THIS CHRISTIAN AND HARRY POTTER

All you have to do to cause trouble in a church is talk about Harry Potter. Many of the fifty-and-older crowd don’t know anything about Harry. Others have read J. K. Rowling’s novels and share my delight in them. But there are some who denounce Harry Potter and all his works and all his ways as the spawn of the Devil. People are entitled to their opinions, of course, though I notice that many of the anti-Potter crowd haven’t actually read any of the books. Well, ignorance has never stopped people from having an opinion about anything. I wish, however, they would refrain from consigning me and other Harry Potter fans to the flames of you-know-where because we don’t agree with them.

The basic objection to Harry Potter is that it is about magic which is contrary to the Christian faith. What does magic mean? Defining magic even in the limited terms of the Bible has proven difficult to scholars. A wide variety of practices are condemned which we tend to lump together under the general term “magic” in English. When I taught religious studies courses, I defined magic as “the practice of manipulating supernatural powers.” Obviously any attempt to manipulate God is contrary to the Christian faith. Furthermore, attempts to call upon demons or evil spirits would be contrary to Christianity.

However, the magic the appears in Rowling’s works doesn’t involve the manipulation of supernatural powers. There are no supernatural powers in Harry Potter’s world at all. Magic is a part of the natural order that some are able to access. Rowling’s magic is a kind of technology, something that parallels science. The muggle (non-magical) community has a science-based technology, the magical community a magic-based technology. The wizard Arthur Weasely (who runs the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts department at the Ministry of Magic) is constantly amazed at the ingenuity of muggles getting by without magic.

Is there a danger that reading the Harry Potter books might lead someone into occult practices? That’s a possibility, but that could also occur from something as apparently innocuous as reading horoscopes in the newspaper. I don’t worry too much about it. Every young person I have talked to who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the movies recognizes that the magical world of Harry Potter is fantasy. None of them seems in the least tempted by occult practices. What’s important is that parents talk to their children about what they read, and even more, what they watch on television. Somewhere recently I saw a statistic (I can’t vouch for it’s accuracy) that fathers spend on average four-and-one-half minutes a day talking to their children. What’s that against five hours of television a day?

I don’t see Rowlings book as being anti-Christian or even anti-religious (unlike the “His Dark Materials” trilogy of Philip Pullman which is decidedly anti-religious). Although Rowling is herself a Christian, the question of the existence of God (or of the Devil) simply doesn’t arise in her writings. But that is true of a lot of literature. The old Dick and Jane readers that many of us Boomers used didn’t touch religious issues either. Rowling tells a good story, complex in plot with interesting characters. The young people in the stories are believable. They’ve got the same kind of strengths and weaknesses that real kids have. It’s just that real kids don’t have to fight dragons or kill basilisks or fell giants with a stone from a sling. Wait a minute; that last one is David in the Bible. Sorry.

The other objection to Harry Potter is that he and his friends are disobedient. They break rules and don’t always listen to their elders. That is certainly true, but isn’t that something we actually encourage in children? We warn youngsters about “stranger danger,” adults who must not be listened to because they may harm a child. In the real world not all adults are trustworthy. So it is in the fantasy world as poor Harry who is marked for death by the evil Lord Voldemort knows.

What is frequently missed by Rowling’s critics is her use of a virtue-based ethic rather than a rule-based ethic. Throughout the books the virtues of love, courage, loyalty, wisdom, and persistence are emphasized. Often when Harry creates a problem for himself it is because of a lack of virtue, most frequently of patience or self-discipline.

Virtue-based ethics have had a long tradition in Christianity. Too often it is assumed that Christianity only employs a rule-based ethic. That is not true. Unlike Judaism or Islam, Christianity does not have the complex legal system required to work a divine-command ethic. To be sure, there are apodictic rules, the Ten Commandments, that are embraced by Christians, but religions that rely on laws alone need a system for interpreting the law and applying it particular situations. Just try putting a bunch of assorted Christians together and have them interpret the law “You shall not kill” as it applies to self-defense, war, capital punishment, birth control, abortion, embryonic stem cell research, end of life issues, and gun regulation. It would be impossible to find agreement on how the command is to be applied. Then for good measure throw in Jesus’ teaching: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire” (Mat 5:21-22). The legalistic approach doesn’t get us very far.

There is great value in teaching virtue. William J. Bennett, a Christian and certainly no liberal, insists, “formation of character in young people is educationally a different task from, and a prior task to, the discussion of great, difficult ethical controversies” (The Book of Virtues, 12). We should seek to develop virtue and then try to determine what right actions are in particular situations rather than trying to create rules to cover every possible situation.

Yes, Harry Potter is a rule breaker. So was Jesus. No, I’m not equating Harry and Jesus. Harry is not the Savior, and he is far from perfect. That imperfection is part of his appeal. He’s like all of us, imperfect. If his sometimes bad example exposes some of the imperfection in us, so much the better.

You know, I wouldn’t mind having Harry and his friends as traveling companions on my pilgrimage. Even though Harry’s got a temper, he’s braver than I am. Even though Ron is afraid of spiders, he’s more loyal than I am. And even though Hermione is an insufferable know-it-all, she isn’t as bad as I am. She doesn’t maintain a blog to share odd opinions with people.

May the Lord God bless you on your way and greet you on your arrival.

Wayne