Some Christians have taken a strong stance against the Harry Potter series. Somehow they’ve become convinced that the Harry Potter series is somehow tied to evil and witchcraft. I think if you are going to declare war on Harry Potter because it is about wizards and witches then you need to toss out your TV, your VCR, your DVD Player, any Gaming systems, your magazines, your newspapers, your computers, your radio’s (including in your car), and any other thing that may contain something that the Bible speaks against. You will also need to close your eyes while you are driving to work so that you don’t accidentally see a billboard or bumper sticker that is Evil. The arguments against the Potter series seem a bit ridiculous to me. I think the controversy surrounding these books is not as much about the fantasy of witches and wizards. I am convinced there are people out there that just want to jump on a bandwagon. Anything they can do to draw attention to themselves is worthy doing.

The other thing that I have a problem with is the fact that almost all of the people who are haters of Harry Potter do not have a problem with Lord of the Rings. Maybe they don’t realize there are a couple wizards in Lord of the Ring and the elves perform magic! I wish people would get some consistency in their lives for a change. Some have even tried to justify wizards in the LOTR series by saying, “Well, Lord of the Rings is written by a Christian author.” Does that make sense? Harry Potter is a wizard and the movies and books about him are labeled as evil, yet Lord of the Rings also contains some wizards and hints of magic, but because it is written by a Christian author it isn’t evil? This begs the question: should we really band together as Christians in our blatant inconsistencies?

In my lifetime I have watched a good many cartoons that contain some form of magic, violence, or other things that we like to blame for our children’s problems. Where were the angry Christians then? No one ever spoke up and declared poor Merlin the WIZARD from the sword and the stone to be evil. Yes, as a small child I watched such retched filth as Wizard of Oz, The Sword and the Stone, and I even watched Wile E. Coyote trying to blow up the Roadrunner BEEP! BEEP! and not to mention bugs bunny dressing up like a girl. But funny thing is, I never wanted to grow up and be a wizard. Watching Merlin the wizard never put the thought in my mind that I too can become a wizard, watching bugs bunny never made me want to dress up like a girl and I have yet to attempt the destruction of my enemies by knocking them off cliffs. Why? Because I knew it was make-believe. Never once did I learn karate and kick booty like the teenage mutant ninja turtles, nor did I ever run off into the forest looking for the Smurfs to protect them from the WIZARD Gargamel. Even as a child I knew that those things were not real. Harry Potter is fantasy, just like these other cartoons and shows that I watched, and it won’t take long for your child to figure out that their broomstick does not really fly and their pet owl will not really deliver any mail.

Being a Youth Minister and being a youth not to long ago, I know that there are far greater things, other than Harry potter, that we should be worried about. Our kids don’t need as much protection from Harry Potter as they do from the things they are getting ready to get into as they go through school. It’s the drugs, the alcohol, and the sex that is killing our kids, not Harry Potter. When these children who have read Harry Potter reach High School they will not be trying to ride to school on their broomstick, but instead they will be riding to school with their friend who just stopped off in the alley to buy a bag of weed so that they can smoke it before class. While they are smokin’ their pot they will be listening to the latest song on the pop station that is basically about having wild sex. This is real life. I get the privilege of seeing kids in Jr high who get stoned and drunk and are involved in sexual conduct and their parents are so clueless that it isn’t even funny. This is the environment kids live in today. Why don’t we quit wasting our time arguing over such a futile thing and start preparing our kids for the nasty world they are forced to live in. I have lived almost 24 years now and not once have I meet a wizard and not once have I been pulled into some witchcraft group that glorifies evil, but I can’t count the number of times I have been in contact with drugs, alcohol, and a number of other harmful and evil things.