My guess is that most people on this forum have either read some of the Harry Potter books or have seen some of the Harry Potter movies, or you have children who are very much into these things.

If so, this is a YouTube video that you have GOT to see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iKfFnABBis

Most people think that Harry Potter is a safe, fun, fantasy world that is great entertainment for our children, but as the film shockingly shows, that is not the case at all.

Did you know that the Harry Potter series describes witchcraft and the Occult with amazing precision and accuracy?

Did you know that the Harry Potter series is doing an amazing job of recriting our children into Occult religions?

One of the most stunning things in the film is the way that children describe the impact that Harry Potter has had on them. What the children have to say about Harry Potter will blow your mind.

Trust me, you will never look at Harry Potter the same way again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iKfFnABBis

So what do you all think? After learning the things in the YouTube clip I know my outlook is different. Do the rest of you still think Harry Potter is a good thing for our society?

Did you know that Harry Potter was officially sanctioned as good family entertainment suitable for Catholics by the Pope. THE POPE...are you going to sit there and tell me some conspiracy theorists know more about the religious implications of a film than the freakin' pope?!?

(puts on his tin foil hat)

This is all a conspiracy theory, with no truth to it. Harry Potter has no close association with the Wiccan religion at all.
If you were to think that a fantasy story such as this would be detrimental to society, then you would also have to believe that Brothers Grimm stories were also, and also Hans Christian Anderson.
They are all fantasy stories, simply made for entertainment purposes, nothing else.
The video shows no evidence of a link between Harry Potter and any real satanic or wiccan practices. And the supposed letters from children?? I don't beleive that for a second. If children actually believe those things, then it is the fault of the parents for not teaching their children that such things as magic are not real. Harry Potter is no more believable than any other movie or book out there. Are you also going to claim that the Lord of the Rings series has the same effect?? It is also full of wizards, and magic. Yet, I never hear anyone claim such things from it!!
The person who created this video is nothing more than a Christian extremist, looking for reasons to put down anything that might be considered a threat to their own beliefs. And, in doing so, are claiming that Wiccans are evil. Since they think there is a link between Harry Potter and Wiccans, and that it is a bad thing to our society, then they obviously know nothing about the Wiccan religion, or what it entails. The video is nothing more than the ramblings of an obsessive Christian, who is blissfully ignorant of any other religion.
Oh, and just so everyone know, I myself am not a Wiccan.

You probably also think that Yogi bear is a notorius criminal that needs to be stopped by any means necessary, don't cha.

LOAD OF CRAP!
HP is just a good read, that's all.

That is 6 minutes and 3 seconds of my life I will never get back.
What a load of crap.
First off, Harry Potter is a fictional book. I sincerely doubt that J.K Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series to intentionally turn children to some dark arts of conjuring up freezing spells, flying on broom sticks, and shooting lightning bolts out of some wand. Seriously... people really have nothing better to do than to find conspiracy theories in everything. Get a new hobby.
Second of all, I don't really get what the problem is with people finding alternative religions. Yes - parents do like to influence their children to reflect their own personal religions (I was one of them). I don't blame them for sometimes wanting to know about other religions, ideas, opinions... anything! Curiosity is a wonderful thing. Wicca (and I studied Wicca for going on 10 years now), is not a violent religion, it is not an evil religion, it is not a melicious, satanic, overpowering, dominating, or secret religion. More wars, more controversy and more problems have arisen from Christianity, Judiasm, and Catholicism than anything else. I don't hear of any Wiccan wars now do you? And really... have you ever heard of someone *really* flying on a broom stick?
Harry Potter is a fantastical read and has opened up childrens imaginations and have helped give them a thirst for literacy and knowledge. It is not recruiting children to Wicca, Satanism, or anything like that.
What a load of crap.

I agree, Ive seen this before. Hp is just a good story.

"'the harry potter books showed me that magic is real'"

...

...

...

HAHAHAHAhAHAHAHAhAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

You're kidding, right?



Is that a fact? I find this the most silliest, offensive part of your whole post.



I think of all the things that I've learned today is that you are intolerant, misinformed, and offensive. I think that if you are spreading your distaste and uninformed, illogical viewpoints, that's more poison than any of JK Rowlings books will ever be. Just my opinion, of course.

