Harry Potter Debate...grrrowl...

[XantheStar]

Okay, my brother goes to a Lutheran school, and they showed him harry Potter : Witchcraft Repackaged. <I think it's called that.> If you've seen or heard of it, you know the bent facts and distortions that these people put into it. Making it seem like there's some vast comspiracy, makingnit seem like a book is pure evil, and that J.K. Rowling is the devil.

My brother and I got into a fight. I was trying to show him how the video twists and changes the story. But everytime I tried to tell him, he brought up some 'fact' form the video. I was enraged. I mean, he has a right to his opinion, but he would refuse to listen to the dead facts...

..has anyone else had this problem with a family member? I mean, it just upsets me...

[Radocs]

My mother can be really stubborn sometimes. It doesn't matter how much proof and evidence you've got to support whatever you're arguing, if she doesn't want to believe it, she isn't going to believe it. I just don't argue with her anymore.:rolleyes:

[MistOfTheSea86]

The best thing you can do is just let him rant and rant about how "Harry POtter is the product of Satanism" Because all it is mindless Jabber. If you all ready know that what he saying is wrong then just smile and nod, and if he asks you for your opinion tell him. SAdly sometimes you can't get through peoples thick skulls, you got to let them figure it out for themselves.

[Armitage]

If it were my brother I'd be buying those novelty HP candy items (yknow, the jellybeans, the Chocolate Frogs, etc.) and leaving them all over his room. But then again that might be mean.
Mwahahahaha. :devil:

[MagickHLHgurl]

I have problems with my family....mostly around sabbats and esabats because they refuse to admit they are special days for me....i think the worst was halloween last year....ohh im not even gonna get started

[Phoenix]

People can believe what they want about the Harry Potter books and the Movie. I've been a big fan since they first hit Canada. And one thing that no one can argue against is the fact that they have gotten kids reading again! Even those who just saw the movie went out and bought the other books in the series because they just couldn't get enough. If rational people were really that concerned about the so-called saten worshipping content then they wouldn't buy the books for their kids, and the series wouldn't be the top rated among kids books and the movie as well.

oh and one should note that in the series the kids fight AGAINST evil, they don't worship it.

[Myst]

Obviously he doesn't know better so why care?

I mean you can't educate people who won't be educated. *shrugs*

[TheTheologin]

People will always believe what they want to believe. If he doesn't want to understand your thought on Harry Potter then I'd say.......just leave it alone. Let him go on believing what he chooses to believe. He seems to be dead set against believing that the movie is not evil and until he's ready to listen to your view point you are just waisting your breath and upsetting yourself. As the old saying goes "Live and let live". When he's ready he'll ask you questions.

[rainmaker]

For a bit of a contrasting viewpoint, I took my mother, who is a born-again Christian, to see it. She thought it was cute and didn't see where it could be corrupting the kids who read the books because she saw that the message being delivered was a good one.

Kids believe in magic regardless of religious persuasion. It's called imagination.... Kids lose thier innocence all to quickly these days, and putting up a fight about a book that teaches bravery/compassion/trust/yadda.yadda.yadda is just doing more harm than good. :(

can't see the forest for the trees. sad.

[SnowStar]

Being someone who goes to a Christian school myself, and being familiar with how things are normally run (not just in my school, which is a Catholic school, but in other X-tian schools in the area that are Baptist and Presbryterian) it was poor judgement on the part of the teacher or the administration to show that film. Yes, it is a Christian school so they technically can, however showing something that is so obviously meant as propaganda to impressionable minds is not something that many parochial schools would endorse as far as I know. I mean, in my school, Harry Potter isn't a big deal...in fact the books and movie are quite popular, and even many of the teachers have read and enjoyed them or are planning on reading them. We've even got the books in the library. To contrast, however, my boyfriend's school, which is the local Presbryterian school, doesn't allow Harry Potter to be read on school grounds among a few other restrictions on the "supernatural" and "occult". (Technically, I'm contraband, LOL) However, they do not try and brainwash the students with such propaganda as the film they showed at your brother's school. Obviously the administration or the teacher did not realise that they were dealing with such impressionable minds (or maybe they did and didn't care, but let's try to give them the benefit of the doubt, shall we?) and that maybe also, despite the fact that its a Christian school, there are some people who might be offended. I know that the administration at my school is very careful not to step on anyone's religious toes, because even though its a Catholic school, almost 50% of the student body is made up of Protestant denominations and other faiths (Hindu, Jewish, and Pagan are the ones that come immediately to mind). In fact, most of the parochial schools here are quite the same in that even though its a school run by this specific church, not even a majority of the students subscribe to that exact belief system. I would wager it would be the same anywhere, and though they can't be totally secular, a little tolerance and a little bit better judgement on the part of your brother's school (and any others that might do things similarly) would be nice.

