Harry Potter and the Religious Zealots

Harry Potter has fast become one of the most recognizable names in the world. The star of a series of books by author J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter has become associated with movies, theme park rides, websites etc. Little kids dress up like Harry Potter for Halloween, he's on sheets, and then there is of course this:

This cat wants nothing but death.

What the books don't tell you though, is the deep dark secret of Harry Potter: it's all about witchcraft! Oh, they do tell you that? Wait, it's plastered all over everything associated with Harry Potter? Hogwarts is a school for witchcraft AND wizardry? WTF guys? If it is so obvious that this is about witchcraft and wizardry, then why do good religious parents let their children partake? Isn't this book about a little boy wizard and his friends corrupting souls by creating an interest in the occult and leading people away from the gospel? Hang on one second. Let's step back and reevaluate.

Around the time that the third Harry Potter novel came out, families in Minnesota, New York, Michigan, California and South Carolina began asking for the books to be banned from school libraries and removed from the classroom. These families felt that Harry Potter promoted interest in the occult and more specifically satanism.

scene from Harry Potter movie (photoshopping may have happened)

Speaking out about religious folks banning books, Judy Blume, author of Are you there God?It's me, Margaret said:

"What began with the religious right has spread to the politically correct. (Remember the uproar in Brooklyn last year when a teacher was criticized for reading a book entitled "Nappy Hair" to her class?) And now the gate is open so wide that some parents believe they have the right to demand immediate removal of any book for any reason from school or classroom libraries. The list of gifted teachers and librarians who find their jobs in jeopardy for defending their students' right to read, to imagine, to question, grows every year."

Another quote comes from Kimberly L. Keith who talks about how Harry Potter is good for children because it is basically a modern fairy tale:

"A fairy tale, or great children's book, guides the child's unconscious in a structured way to resolve painful feelings. This frees the child to cope on a conscious level without being overwhelmed by underlying feelings of anxiety and alienation. The Harry Potter books have all the elements of a classic fairy tale, but they speak to modern children in a way that classic fairy tales probably do not anymore."

On the other side of the coin we have this quote from Ray Novosel from www.jesus-is-savior.com:

"But as wild as children seem to be about Harry, no one is happier about the phenomenon than the old-school Satanists, who were struggling to recruit new members prior to the publication of the first Potter book in 1997. “Harry in an absolute godsend to our cause,” said High Priest “Egan” of the First Church of Satan in Salem, MA. “An organization like ours thrives on new blood - no pun intended - and we've had more applicants than we can handle lately." In 1995, it was estimated that some 100,000 Americans, mostly adults, were involved in devil-worship of some sort. Today, more than 14 million children alone belong to the Church of Satan, thanks largely to the unassuming boy wizard from 4 Privet Drive. Yes, the numbers ARE horrific, but the total sales of Harry Potter books, plus the natural hand-me-down factor where many people read a book that has already been purchased, easily equals or exceeds this staggering figure of 14 million."

Here's a lovely video put together by the folks over at everythingisterrible.com you should watch that will really drive home the point of view that Harry Potter is taking people away from good and placing them on the path of evil.

So this brings us to the question of who is right? Are religious folk correct in worrying about what our children (and everyone else's children) read and see? Are these kids really on the path to destruction:

Doomed?

Or are religious people overreacting? Is Harry Potter just a kids book with an interesting story, no different then the hundreds of fictional children's books that have come before it?

"De-coding" the Power of Literature

We talked about questing, or searching for religious truth through the Internet, in class. We also found that often times these quests end with people finding information from people who feel the same way as they do about religion. I want to explore how literature aids, or halts questing for religious truth.

When people think of religion and literature, The DaVinci Code comes to mind. Its deep and detailed storyline was something that readers grasped on to. However, it was the book's controversial material that really put the book ahead in the race for religious truth. The controversy has created quite a stir among the religious. As we have learned

in class many study groups and religious classes have been created based solely on this book. Some have taken the popularity of the book and used it to create Web Sites that allegedly dispel the rumors and lay down the truth about Mary Magdalene and other DaVinci Code falsehoods. Below is an example of such a Web Site. The creator and content manager of this site have dedicated a large amount of time to "de-coding" The DaVinci Code. Most of the content is in response to the book and the claims that it makes about the Catholic church and Mary Magdalene. Such effort spent focused on proving false someone else's work seems like a waste of time and a bad idea if you want to convince people that the book is false.

To me, it is an example of the power of the medium of literature. Some put so much stock into fictitious literature that they spend most of their time trying to prove it is false (even though it is "fiction"), for fear of someone fostering ill feelings toward their beliefs. As my mother used say, "I wonder how much good people could people be doing with all the time they spend trying to prove other people wrong?"

The following video asks an interesting question:

(double click to view)

"How can a novel, a work of fiction, have such an impact?"

Exactly. A work of fiction. How does it have such an impact? And how has it cause you to hold a seminar for hundreds, maybe thousands, of people?

I don't know the answer to the questions above, but I do know that, in some cases, people are spending too much time worrying about this work of fiction and what it means to their faith.