PS, if you don't understand why I am so angry towards your post, try inserting "Christian" where ever you've typed "occult" and "witchcraft". You'll see what I mean.

PPS, have you ever read the Narnia Series??? Some say its supposed to be Christian based, but see, I don't believe everything I read, and also, I do know that the books are fiction - wonderful books, but fiction.

Nothing but Fundie bull.

Due to the HP series,people are learning (and relearning) the joy of reading.

It's such a shame that most of the Fundie freaks who pitch a fit about this stuff have never actually sat down to read the books.If they did,they might actually learn something.

I would rather my daughter become interested in Wicca than whatever fundamentalist, judgmental religion you claim to be representing.

At least she will have friends.

I'm not surprised. According to certain fundies, the Catholic church is the Whore of Babylon.

This is just uneducational dribble. Harry Potter shows right from wrong, good versus evil. One simple youtube video changed your outlook? I think you already had that outlook and were looking for justification for it. If some adults can't understand the difference between fact and fiction...it's pretty sad that millions of kids can when adults can't.

HA I bet your the same dude who posted the youtube video. I watched Rocky its not like I became a boxer. I doubt J.K. Rowlings had any alliance with the wiccan religion. And the wiccan religion doesn't sound half-bad. Your just finding excuses. I hate christian extremist find everything out of nothing. I am guessing we got another drive-by poster

No, I think the topic starter has a good point- I'm 14, I read a fantasy book, I think I'll believe and worship centaurs and house-elves. Stupid idiots, when will we ever have some good entertainment that isn't criticized by attention-seeking morons?

If nobody guessed, that first part was sarcasm.

There is a whole multi part video series by more than one televangelist on "The evils of Harry Potter". Basically its a money making venture, they want to cash in on the whole Harry Potter franchise and get angry that a successful single mom made so much money they'll never see.

You can have the picnik baskits back, onyx. We were just hungry for some sandwiches, theres no need to send the hounds...

I absolutely agree with you. Its a great series of books that I am just about done with reading. Half way through the sixth book. And I am 34 years old! Its not just a kids book, but is in my opinion kid safe, meaning you don't have a lot of crap, its a good story with great characters. And oh my god don't forget the stiring of children's imaginations. The anti-christ of all religions is children imagining. Also its a work of fiction, last time I checked wands don't work when waved around and there's no such thing as a polyjuice potion.

(Edit) Holy crap I forgot about house elves, god i wish they were real so I can have my house cleaned up and not have to worry about it!

LOL, you and me both!

Isn't it funny? I read a wonderful book by John Granger--a Christian, student of classical literature who homeschools his seven children--which examines how J.K. Rowling has used Christian symbology throughout the books.

My wife, son, daughter, and I made a family time out of reading the series, and enjoyed the books greatly.

Children love stories with magic in them because it gives 'power' to a powerless group, ie children. I actually have found the Harry Potter series incredibly moral and life affirming stuff.

I think there is a mishmash of symbology from various cultures/belief systems and of course JK Rowling’s own creative brain.

Actually C.S. Lewis was what you'd call a Christian, but also he had something that most religious people in Christianity today don't have, which is common sense. He had a real firm grasp of what reality was and a great imagination to share and sculpt his ideas upon. But I've also seen christians attack his writings too, which if you know anything about him or what he was, is absolute religious rhetoric.

What does scare the crap out of me with people starting threads like this is that they seem to portray a need to have censorship. There is/has never been nor will ever be a book that deserves to be censored. Even the most evilest book anyone can possibly think of should exist as a demonstration of what we should avoid in life. To try and censor something in any way is to show that your beliefs and or idiology is something that can not stand scrutiny and that your platform is weak. Now there is age discrimination, a 10 year old shouldn't be reading penthouse letters, but I think that comes from parenting and common sense, not a government or society or religious zelots telling us what is right and wrong to read/write or think.

my son is only 3 years old and got a new one coming in a week from today so they a little too young to sit and listen, but I look forward to doing the same with my children when they get a little older. Hopefully in a year or two. Don't need the Lord Volermort nightmares at this time hehe.

