Not to mention that the books had a lot of intentional humor in them--and I don't mean the silly plot, but some pretty good gags. Edward is really something of a prude, grumpy, self-righteous and designed to be so. Bella is a terrible clutz. But she drives an old, rusty truck and holds down a part-time job, takes care of her dad, feels horrible guilt when she lies to him...
I think too much is being made of this. The book has many moral dilemmas, so at least the author knows about morals.
Yes, I have read the books(I really enjoyed them) and watched the movies (they were not nearly as good as the books).
The “morals” to the stories are frankly obvious, and the storyline itself has no direct relation to the “occult”.
Standard good versus evil tale, with good winning in the end.
“Bella” is not being “stalked/abused/manipulated/etc”, just a fictional young woman acting like a typical teenager in love.
Frankly, I prefer my daughter read these type books than most of the crappy “pornography” that the publishing houses push as “romance novels” for teens.
Only a true “religious extremist geek” could read the book series and possibly interpret them as “evil/occult”.