What would Jesus say to Harry Potter?
By Pete and Esther Chilvers
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The phenomenon of Harry potter cannot be missed. A third of a Billion books have been sold worldwide, it has been translated into 65 languages and the popularity of Harry has made J.K Rowling the second richest woman in show-business with a personal fortune of £510 million ($1 Billion). In the US alone, the seventh book – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours.
The seven part adventures of Harry are here to stay and we need to get used to him being around. For Christians in particular, far from being able to brush him under the carpet as a passing fad, we need to think carefully and thoughtfully about how we react to these well written, engaging and rapidly consumed stories of 3 young friends trained in the arts of Wizardry and Witchcraft.
The church in the west has been divided by the Harry Potter phenomenon. There have been three lines of thought about the books and about the stories that unfold from the books.
The first is that JK Rowling’s books make witchcraft fun and seem harmless and therefore lure people and most dangerously children into a seemingly attractive world of occultism. Some have called for the books to be banned from local Libraries and schools because they believe them to be opening a door to the dangerous world of witchcraft and the occult.
The second group say that the stories are based on sound moral values and make a superb staring point for discussion about the Christian worldview. Moreover the ‘witchcraft’ involved is unrelated to the evil, supernatural realm we’d wish to avoid.
T he third group is less of a line of thought and more the point that many people haven’t really thought about the issues involved nor engaged with the possible issues. They may consider the phenomenon good clean fun. “If she gets children reading, good for her.” This lack of consideration is a strange stance to take as the stories will stand as classics for generations to come. As the Chairman of the Frankfurt Book Fair commented in 2002, “The industry depends on two young men: Jesus Christ on the one hand and Harry potter on the other.”
So what should we do with Harry Potter, indeed what would Jesus say to Harry Potter?
The Harry Potter Debate is a debate about which people tend to have passionately held views and it is important that when talking to people about what we think about Harry Potter from a Christian perspective we must make sure -
- That each person assesses each side’s different convictions with maturity, compassion and careful discernment
- That we consider how our contributions to the debate affect our witness to the non-Christian community in which we live and work.
At points, the debate – even amongst Christians, has been less than gracious. Disturbing things have been written - both subtle and blatant, that have been included in many criticisms of Harry Potter . Quotations taken out of context and reinterpreted with no regard for their place within the whole story, simple factual errors and distorted half-truths are woven together with truth in a way that confuses and misleads those who are not familiar with the original sources—the actual published Harry Potter books.
To take one very common example, a critic may list the several kinds of divination mentioned in the story (crystal ball gazing, tea-leaf reading, astrology and so on) but forget to mention the fact that these activities are constantly ridiculed by Harry and all his respected classmates and teachers as a boring, useless waste of time and energy. The practice of divination is described in the books but it is not encouraged: instead it is torn to shreds and ground underfoot.
Clearly there are some important issues of caution or warning when we approach the Harry Potter books.
Harry Potter and Witchcraft
The Harry Potter stories are intricate plots based around witches and wizardry, fantastical creatures, spells and potions. Harry, a young wizard in training at Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry is destined for big things – in particular a battle of epic proportions with his arch-enemy – indeed the enemy of all that is good, Lord Voldermort. But for Christians, witchcraft is a no-go area. Deuteronomy 18:10-12 makes very plain God’s attitude towards witchcraft
“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 seas. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.”
The New Testament repeats this stance towards witchcraft. In Galatians [1] , Paul lists the acts of the sinful nature including “idolatry and witchcraft” and stands them in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit.
There are a number of things to be said about the Bibles stance on witchcraft.
Firstly, the Bible speaks against those who ‘do these things’. The Galatians verses speak of acts of the sinful nature. Reading a fictional book about a young wizard is not ‘doing these things’. J. K. Rowling herself denies the claim that the Harry Potter books are intended to provoke an interest or seduce children into witchcraft. She herself doesn’t believe it.
