Why Evangelicals Are Wrong to Hate Harry Potter

The objection to books on religious grounds has existed for as long as writing has existed. In the United States, most of the outcry over the content of books now comes from evangelical Christians, and the Harry Potter series has been one of their favorite targets for more than a decade. However, unlike "The DaVinci Code," the Harry Potter books contain no direct attacks on the Christian faith; the objections here are based on a few Bible verses instead.

In both the Old and New Testaments witchcraft, sorcery, divination, and any other type of magic are condemned; all are part of the Potter universe, which in the mind of some puts the books at odds with the only book that matters, the Bible. But is the story of a boy wizard really what the Bible is talking about? Not if you look at some of the verses used to oppose Potter.

The first real mention of magic in the Bible comes early in the Old Testament:

"Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead." Deuteronomy 18:10-11 (NIV)

The first prohibition listed in this verse may be the key: in ancient times, sorcery and human sacrifice often went hand-in-hand, so the elimination of the practice was indeed beneficial to the community. This is certainly not the same thing as a fictional tale of good versus evil where the hero happens to be a young wizard.

Witchcraft comes up again in the New Testament, though interestingly it is Paul who mentions it (Jesus is silent on the subject throughout the Gospels, apparently focusing on what he considered more important topics):

"The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." Galatians 5:19-21 (NIV)

Here you have a long list of things we should avoid in order to live a life pleasing to God, and out of that list the evangelicals pluck "witchcraft" and make it a focal point. I would argue that unless we think that hatred, discord, jealousy, and selfish ambition have all been eradicated already, a work of fiction should be pretty low on the list.

Perhaps the saddest part of this whole situation is that most of those who have protested the Harry Potter books on religious grounds have never read one word of any of the books. They hear the word "wizard" and make their decision based only on that. Yet few of these same opponents protest the wizards of "The Lord of the Rings," or refuse to let their children watch "The Wizard of Oz." In the end, if your faith can be destroyed by an eleven-year-old character in a children's novel, it was a pretty weak faith to begin with.