Harry Potter and Orthodoxy

[Benjaminw1]

Why would Rowling mention it (Dumbledore's homosexuality) if it wasn't germane to the portrayal of the character in the books? I tend to look at the religious character of the author for a basis on the worth of the fiction; JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis - good; Pullman - bad; Rowling somewhere in the middle...

[jgress]

Why would Rowling mention it (Dumbledore's homosexuality) if it wasn't germane to the portrayal of the character in the books? I tend to look at the religious character of the author for a basis on the worth of the fiction; JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis - good; Pullman - bad; Rowling somewhere in the middle...

I disagree. It is quite possible to read a text on its own without needing to consider the character of the author or even to take into consideration what the author claims the text to mean. Tolkien himself affirmed this as his own attitude to literature, as recorded in his biography by Joseph Pearce, when he objected to criticisms of Beethoven's character as somehow germane to an appreciation of Beethoven's music. As Tolkien put it, even if Beethoven were personally a bad and corrupt character, the beauty of his music can be said to flow from whatever part of the composer's mind was still yet uncorrupted. The same goes for Harry Potter.

[Maria]

Are you sure Harry Potter promotes homosexuality? I know that Rowling in an interview said that the character Dumbledore was homosexual, but that is not explicit in the books themselves, I don't think.

This shows how low Rowling was willing to stoop in order to get her books published. She had to cater to the homosexual community even during an interview by implying that Dumbledore was homosexual.

When I was at the university taking graduate level education classes, the professors posted California guidelines which included diversity. Note that the California Education Code now mandates that homosexuality be taught in a grades K-12, adult education, and college too. Whenever we posted pictures or described family groupings, we had to show different groupings of people that implied homosexuality and acceptances of different races. If an author of a textbook or a novel written for K-12 wanted to gain approval by the publishers of California teaching material, such as Pearson's, they had to include diversity within their text or novel. As a result, parents should be aware that many children's books are no longer morally acceptable, but some children's books get around this by having characters that are unisex. Since most movies today blatantly endorse homosexuality and immorality, I have neither been to a theater in about six years nor do I miss movies. In fact, our TV has been turned off for a year now, and I certainly do not miss it.

This is why in good conscience, I could not pursue a teaching career, and have subsequently suffered a loss of income. It became a matter of faith. I could not teach these ESL lessons mandated by California law that promoted homosexuality as natural, normal, and morally right. If it were just a matter of having my ESL students read these chapters privately, perhaps that would not be so objectionable. However, we were to read these chapters aloud with the students, answer the questions, and engage the students in conversation. If we ran out of time, we could not skip these chapters, but had to omit other lessons. In fact, the lessons were set up so that these diversity chapters contained the most valuable information. During their discussions, students could promote homosexuality, but we as teachers could not allow students to express opposition. In other words, there was no freedom of discussion. Thus there was a built in bias against correct moral thinking espoused by Orthodox Christianity.

[Maria]

...

[Benjaminw1]

Why would Rowling mention it (Dumbledore's homosexuality) if it wasn't germane to the portrayal of the character in the books? I tend to look at the religious character of the author for a basis on the worth of the fiction; JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis - good; Pullman - bad; Rowling somewhere in the middle...

I disagree. It is quite possible to read a text on its own without needing to consider the character of the author or even to take into consideration what the author claims the text to mean. Tolkien himself affirmed this as his own attitude to literature, as recorded in his biography by Joseph Pearce, when he objected to criticisms of Beethoven's character as somehow germane to an appreciation of Beethoven's music. As Tolkien put it, even if Beethoven were personally a bad and corrupt character, the beauty of his music can be said to flow from whatever part of the composer's mind was still yet uncorrupted. The same goes for Harry Potter.

In which case I would disagree with Tolkien. As an aside I am not to keen on Beethoven - too much passion...

[Barbara]

^ I don't listen to ANY Beethoven and almost no classical music, even, as I really like the Orthodox Liturgies
or chants on CDs.
I listened just a little to Beethoven maybe 34 years ago, but he wasn't my favorite at any time.

This is such an interesting discussion here !
Everyone has their opinions, but I remain firmly opposed to that series by R.
I don't even like to give her the time of day by saying her name out loud - !

It's refreshing yet again to see Cyprian's incisive remarks. I wish he would return, as I mentioned last year, too !
Provides much-needed perspective on the former SiR.

[Barbara]

Maria that is unbelievable that everything has become so draconian in the education field.
You did ABSOLUTELY the RIGHT THING in resigning as - an ESL teacher, it sounds like ?
I had a housemate way back who was also one, but unfortunately, she went that same road...
then recovered after some years. I don't think it was due to the curriculum at that time, but
just the San Francisco ambiance of promotion of all vice.

It's astounding that that vice is being pushed like a Soviet party line.
Remember the passage in Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago where the local party cadres were at a meeting
and some higher one came to speak, may have been even Stalin himself.
One man got so tired of clapping after this speech that he stopped, while the thunderous applause went on
for seeming hours.
Everyone in the audience was afraid to be the first to cease clapping; sure enough this sad case was hauled away for interrogation by
NKVD about why he didn't like The Leader, and was given a gulag sentence.

7 decades later, the US has been evolving into, as many thoughtful observers see, the NEW Soviet Union. It is quickly headed there.
Therefore, there is no freedom to NOT teach in person the objectionable passages ! Substitute Marxist-Leninist Theory
for this unpleasant topic and we have somewhat the same system coming in here.
Who cares about constructive academic subjects in either model ? The emphasis is meant to be solely on a dark ideology
to be be forced on all, ahem, comrades...

Chilling what you related, Maria.