Distilling the Harry Potter Arguments
I have been reading the various opinions from Christians regarding the Harry Potter series, and last night I finally realized that there were really only two arguments, and that the difference between them is extremely simple, though not obvious at first (at least to me it wasn’t obvious).
One one hand, you have the basic argument that anything involving witchcraft and magic is evil and should be completely avoided.
The other camp reasons back pointing out that Tolkein and Lewis, some of the most popular Christian writers of all time, made heavy use of witchcraft and magic throughout their fantasy writings. This camp argues that fiction should be read as fiction and analyzed and learned from as such.
Both perspectives can be persuasive at times, depending primarily on how articulate and rational the writer of the opinion is. (There are many non-thinking opinions on various “sides” of this issue as well).
So after reading and analyzing the many nuances of the various arguments for or against allowing Christian young people to read J. K. Rowlings’ Harry Potter books, I have come to the conclusion that the real difference in the perspectives is a bit more subtle. Really, everyone (well, all of the Christian opinions that I’m analyzing) agrees that witchcraft is evil. Everyone also agrees that these are fiction books, as are Tolkein and Lewis. It seems to me that the real underlying difference between the two camps is that the Tolkein and Lewis tales do not have real children at the center of their plots practicing this magic. Sure, the Narnia series have children in a central role, but they are fighting evil through dependence on Aslan, they are not themselves participating in the magical arts (unless my memory fails me, it’s been several years since I have read the series). The same goes for the Lord of the Rings, the characters are not human children.
It seems to me that the underlying unstated, maybe even unrealized, argument against reading the Harry Potter series is that when children read these books, more than in the other two authors’ writings, they identify with the characters who are involved in the witchcraft. They are more likely to imitate and role play, and even integrate it into their non-fantasy lives.
There it is, in a nutshell. Which side of the camp you fall on may not change, but now at least you understand what (I believe) is the underlying difference of opinion between the two sides to this story.