They relate the s.s from hitler with Harry Potter's scar. So let me get this straight Harry Potter is nazi. Yea and on a view of the deleted scenes they said George Bush is

Actually C.S. Lewis was atheist for 16 years of his life then became Anglican.

My mention of CS Lewis wasn't based on MY knowledge of the man, but just what some say of his books. But ya, good and interesting points everyone.

I'd rather my kids learn their morals from Harry Potter than the bible. HP has more of a "be good because it's the right thing to do" message instead of "be good because god will punish you if you're not".

after seeing this...i thought this was just a horrible way to "recerut" people to become Christians and satanist say white magic is the same as black magic just because they believe in all weird stuff. but this video puts wicca to a bad name wicca is not satanism etc.

You're like my grandma. She calls me a 'demon child' just because I'm atheist, even though I'm old enough to run her over with my awesome set of wheels. And my 666 numberplate. =_=;

I'm not going to watch that video, 1. Because it will slow down my RuneScape play, and 2. Because I think it would be a waste of time.

If anything encourages kids/teens to turn to Wicca, it's Charmed. Heh. ;P -hides box sets-
The kids have probably never heard of the word 'Wicca'.


Ehm. Who says it's not? Perhaps not Alohamora, Wingardium Levoisa magic, but we certainly have a fair amount of believers on this forum. And I agree with previous posters - Wicca isn't all bad. Devout, uber-paranoid Christians and/or Catholics probably get a reaction similiar to "Burn them, BURN THEM ALL!" when they hear about this stuff.


.. What a load of crap.
*brick'd for plagiarism*

first off, magic isn't real at all, other than making you think you have some false sense of control within your own created reality. Second off, on defense of religion, there are many many people out there that are not zelots. Only a few that are really load at what they say, and get the attention from their skewed views. Just like rabid anti-christians out there.

Not to turn this into a debate, but the supernatural would be called 'magic' by young children, wouldn't it? And on defense of.. ME (xD), I'm not an anti-Christian for the record, I just decided to take a neutral path ever since I learned to read and actually understand my family's religious views. My father's Buddhist and my mother's side is Christian, so I have an open mind for both views.

BUT, this is about Harry Potter being a Nazi, isn't it? ;P

To those who believe HP is a way to recruit kids into magic, I would like to ask HOW?

In the book, those who have the ability to do magic, are born that way, and have to have at least one parent that can do so. That pretty much tells any kid that might believe the story could be true, that unless mom and/or dad can do magic, then they won't be able to either. You can stick whatever you like inside a stick, wave it around and say latin sounding words all you like, and nothing is going to happen. The closest thing to any real magic is the potions, which is just a mixing of various herbs.(chemistry)

I enjoyed all the books and the movies. (tho the last movie seemed a bit....hurried)

I always noticed when ever Fundies (or Pagan-haters as I call them) complain about stuff like this, I find they can't read.

I'm not surprised. I even read a Catholic magazine (which was intended for kids) that forbid their readers to read mangas or watch cartoon/anime such as Dragonball or Sailormoon

Yay! It's so true, isn't it?

Categorizing things by type into 'good' and 'evil' boxes releases them from any responsibility to educate themselves.

You pagans want to recruit my children with wand-waving and make-believe characters? You go right ahead.

Do you know how many people who have run down the Hp books and movies have never read or watched them? It is all on hearsay from someone else? I can't understand how someone can call down a story that they haven't a clue as to what it is all about. It's pretty sad.

Because they're morons.

Last year there was a thread here on UM that was about a mom who was attempting to get the HP books banned from the local schools.She failed,of course,and had mentioned that she had never read the books herself.Instead,she relied upon information given to her by someone else (probably her charismatic Fundie leader)...information which was completely wrong.

This is why I always tell people that they should look into things for themselves and not to trust anything blindly.

Harry Potter=Satan's Little Messenger.
Check this out: How to organize a Harry Potter book burning in your town...

Okay, for the supposed letters from children, most of them said something like "I wish I could go to wizards school so i could learn magic!" not "I wanna learn magic so I can curse everyone and worship satan."