On the other hand, I do feel that The DaVinci Code and other religious literature does do good among those that are "questing." At times, I am of the opinion that any press is good press for religion. Those who truly want to learn about the truth can be urged by books like The DaVinci Code and, through sincere research, can be educated and enlightened. Those who don't really care about religion and what the book says will take is as a good story, maybe accept some of the "facts" presented and move on.

With the explosion of the Internet at a tool for questing, what role does literature other than canonized scripture play in finding religious truth? Does religion benefit from any mention in literature or does some literature negatively affect it?

Eat, Pray Love and finding yourself through self serving spiritual journey

Eat, Pray, Love written by Elizabeth Gilbert, a very popular one this year, is a book full of religious content. What I found most interestingly religious about both the book, and the

recent movie, is the protagonist's search for spirituality by undertaking the adventure of her life. In one part of the book Gilbert does reach out to God in a prayer, and essentially prays for the first time in her life. She says, "Are you there God, It's me Elizabeth". She finds peace through this prayer on her bathroom floor and even claims to hear God's voice. I am very comfortable with this portrayal being a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day-Saints. It is very interesting to me that an author would expose herself enough in a popular book and reveal such a sacred experience. That is not my judgement call. How amazing it is that she did so though. It may just mean that those going through confusing, painful situations will kneel down at last attempt because of Eat Pray Love. Books and movies have so much power, they mold the social conciousness and have the ability to cause those who are touched to take action.

Another couple facets of her popularized journey, in my opinion, hurt tenets of religion that many of us find important in our lives. Elizabeth's confusion and consequent divorce lead her to a spiritual journey where she finds pleasure through food in Italy, Spirit through meditation in India, and a balance of the two in Bali. Of course she found herself again, she wasn't looking for anything else, or for anyone else's happiness. It was all about her. But my question is, d

id Elizabeth Gilbert Glamorize and Glorify leaving her husband? .In one part of the book she says, " The many reasons I did not want to be this mans wife again were too sad and personal. I equal parts loved him and could not stand him." Where's the part where she touches on the fact that we all experience that in marriage but find patience and compassion? Again, it's a little touchy that I'm making a judgement call here, but this facet of the book really emanated with me. This common social trend of divorce, was given the hollywood makeover. Not only divorce, but leaving your husband without a chance to speak, without trying to solve differences, in an entirely self serving manner. Oprah even gives Gilbert the hoorah when she gives her motherly, "OK" to Gilbert's love affair with a twenty-something actor during her divorce. Talk about the universal stamp of approval in consumers' eyes.

A book review on good reads.com, though, summed up my feeling. MelssaS said, " A responsibility towards a marriage and spouse is now considered an unwanted "obsession" and one's own pursuit of happiness supercedes everything else? If a man decided to dump his wife and family to flee to the Himalayas to meditate we wouldn’t be calling it a spiritual journey...we would call it irresponsibility." Go Girl.

Considering that divorce is a religious issue for most classical christian, jewish, and muslim faiths, I pose the question... Has media glorified divorce? Is it becoming more permissible because popular media figures participate in it? Step outside the LDS perspective of divorce and do we see something trending in media affecting society like a plague?

Apologies for the formatting. I have never blogged and the pictures are throwing off my text!!!!

Cullenism – Giving people religion they want

Religion and books is an interesting topic since most religions are built upon a religious text or scripture for established instruction. Chapter 7 of the “Religion and Popular Culture in America” discusses popular culture in religion. I would like to discuss books as popular culture as religion.

Cullenism as defined by Urban Dictionary: “A new religion based off of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga. They believe that the Cullen's (also including Isabella Swan, Jacob Black, and all other characters) are indeed real, and they deserve to be worshiped. They believe that the author of the successful series is a prophet, and that the books are a series of holy books, and the "Cullenists", or "Cullenite" must read a bit of it every day. If you live your life well, in their belief, you will spend eternal life with the Cullen's.”

Ok, so the whole idea of Twilight actually being a religion is a bit of a stretch, and most Cullenist’s actually will state that they are a nondenominational and nonreligious group. Simply put they are fans who “cherish values of Twilight (not just how cute Edward is).”

Religion in America defines religion as “an integrated system of belief, lifestyle, ritual activities, and institutions by which individuals give meaning to (or find meaning in) their lives by orienting themselves to what they take to be holy, sacred, or of the highest value.”

Considering that the Twilight series has sold over 100 million copies worldwide, been translated into 38 different languages, and people gather together to discuss the book and wait for new installments/movies. Based on the Religion in America you could argue that Twilight is a religion.

Cullenism is a “seeker” church in the sense that it’s developed based on individual and unique orientation and interest. If Cullenism really is a new ‘religious’ movement, are people doing this because they find comfort with people that share similar ideas and interests? Based on the definitions of religion, could Cullenism be considered a religion?

So my main question is this: In this “new age of spirituality,” where people are becoming less spiritual and more secular, is it ok for people to create religion they want rather than adhering to traditional religion? Discuss.