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The Harry Potter™ books & movies:
Charming tales or a demonic plot?; critics differ.

Content, reviews, bannings, attempts at
censorship, and other muggle* matters

* Non-Wizard

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Quotations:

	"Magic has a universal appeal. I don't believe it in the way that I describe it in my books, but I'd love it to be real." J K Rowling
	"Rowling believes that it is only by letting children experience the real consequences of evil actions that they can understand Harry's moral choices." Readers' Digest, 2000-DEC, Page 62.
	"Children who read about Harry will probably discover little to nothing about the true world of the occult." Lindy Beam, Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based fundamentalist Christian group.
	"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs is good for him," Maya Angelou.
	"... we have to take issues of good and evil seriously and we just can't endorse the kind of moral ambiguity that we see in these books." Joel Belz, World Magazine, a national evangelical Christian newsmagazine

About the books and their author:

J.K. Rowling wrote the first book in the Harry Potter series ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone") in 1997. It was titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the UK edition. She had suffered from depression since the death of her mother from multiple sclerosis in 1990. She has said that there would have been no boywizard if she hadn't experienced such grief. ₁

Her seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was published in 2007-JUL. It became the fastest-selling book in history. More than 11 million copies were sold in the first 24 hours in Britain and the U.S. About 325 million copies of the first six books have been sold worldwide. They have been translated into 64 languages.

Rowling is married and has three children. Her personal assets are estimated at 1.12 billion dollars (in U.S. funds). She became the first dollar-billionaire author. _2,3

She appeared on Opra Winfrey's show on 2010-OCT-01. She said that the characters are still in her head and that she "could definitely" someday write several new novels in the Harry Potter series. She said "I'm not going to say I won't."

Topics in this section:

• Introduction:
  • Books, movies, quotations, overview
  • About the author, Harry, movies & terminology
    
    
• The Harry Potter books
  
  
• Responses from Christians -- mostly negative:
  • Introduction, and descriptions of book burnings
  • Negative reviews by conservative Christian groups.
    • More negative reviews
  • Jeremiah Films video
  • Positive reactions by conservative Christian groups
    
    
• More responses from various sources:
  • Christian themes in Harry Potter. More comments
  • Still more comments by Christians, a Wiccan, & book reviewers, etc.
  • By a pre-teen's sister about the difference the books made in his life
    
    
• Christian urban folk tales based on the Harry Potter books
  
  
• Objections to the books: efforts to ban them; are parents' concerns valid?
  
  
• Developments reported in the media
  • Years 2000 to 2003
  • Years 2004 to 2006
  • Years 2007 to now
    
    
• Links to Harry Potter web sites; books about Harry Potter; references used
  

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Related essays on this web site:

	Are all Witches the same? Confusion over six unrelated forms of Witchcraft
	Wicca, an earth-centered Neopagan religion
	Wicca and the Bible
	The Occult
	Religious Satanism
	The extermination of heretics during the "Burning Times"

References used

1. Raul Kardashian, "R.K. Rowling: 'There would be no Potter if mum hadn't died'," Paul Kardashian blog, 2010-OCT-02, at: http://raulkardashian.com/
2. "JK Rowling says wizard Dumbledore is gay," Reuters, 2007-OCT-20, at: http://news.yahoo.com/
3. " Harry Potter author JK Rowling 'outs' Dumbledore," AFP, 2007-OCT-20, at: http://news.yahoo.com/
4. "Could Harry Potter return?," Associated Press, 2010-OCT-01, at: http://www.thestar.com/

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Copyright © 2000 to 2010 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-JUL-3
Latest update: 2011-APR-02
Author: B.A. Robinson

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