Religious debates over the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling stem largely from assertions that the novels contain occult or Satanic subtexts. This opposition comes from orthodox branches of Abrahamic religions, with some Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians and some Shia and Sunni Muslims arguing against the series.
Responses to these claims have come from many corners. Supporters of the series have asserted that the magic in Harry Potter bears little resemblance to occultism, being more in the vein of fairy tales such as Cinderella and Snow White , or to the works of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, both authors known for writing fantasy novels with heavily Christian subtexts. Far from promoting a particular religion, some argue, the Harry Potter novels go out of their way to avoid discussing religion at all. However, the books' author, J. K. Rowling, describes herself as a practising Christian, and many have noted the overtly Christian references she includes in the final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows .
In the United States, calls for the books to be banned from schools have occasionally led to widely-publicised legal challenges, often on the grounds that witchcraft is a government-recognised religion and that to allow the books to be held in public schools violates the separation of church and state. The Orthodox churches of Greece and Bulgaria have also campaigned against the series, and some members of the Vatican hierarchy have voiced opposition. The books have been banned from private schools in the United Arab Emirates and criticised in the Iranian state-run press.
Religious responses to Harry Potter have not been exclusively negative. "At least as much as they've been attacked from a theological point of view", notes Rowling, " have been lauded and taken into pulpit, and most interesting and satisfying for me, it's been by several different faiths".
Christianity
Christian opposition to witchcraft is usually credited to two biblical references:
Exodus 22:18:
" You shall not allow a sorceress to live. " (NASB)
מְכַשֵּׁפָה לֹא תְחַיֶּֽה׃ ס (Masoretic Text, Ex 22:17)Deuteronomy 18:10–11:
" There shall not be found among you anyone that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. " (KJV)
The Hebrew word here for "sorceress" is ענן (Heb.: anan ), defined as a "soothsayer, enchanter, sorceress, diviner, fortuneteller, barbarian, Meonenim," and not restricted to any one religious system. Whether these terms are applicable to the world depicted in the Harry Potter novels has been contested.
Evangelicalism
Much of the criticism of Harry Potter is from Evangelical Christian groups, especially those of a fundamentalist tendency, who believe the series' alleged pagan imagery is dangerous to their children. Paul Hetrick, spokesman for Focus on the Family, an American Evangelical Christian group based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, outlined the reasons for his opposition to them: " some powerful and valuable lessons about love and courage and the ultimate victory of good over evil; however, the positive messages are packaged in a medium – witchcraft – that is directly denounced in Scripture". Accordingly, Harry Potter has been the subject of at least three local book burnings. Continuing with the same line of reasoning, in 2002, Chick Publications produced a comic book tract titled "The Nervous Witch" that declared "the Potter books open a doorway that will put untold millions of kids into hell". In 2007 Jacqui Komschlies wrote an article in Christianity Today comparing Harry Potter to "rat poison mixed with orange soda", and said, "We're taking something deadly from our world and turning it into what some are calling 'merely a literary device'".
A common assertion among fundamentalist Christians is that Harry Potter promotes the religion of Wicca, and so keeping them in public schools violates the Separation of church and state in the United States. In her response to Laura Mallory's court case, education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban Macbeth and Cinderella .
Jeremiah Films, a Christian video company largely known for its Clinton Chronicles release, also released a DVD entitled Harry Potter: Witchcraft Repackaged which stated that "Harry's world says that drinking dead animal blood gives power, a satanic human sacrifice and Harry's powerful blood brings new life, demon possession is not spiritually dangerous, and that passing through fire, contacting the dead, and conversing with ghosts, others in the spirit world, and more, is normal and acceptable".
In 2001, Evangelical journalist Richard Abanes, who has written several books arguing against new religions and Mormonism, published a polemical text that made similar allegations to the video: Harry Potter and the Bible: The Menace Behind the Magick . Later editions incorporated comparisons and contrasts between Harry Potter and the more overtly Christian works of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. In an interview with CBN.com, Abanes remarked that, "One of the easiest ways to know whether a fantasy book or film has real world magick in it is to just ask a simple question: 'Can my child find information in a library or bookstore that will enable them to replicate what they are seeing in the film or the book?' If you go to The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings what you see in, story magic and imagination, it is not real. You can't replicate it. But if you go to something like Harry Potter , you can find references to astrology, clairvoyance, and numerology. It takes seconds to go into a bookstore or library and get books on that and start investigating it, researching it, and doing it".
This religious fear has inspired at least two Internet urban legends, both inspired by satires unintentionally taken seriously. In 2001, The Onion , an American spoof newspaper that satirises pop culture phenomena, published an article entitled "Harry Potter Sparks Rise in Satanism Among Children", which said, with implied irony, that the "High Priest of Satanism" had described Harry Potter as "an absolute godsend to our cause". Regardless, this article was copied into a chain letter and circulated among Christians as "proof" of their views. The following year the Canadian daily the National Post released a similar spoof article in its satirical column, Post Morten , saying that "Rowling — or, as she shall henceforth be referred to and credited as, Mrs. J. K. Satan — said that as she sat in a coffee shop one grey day, wondering what to do with her empty, aimless life, it hit her: 'I'll give myself, body and soul, to the Dark Master. And in return, he will give me absurd wealth and power over the weak and pitiful of the world. And he did!'" This article too was copied into a chain letter and released as "truth" onto the web.
In 2009, Matt Latimer, a former speechwriter for US President George W. Bush, claimed that during the Bush administration, "people in the White House" had denied Rowling the Presidential Medal of Freedom because the books "encourage witchcraft".
While some evangelical Christians consider Harry Potter related to Satanism, a poll indicated that this position remains a minority view; seven percent of Americans who have heard of the books have a negative view of them, with 52 percent having a positive opinion and the remaining 41 percent unsure. This compares with 33 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Evangelical and 39 percent who take the Bible literally.
Some evangelicals side with the Potter books: evangelical author Connie Neal, in her books, What's a Christian to Do with Harry Potter? , The Gospel According to Harry Potter , and Wizards, Wardrobes, and Wookiees: Navigating Good and Evil in Harry Potter, Narnia, and Star Wars , wrote that the books preach Christian values and can be used to educate children in Christian tenets. Mike Hertenstein of Cornerstone Magazine , in his article "Harry Potter vs the Muggles, Myth, Magic & Joy", uses the term 'Muggles', used in the books to describe non-magical humans, to describe Christians without imagination. Christianity Today published an editorial in favor of the books in January 2000, calling the series a "Book of Virtues" and averring that although "modern witchcraft is indeed an ensnaring, seductive false religion that we must protect our children from", this does not represent the Potter books, which have "wonderful examples of compassion, loyalty, courage, friendship, and even self-sacrifice".
Catholicism
The Vatican has taken no official position on the books. However, various officials of the Roman Curia, the hierarchy, and other official bodies have presented mixed views on the subject.
Beginning in 2001, George Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, has occasionally written on the Harry Potter series in his regular column in The Sunday Telegraph <
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