“I am not trying to influence anyone into black magic. That’s the very last thing I’d want to do…..my wizarding world is a world of the imagination. I think it’s a moral world.” [2]
Those who have read any of the books or seen the films will have found that, particularly earlier in the series, much of the spell casting fails often with humorous results. The tone of the books, for the most part are fantastical, a world of make believe. This is a far cry from the witchcraft opposed in the Bible.
In fact, the style in which the books are written is a classic fantasy style. Even for young children who are still in the stages of establishing the differences between truth and fiction they are brought into a world in which everything has to be explained. Football is replaced by quiddich, PE by flying, walking or diving to school be taking the train from platform 9 ¾ which can only be reached by running through a wall between platform 8 and 9, having pet owls who deliver your mail and then the mail talks to you – the list goes on.
If the stories were based in a ‘normal’ school, about children who just had extraordinary talents or super powers this debate would not be happening! Where is the debate about Superman, Spiderman etc?
These stories are myths. Stories that contain profound truths about human existence, we are all growing though life, we will face difficulties and dangers and have to face them. Myths function to allow us to see our lives in then context of the fictional character’s choices, decisions and the subsequent consequences.
However, it would be naïve to think that there is no link between Harry Potter fantasy and genuine occult practice and 21st Century witchcraft. Anything that opens the door in vulnerable minds to the harmful practices opposed in the Bible needs to be handled with real care and caution. This of course, this should be the case with all literature. After all, witchcraft, at heart is another form of idolatry (as Paul makes clear in Galatians), just like greed, impurity, coarse joking, lust etc. It is putting your trust in something, or someone other than the Grace of God, whether it be yourself and your desires, demons and devils or your bank balance. Are we as animated about our children reading books that encourage those forms of idolatry as we are about Harry Potter?
No doubt, Jesus would want to speak to Harry about the dangers of witchcraft, and we would be well advised to think hard about what is really going on in these books, protecting our young people from potential harm whilst giving them the skills, at an appropriate age to discern for themselves what is helpful and what is not.
Harry Potter’s world view
The Harry Potter books are books that deal with moral issues. In some ways events, themes and relationships between characters reflect something of the nature of a good God and the values on which his kingdom is based. Harry Potter’s world is one in which love, truth, hope, grace, freedom with responsibility, self-sacrifice, mercy, courage and service to others are fundamental to life and the triumph of goodness over evil.
And themes which run throughout the books contain messages of the importance of:
- commitment to friendship and love event to the point of willingness to self-sacrifice
- Standing out as different – for what’s right
- Aspire to be the best you can.
A second, and probably more important thing Jesus might make clear to Harry is that his ‘world view’ is inadequate and misses out on the crucial absolute.
To a degree, Harry Potter is a moral tale. But his morality is limited.
Throughout the books, the characters make their moral judgements on what they deem to be the right thing to do. In their struggle against the powerful and prevailing force for evil, Lord Voldermort, Harry, Hermione and Ron are constantly making judgements as to what is right and what is wrong. Professor Dumbeldore, their wise mentor guides them along the path, but there is no clear dividing line between good and evil – it is a relative and movable feast because there is no absolute and ultimate power for good. There is no God to whom Harry can look for guidance and clear direction, and so he is left to his own devices.
But before we once again throw stones, just look around. Isn’t that the world most people believe (wrongly) that they are living in? It is no surprise that the world Rowling has written about mirrors peoples perceptions of our world and our cultural outlook.
Jesus, in Mark 6:34 has real compassion on a large crowd who gather to see him because they were “like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things” Sheep without a shepherd deserve compassion and teaching, explanation that we have a Father who is absolutely true, faithful strong loving and just – one on whom you can look to for wisdom, help in life’s decision making, standing against evil and living for good.
