AN ORTHODOX VIEW OF HARRY POTTER

TomS · Post by **TomS** » Sun 27 March 2005 2:39 pm

joasia wrote:
[Any parent who lets their children read these type of books is allowing them to play with fire, and what parent would allow a child to play with fire?

Circus people?

joasia · Post by **joasia** » Sun 27 March 2005 2:57 pm

Tom,

You're too much. Too much of what, I don't know. Do you have anything spiritual to contribute, or are you made purely of sarcasm?

TomS · Post by **TomS** » Sun 27 March 2005 4:03 pm

joasia wrote:
Tom,
...or are you made purely of sarcasm?

No. Also snips and snails, and puppy dog tails.

What about you?

joasia · Post by **joasia** » Sun 27 March 2005 4:14 pm

No. Also snips and snails, and puppy dog tails.
What about you?

What about me? I'm just me. Just Joasia.

ania · Post by **ania** » Sun 27 March 2005 6:06 pm

Josia,
You seem to think that I was never exposed to that stuff when I was young(er).
Where were your parents in all this?

joasia · Post by **joasia** » Sun 27 March 2005 7:26 pm

Josia,
You seem to think that I was never exposed to that stuff when I was young(er).

When a person says: you seem to think that...

It really bothers me, because, I didn't SEEM to think anything you thought I did. I was just expressing my view on it. I shared something about my youth. Instead of saying: you seem to think that...

Why can't you have the heart to say: I know what you mean, cause I went through that too.

But, you, Ania, can't let down your guard and just be straight forward. You HAVE to start an arguement. When you're ready to talk rationally, let me know. I'll be glad to exchange viewpoints with you.

CGW · Post by **CGW** » Sun 27 March 2005 8:57 pm

joasia wrote:
Why do you and CGW have such an adament support for this book?

I do not have to adamantly support the book in order to oppose the tone of absurd hysteria with which it is being condemned. As it happens, I think that the books are pretty good, and I think that the points they aim to make are essentially Christian.

The thing that bothers me here, really, is that it doesn't seem to matter much for those attacking the books that they can't get their facts straight about the book or its author. While there's something to be said about which articles where selected, what really bothers me is that the articles are full of inaccurate statements about the books. I've already gone over, for instance, the errors in the posted article which revived this thread. Either Aidenn Khan never read the books, and thus is a poor guide, or he did not understand them when he read them, which is perhaps worse.

The article supposedly by a "former witch" is equally riddled with errors; for instance, "Draco" is simply Latin for "dragon", "Erised" is "desire" in reverse, and Azkaban and Slytherin are coinages. Furthermore, through the awesome power of Google I've found this guy's website and discovered that he claims that Christmas and Easter are pagan holidays and that the LotR is also occultic. Frankly, I'm loathe to believe that this guy actually was ever a witch, but if he was, his discernment about anything else is negligible.

The first few articles in the thread at least could place their uneasiness about the book in the context of getting the story right. Since then the the quality of the anti-HP articles has dropped like a rock, and there has been no attempt whatsoever to engage the Orthodox defense of HP.

And there's the matter of degree. For the many kids who can't keep straight that it's just a story, how many people are jacking up their self-righteousness in denouncing it? I mean, there is a reasonable and proportionate response if one hasn't read the books: "I haven't read them and cannot comment on them myself." It is not necessary to offer an opinion on everything.