[Xander67]

ok, im gonna rant here:rolleyes:

well I think it may be important to point out at this time that
what is happening here, is a clear and out right

religiously biased/ slanderous/ not to mention the consitutional violations...

this angers me, and it saddens me, yet it does not surprise me,

this has been done for years... and untill someone stands up to these people and files a lawsuit, defending freedom of expression and religion and only after the public sees, that this type of behavior is not only unconstitutional but also counter productive to what many men and women throughtout history dedICATED THIER LIVES TO PROTECT... .... and as long as certian self interest factions think that they can get away with this, it will continue, and from my observation, what is to stop them from bringing this batch of lies into the public schools,,,,,,

what do we tell our children when they come home from school one day and say, "Mom....Dad, my teacher says harry potter is about witchcraft, and she said we worship the devil"

if we tell our children the school is wrong...we get a letter in the mail....

hopefully, it will not come to this, im sure sooner or later, someone will stand up for freedom .. the red white and blue is not just for the xtians, its for all of us

what I see here, is a bunch of people spreading a bunch of lies about a movie that has inspired children to dream again... and no one has the courage to go to a judge and say, hey, this is wrong! (unless of course it is just a publicity stunt aimed at attracting more book sales)

[Xander67]

By the way, I dont know what the law says in Georgia about private schools,

but in NJ, private schools are under the same legal obligations as private schools when it comes to what can be taught and what cannot...

[Dagda Moon~Lily]

<My Personal Opinion>

Personally, I think all the debate is rediculous. I think the book is funny, creative and just a great read. It's not aimed at Wicca, it's not aimed at christians, it's all about the belief of magic. I for one, choose to believe in Magic just like I choose to believe in Miracles, in my book, they are one in the same.

The only fact in regards to the book that I can think of: THE BOOK IS FICTION and labeled as such in all libraries and book stores. Hence it's a work of the imagination and not based on reality.

It's also interesting, 'I've been told' that only in America is it known as the "Sorcerer's Stone" .....elsewhere it's the "Philosopher's Stone".

</My Personal Opinion>

[Xander67]

what is even more hillarious, is when you really stop to think about it

acording to Matthew in the bible
Jesus says the greatest commandment is to "Love Thy God"
and to "Love thy neighbor as thyself"

it doesnt say Love GOD, It says Love your god and love your neighbor as you would love yourself....

yes there are alot of people who call themselves christians
who say Harry Potter is advocating another religion
and these people also , aprently misunderstood what Jesus himself was commanding them tto do its right there in the Bible,
and its funny how they are the ones who do not respect other religions, (Im not saying all christians dont respect other religions,
but there are a few just refuse to live in peace with thier fellow
man"

[Illuminatus]

Brainwashing is a time-honored, cherished and, quite frankly, extremely expensive service.

Send a kid to religious school, and you get what you pay for. Free thinking runs rampant at public schools, and like the name implies, it's free!

[Illuminatus]

Also the movie was dumb, team Hippogriff or whatever only won because that tubby kid tried to stand up to Harry and Co. and all he did was get a spell cast on him and he falls down like a stone. Ten points for that??? WTF?!! Hey can I fall down a flight of stairs to give team Slitheren 50 points? What if I got a concussion, is that worth bonus points??? STUpid.....

[Myst]

Originally posted by Illuminatus
Send a kid to religious school, and you get what you pay for. Free thinking runs rampant at public schools, and like the name implies, it's free!

There's always the option of going to a private nonreligious school if worse comes to worst too.

[Dellit Tandannon]

i went to a private catholic hs. my brain is still dirty. i wouldn't let them wash it :cool:

[SuperHeroGirl]

*ARGH!!* i know what you mean. today at lunch my non-pagan friends started asking me if i could help them with love spells, but i told them that thats not what wicca is. we dont do those kinds of things. then they started asking if it was like "the Craft" and if i could chnage what i look like. jeez!!!!

[Lavender]

Aww! Think of all the fun you could have if you said yes! :lol:

[Garnet]

XantheStar, little brothers are idiots. It's some kind of cosmic law. Both of my little brothers were. But they evntually grew up & developed minds of their own, the way you & I have.
Just think of what we'd miss if everything with magic, witches, etc was banned...Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ali Baba, & so much more.
There was a case here in the U.S. where fundamentalist Christians tried to ban 'The Diary of Anne Frank' from school libraries because she wrote that she thought no religion was better than another.
Some Christians (& people other religions) have such narrow minds their ears rub together.
Has he studied history? If he has, point out that Hitler got started by banning & burning books.
Blessed Be.
Living well is the best revenge.

P.S. Yes it is 'The Sorcerer's Stone' here.

[slovene_gds]

Originally posted by SuperHeroGirl
*ARGH!!* i know what you mean. today at lunch my non-pagan friends started asking me if i could help them with love spells, but i told them that thats not what wicca is. we dont do those kinds of things. then they started asking if it was like "the Craft" and if i could chnage what i look like. jeez!!!!

MM~
Wow.....er......wow. How I love ignorance. If it's not those questions, it's them telling us(or maybe it's just me) that we're evil and "crazy to believe in that stuff".
You should've had fun with that one.
"Can you change how you look?"
"Actually, yes I can. And stop calling me Shannon. I just changed to look like her.......MUAH HA HA HA...."
Eh, just an idea.....sorry to frighten you!

BB~
Bast