Harry Potter and the Crackpots
Wendell Amstutz keeps a list of "64 occult practices" in the novels that are "forbidden by the bible." Wendell's probably not a good candidate, however, because he's actually read the books and even concedes they are a "good read."
Charles Moore calls Potter an "assault on Christianity" and compares it to pornography. A definite maybe.
Catholic exorcist Pedro Mendoza claims the books allow the devil into children's minds, but his fans' comments on the story are even scarier.
?? comes pretty close to Mallory-ness withhis claims that Harry has encouraged 14 million kids to join the Church of Satan, and that she's teaching kids how to live forever through alchemy. (Maybe a little too nuts?)
Greg Farber may just fit the bill- he thinks Harry Potter encourages the wearing of kabbalah bracelets and encourages nuns toward goddess worship; he also believes it was written by a long-dead socialist to spread communism- yep, we might have one crackers enough to fill Ms. Mallory's shoes...
*Apparently, her efforts had the opposite effect.
Comments
Harry Potter books never mention satan or the devil. It is a fantasy story about good vs. evil, and DUH, the good wins. Just because we show bad guys in our entertainment doesn’t mean we worship them. And since we have already allowed the devil into the whitehouse in the guise of an unnamed elected official, what’s wrong with using devils for entertainment? People are so stuck on forcing others to close their minds and believe crap like they do, that they aren’t even reasonable anymore.
Of course I was kidding in my other post about the whitehouse etc. Some people are so literal…it’s scary. I don’t want to become their target.
Controversy sells. I hope one day my books will be as controversial, because when you look at the most controversial books of the last 100 years, you’ll see they’re all still selling like mad. Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, Lolita, and so on.
It seems to me the Potter camp itself stays rather quiet on the whole religion controversy. I’m hoping that’s because they see that letting it move on its own steam really does promote the books way more than hurt sales.