A reading of Harry Potter with this worldview in mind creates opportunities for discussion about how Harry makes his decisions, about how different it might be if he knew a God who was true and loved him. Harry’s morality is limited because he has no absolute – his world view is inadequate, but our children’s needn’t be. There is a real potential to learn about our culture and it’s separation from the gospel as we read Harry Potter
The potential learning for adults and children
Looking at our society it is very clear that people, being inherently spiritual beings don’t live in a morally and spiritually neutral world. It is also true that we are all much more influenced by what goes into and captures our imaginations that we are by reasoned and logical arguments. That is why as humans, we can’t live without stories, we form folk law, fairy stories and moral tales and we tell stories about what we did last week on holiday – it’s how we work. It is no surprise that the Bible is made up primarily of stories.
If you read the Bible it’s clear what God wants us to use our imaginations for. The Bible itself starts and ends with inspiring our imaginations to begin to grasp what God’s perfection, and His home for us is like. Paul is very clear about how we should train our imaginations. In Philippians 4v8 he says
“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things”
We should encourage our imaginations – wisely and prayerfully. Teach and train in what is good and warn about what might not be helpful and training with care and caution.
What does training with care and caution look like? Well, discussion of the following themes and their relations to the themes in Harry Potter is a good place to start.
- God sets the standards for life and what is good
- God answers prayer
- The Bible is there to help us know how he wants us to live and the Holy Spirit is there to guide us
- There is no need to fear evil – God’s perfect love drives out all fear
- The Real and undeniable power of the occult and real witchcraft-mustn’t but underestimated or played with but held in the context that Christ came into the world and released people from the power of evil and what’s more than that, he is seated at the right hand of the father, setting himself above all other spiritual and mortal beings in the universe, and not only that he has given this authority to his people. At his name the demons flee.
- We don’t have to earn God’s love. He does the saving, we do the being saved!
It is important as Christians that we engage with, not run away from our culture. This does not mean embracing everything blindly, but equally it does not mean living in fear. When it comes to Harry Potter, we have a better story with a greater hero – who is real, alive and at work today. Let us help our children to be inspired by him and live for him in the world God has placed us.
Reading and talking about what you’re reading is so important. If you don’t do it already – have a go! But be prepared to find it weird to start with. If you stick with it I can guarantee that you’ll all find it immensely rewarding! You might find it helpful to do it at the same time each day – something you all really look forward to!
The following questions are designed to be used in connection with Harry Potter books but could be used with any book or story – even the Bible.
Children are all different and develop differently, so if you’re unsure as to whether your child could manage a particular book here’s some questions that might help.
Questions to ask BEFORE reading the books…
· How sensitive is my child?
· How will they react to the fantasy stories?
· Will they enjoy sharing the book with you?
· How will they cope with us discussing it?
· Are they mature enough to see that we can criticise and disagree with what we are reading?
Here are some questions that will start a conversation between you and your child about what you are reading. It is more important that you dialogue with your child than they answer you questions so let the chat flow and guide them as you talk. Most of all it’s really important to find out what they’re really thinking and talk about that than to tell them what Jesus would door what the ‘right’ answer is!
Questions to ask whilst reading the books…
· What do you think is going on here?
· How does this fit into what we believe as Christians?
· What do you think you might do in this situation?
· What’s your favourite bit so far?
· What’s been the scariest bit so far?
· What’s been the most confusing thing so far?
The discussion doesn’t have to end then! Weeks after you’ve finished reading the book you could still be talking about it!
Discussions to have AFTER reading the books…
· Do you remember when we read about…?
· Have you thought any more about…?
· I’ve been thinking about what you said when we were talking about…
· Have you talked to anyone else about what we were reading? What did they think?
It is my belief that banning the Harry Potter books (above a certain age) will only lead to a raised interest and excitement level when all their friends are talking about it (they will be with 330 million sold!). But similarly, letting any impressionable mind read it unchecked, without discussion and explanation is a risky business. It seems to me that letting older children read it with discussion from a responsible adult will lead to the child learning to differentiate and discern what is potentially harmful from what is good literature and be able to develop skills to tread the path of a faithful disciple of Christ in the minefield that is the 21st Century.
[1] Galatians 5:19
[2] USA Weekend, 12-14th November 1999