. A cold-blooded murderer named Sirius Black has escaped from Askaban, the prison for wayward wizards, and he's out to get Harry. Worse, the enforcers charged with recapturing Black--the joy-draining dementors--are almost more malevolent than he is. But Harry's got an ally in Professor Lupin, the chronically disheveled Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and with the help of his friends Ron and Hermione, a special mischief-maker's map, and a hippogriff named Buckbeak,...

Harry Potter Fanatics Lash Out at Pope, Michael O'Brien, LifeSiteNews Over Criticism of Novels Commentary by John-Henry Westen Editor and Steve Jalsevac Managing Director TORONTO, August 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - LifeSiteNews receives angry and often hate-filled responses to its news reports on mainly three subjects.The most hateful and threatening come from gay activists. Apparently, some cannot tolerate objective news reports containing information that in any way contradicts savoured personal opinion. For such, our news reports are "hate", even though hate or even anger is never intended in any LifeSiteNews report. We challenge them to point out where our reports include...

Harry Potter and "the Death of God" - by Michael D. O'Brien Special to LifeSiteNews.com Editor's Note: LifeSiteNews.com, the news service which first put online the letter signed by Cardinal Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI - against the Harry Potter books, is proud to present Michael O'Brien's latest essay on the Potter series.  The author, North America's foremost Potter critic, has written many articles that analyze in detail the Harry Potter novels. Here he reflects on the significance of the series as a whole. Well, July 21st has come and gone and the world is muggling onward. The date,...

Having read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, I dove into Book 2, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets anxious to see where J. K. Rowling was going to take the story. I also wanted to see if my criticisms of the first book would stand up or get flattened as the story progressed. Well, as for the story line, it really wasn’t a whole lot different from the first book. A mystery is introduced: the Chamber of Secrets has been opened by the mysterious Heir of Slytherin and whatever was locked in the Chamber has been attacking, but...

Lesson 34: The First Commandment "Come let us praise the Lord with joy:  let us joyfully sing to God our savior.  Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; and make a joyful noise to Him with psalms.  For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  For in His hand are all the ends of the earth:  and the heights of the mountains are His.  For the sea is His, and He made it:  and His hands formed the dry land.  Come let us adore and fall down:  and weep before the Lord that...

With the release of the final book in the Harry Potter series, I have finally decided that it's time to break down and read it all start to finish. Why would I do such a thing, you might well ask, when the Pope has warned the faithful about the series, along with Fr. Amorth, the well-known exorcist? The answer is for the same reason I read the noxious and comically ill-written Da Vinci Code. The series has become a cultural phenomenon and I've been asked repeatedly for my opinion of it. Well, if I'm going to comment on it, I...

PARIS (Reuters) - Police arrested a teenager suspected of posting his own translation of the latest Harry Potter novel on the Internet weeks before the official French release, the book's publishers said on Wednesday. The 16-year-old schoolboy, from the Aix-en-Provence region in southern France, was taken into custody by a police anti-counterfeiting unit and later released, said a spokeswoman for the Gallimard publishing house, which handles the French editions of the novels.

A high-profile Christian condemnation of "Harry Potter" just hit the news again. James Dobson, chairman of the board of Focus on the Family, officially renounced Harry Potter. Fearful of the effect reading about witches, wizards and werewolves might have on impressionable young minds, he took a stand. Well, he actually responded to a Washington Post story that said he liked the books. Fearful of such an endorsement, Dobson reminded the reporter and the public what he said on a radio broadcast, "We have spoken out strongly against all of the 'Harry Potter' products." It is unclear whether Dobson has actually...

(Spoiler alert: If you want to avoid learning anything significant, finish the book before you read this column.) J.K. Rowling gets the last laugh on the dwindling number of conservative Christians who have attacked her "Harry Potter" saga over the past decade: The most important plot point of the seventh and final book is unambiguously Christian. Rowling cleverly scattered so many red herrings among the loaves and fishes in the previous books that she made it difficult to see the trail clearly except in retrospect. The Potter story is not a linear Christian allegory. And Harry's world is insistently devoid...

I think what’s so enthralling is that what we see happen with Harry is what we’d love for our own lives (though I could do without the Inferi or the Dementors). We all want to be told we’re somehow special, somehow destined for greatness. We all want someone to say, “You, you alone can do this.” Right? And I hope at some time, we all find that. Frankly, Christians shouldn’t go through life any other way. Without sounding trite, God made us each special, each destined for greatness.