And about the 13 year-old who said it was "cool" when Voldemort killed the unicorn and drank its blood. I am also 13 and though "cool" wasn't the word I used to describe that scene (only because I don't like animals being killed), I am into gore and things like that. You have to understand that 13 IS a teenager, and we like those kinds of things. Probably about 90% of the guys and 30% of the girls I know that are my age would think that that scene is "cool".

And I have read much darker children's books. "Firewing" by Kenneth Oppel is about a bat who gets sucked into the underworld, where he is being hunted down by this other bat, who plans to take his life and give it to this death god, so he can merge the two worlds of the living and dead and rule them both, not to mention punish all humans, who have stopped worshiping him (he is based off an ancient Aztec god)In the end the bat makes it home but the other bat makes it back to the world of the living and plans to make a group of followers and gather 100 live sacrifices to kill on a solar eclipse, then the god will rise and merge the two worlds and rule as originally planned. Even though its really dark, it's still one of my favorite books and not just for kids.

Seeing that kids nowadays have the attention span of a headless cockroach, how would they be expected to learn magic which takes time, effort and patience? Naw, I think the HP books are simply Tom Brown with a bit of magic thrown in and set ion modern times. A good read but not exactly true to the practice of magic

It really isn't that different from the Satanic Verses controversy, when Ayatollah Khomeini put out a fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, over a book he probably couldn't read even if he wanted to.

This all reminds me of a situation I had when I was growing up. We had a family a couple of houses down from me who's church were all religious extremests. None of them beleived in owning televisions, radios, mirrors, or even books that were written for entertainment, only education. All this was back in the early to mid 80's
Anyway, one of the people in their church dreamt that they died, went to hell, and while there, saw the outline of a Smurf(yep, you read that correctly). So, everyone in the church, including my neighbors, took a heavy stance on the beleif that Smurfs were evil, and were a symbol of satan, therefore, anyone who watched the show was a satan worshipper. They wouldn't let their childre play with any of the kids in the neighborhood, because they all liked the Smurfs.
Now, the irony is, that a group of religious people beleive that a TV show is based in satanism, when none of them are allowed to own TV's, so could not watch the show. They were making wild assumptions about something they knew absolutely nothing about.

Which seems to be what the people in the video, and obviously the poster, are doing. People need to educate themselves about something before making judgements on it, otherwise your just making uneducated, ignorant, assupmtions that are not based in fact or reality.

What are you doing here????

Oh my that made me spit tea over my desk. Hail the mighty evil Papa Smurf, and his demon temptress the girl smurf I can't remember the name of..hehe

That is from the link Fylgia posted....



Ermm.. I have no problem with Christianity at all. But are these people r******ed?

Wow - I am completely blown away by the amount of idiocy composed together in that very large Super-Christian paragraph. Lawl, they rather have their children watch 2girls1cup than read a sentence from Harry Potter. It is good to have faith - yes. It is good to believe in what you want - but you should respect other peoples beliefs as well - yes. It is good to claim a potential connection between the forces of Satan and book series meant for pure entertainment - did you get dropped on your head? In all honesty...I am laughing hysterically. Screw Comedy Central! If I need a good laugh I will simply find the book , "Super-Christian Followers and the ignorant crackpot theories of Harry Satan".

Lol. At first I agreed with you... but then I read it again and saw 'Pastor Deacon Fred'....
The whole thing is making fun of Fundamentalist Christians. Pastor Deacon Fred is like one of the top honchos at Landover Baptist, a site which Completely makes fun of Conservative Christianity.

Seriously though, the whole "LOL Harry Potter is EVIL'" thing makes no sense. I mean, think of all the other movies, books, literature, music that has witchcraft, wizardry, etc. This encompasses a ton of Children's books today.

Personally, I just think the ChristoFascists are worried HarryPotter will outsell their silly book of myths.

Gods if this was true... imagine all the cash I'd save being able to magic things up. Oooh boy. XD

Well, I've read some of the books and am a fan of the movies, but I will be honest and say that I'm fairly certain there is esoteric knowledge within the story. You just have to know what to look for. For instance, the deal with magical bloodlines. Yes, there are actually families that consider themselves descendants of witches and wizards, ancient hidden knowledge and such. Also, look at the names of most of the Black family members: all astrological. And what about the viel? Read your Old Testament.