The First Church of Slytherin

Dumbledore's Army is ready to start training in theaters all over the world this summer. Another group is training too. Conservative Evangelic Christians are preparing with scripture, doctrine and prayers to denounce the story of the boy wizard and his friends. It's always seemed unconceivable that a series of books inspiring kids and adults to read, based on the ideas of sacrificial love, friendship and self-honesty would draw the ire of churches. After all whether Professor Dumbledore tells Harry, "...love as powerful as your mother's for you leaves its own mark"[1] or Jesus tells the disciples in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give you, love one another" its still the same message.

Conservative churches have long claimed it's not the message but the witchcraft that is the major problem. That's curious too. Fairy tales with witches have been told in Christian households for generations. Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, and Rapunzel all had witches. Of course, they were all bad people. Then there's Cinderella's fairy godmother, she was supernaturally good, and that great American fairy tale The Wizard of Oz which has a good witch and a bad witch. So, is it child witches that are the problem? That would be news to Roald Dahl who wrote Matilda (among other witchy tales), an international best seller for children. I don't recall the churches of my childhood burning comic books with Casper's friend, Wendy the Good Witch and I never heard a sermon about Samantha on Bewitched. In short, the witchcraft is only an issue when it's covering up the real problem. The real problem conservatives have with Harry Potter isn't powers, its projection.

Projection is a psychoanalytic term that simply means the things we hate in other people (or books) are reflections of things we don't' like to admit about ourselves. From the antagonist of Harry's world, old you-know-who, and his followers from Slytherin House comes a picture fundamentalist churches can't stand because it's too much like looking in a mirror.

Intolerance

"Mudblood's a really foul name for someone who is Muggle-born - you know, non-magic parents. There are some wizards - like Malfoy's family - who think they are better than everyone else because they're what people call pure-blood."[2]

Although the ecumenical movement has swept through mainstream Protestant churches, creating a new dialogue between denominations and religions about common themes of faith it seems to have missed the conservative sector. Resistant to any belief but their own, fundamentalist churches decry any theological idea or difference that suggests their way is not the only way. People reflecting the diverse cultural fabric of our world, interracial or inter-religious couples, homosexuals, or liberal thinkers are shunned and sometimes taunted by right-wing leaders.

About the struggles for marriage equality in the United States, Rev. J. David Hoke of New Horizons Community Church writes, "You recall that God made one man and one woman. God didn't create two men; it wasn't Adam and Steve. He didn't create two women; it wasn't Alice and Eve".[3] Ministers from many conservative pulpits have rallied around this pronouncement to ridicule and deride those who would seek the church and the institution of marriage for its comfort and sanction.

Just as Salazar Slytherin has no tolerance for people not of "pure blood", mainstream churches wince when they see their own rhetoric displayed so openly before them. They too work and wait for the day one will rise that will help them either convert the worthy to their point of view, or rid the church of all those not up to the Slytherin standards of purity.

Agenda

"And thirdly, as a teacher, he would have had great power and influence over young witches and wizards. Perhaps he had gained the idea from Professor Slughorn, the teacher with whom he was on the best terms, who had demonstrated how influential a role a teacher can play. I do not imagine for an instant the Voldemort envisaged spending the rest of his life at Hogwarts, but I do think that he saw it as a useful recruiting ground, and a place where he might begin to build himself an army."[4]

Slytherin isn't just one of the four houses at Hogwarts that wants to win the House Cup. Slytherin house members have much bigger ideas about taking control of the wizarding world, reigning over muggles and mudbloods alike and creating an empire where their ideas of power are the status quo. Of course, some good hearted Hufflepuff or young Gryffindor always manages to foil their scheme. But the plan, put into practice from the beginning of Tom Riddle's time as the heir of Slytherin, has always been in place.

Right wing churches also have an agenda. It began with local governments and elected positions, and it grew. Soon mega churches with tremendous political influence were preaching values from the pulpit to the political arena and the church became a major player in politics. Conservative churches have taken credit for everything from the 2004 re-election of President Bush to the stricter leanings of the Supreme Court. They have also started building their own army of the future by encouraging home schooling. This one sided educational conduit which limits voices of diversity and enforces the views of a conservative hierarchy has the potential to build quite an army for right-wing factions.

Political Research Associates reports: "The rise of the Christian counter-culture may be seen most dramatically in the separatist Christian home schooling movement. The "right" to home school children, part of the Republican Party platform since the 1980's, provides support for Christian Right legislative efforts to allow home schooling at the state level. Estimates of the number of home schooling families vary wildly, but may be a million."[5]

By encouraging children to learn from their books, their views and their parents, a stronghold is created more frightening than any of the Death Eaters following their leader blindly into battle.

Perhaps conservative churches rail against this projected image of their own underpinnings because they know war is coming. They certainly wouldn't want an innocent series of children's stories about the power of friendship, loyalty and justice tip off the liberals that their plan continues unabated.

What would happen if mainline and liberal churches, free thinkers and academics became inspired to find the magic in their own voices? What if the wands they use to vote, and the brooms they ride with pride become so well used that changes occur all across the landscape of this country? When the teachers allow schools of thought and opportunity to be open to all people, and the diviners predict equality, the Slytherin church will lose its battle after all. There may be sacrifices, even deaths, before the culture war is over. But once it's all done, the snake will slither back into the ground, and the imagination of J.K. Rowling will find itself back on the bookshelf of every school and every library free to be read by any who needs a little magic in life. That's a story worth telling.

[1] Rowling, J.K., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic Press, 1998

[2] Rowling, J.K., Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic Press, 1999

[3] Hoke, J. David, "Broken Ties", What's A Church To Do? , 2003

[4] Rowling, J.K., Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. New York: Scholastic Press, 2005

[5] "The Growth of the Christian Counter-Culture", The Public Eye Magazine, 2007