I am warning those who have not finished the series . . . and there must be still a few of them by now. . . that there are spoilers ahead. I have just finished the last book . . . having spent an enjoyable evening with it thanks to Sam’s Club and an indulgent wife. I am done with Harry Potter and enjoying the literary aftertaste the way one enjoys a fine meal almost as much after it is done as when it is being consumed . . . though it is a bit sad that the series is...

(IsraelNN.com) In two articles appearing in Middle Eastern newspapers this week, Islamist leaders pointed out what they said were new Zionist plots. In an Iranian publication, the worldwide Harry Potter phenomenon was declared a global Zionist conspiracy, while an Arab newspaper quoted a Sudanese leader blaming Jews for Sudan's own Arab-on-Black genocidal civil war. %ad% Kayhahn, an Iranian publication closely affiliated with the ruling mullahs and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the Harry Potter series "a billion-dollar Zionist project." The Potter books were designed by Zionist plotters, according to the Kayhahn editorial, to "disrupt young minds." Khamenei had criticized...

Bush hatred has taken on a new, virulent mutation: animus towards First Lady Laura Bush. Witness today's New York Times column by Judith Warner, ‘24’ as Reality Show [subscripton required]. Warner's jumping off point is Kiefer Sutherland's response to a question about the advent in this coming season's "24" of a woman president. Observed the actor who plays Jack Bauer: “I can tell you one thing. We had the first African-American president on television, and now Barack Obama is a serious candidate. That wasn’t going to happen eight years ago. Television is an incredibly powerful medium, and it can be...

Bottom Line: Harry Potter may be fictional, but there are important truths in his life . . . at least through book six! I will let you know if I change my mind at the end of book seven . . . but so far there are five important themes in He Who Must Wear Round Glasses life . . . beyond the fact that inventing such a character and marketing him well will get you a castle of your own! First, magic cannot solve real problems. For most moderns technology is magical . . . . allowing them to...

Turkey had a key election a week ago. The global War on Terror rages with some of my own students battling for the country. People are starving all over the world, racism exists, and misogyny cripples lives. Yet this past week an entire subset of the adult nation spent five hours or so reading a teen-fiction book about a boy wizard. Serious media pundits must groan inwardly at all the attention. If only as many people (8.5 million copies sold in one day!) cared about almost anything important to spend the same amount of money and passion on it! Perhaps...

It is utterly fascinating how a traditionally anti-war left-leaning movie industry can release such incredibly produced, blockbuster "good vs. evil" fantasy epics – such as Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series – yet demonstrates complete denial about how these hit movies actually mimic the world around us. I suspect just as Tolkien never acknowledged at the time of writing his trilogy that it was an allegory for WWI – he couldn’t help but be subliminally influenced by events around him – the left-leaning movie industry can only accept the reality of what is happening in the world...

Wild about Harry Exclusive: What Potter author left out J.K. Rowling gives details on what happens after book’s final epilogue Spoiler alert: This story reveals some key plot points in the final Harry Potter book. So if you've haven't finished the book, J.K. Rowling asks that you not read this story. If you found the epilogue of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” rather vague, then J.K Rowling achieved her goal. The author was shooting for “nebulous,” something “poetic.” She wanted the readers to feel as if they were looking at Platform 9¾ through the mist, unable to make out...

Saturday, July 21, 2007 (Mexico City) The leading exorcist of Mexico's main archdiocese said the popular Harry Potter book and film series could allow the devil to enter children's minds, and does ''a lot of damage.'' The Reverend Pedro Mendoza, a Roman Catholic priest and exorcist coordinator of the Archdiocese of Mexico City, made the comments at the end of a five-day exorcism conference in Mexico City. ''If you put all these ideas in a child's head, that he can become a wizard, the child believes that, and that is opening an avenue through which the devil can get in,''...

If literature truly reflects society, then the end of the Harry Potter series spells trouble for us all. Because, after 10 years, 4,195 pages, and over 325 million copies, J.K. Rowling's towering achievement lacks the cornerstone of almost all great children's literature: the hero's moral journey. Without that foundation, her story – for all its epic trappings of good versus evil – is stuck in a moral no man's land. To be clear: This isn't a critique of Ms. Rowling's values. It's a recognition of a disturbing trend in commercial storytelling and Western society. For those who've yet to finish...