Catholics and Harry Potter

Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg of the Magnificat Institute. Find out more here: http://magnificatinstitute.org

I’ve read and listed to people who are utterly opposed to anything Harry Potter, but have often been disappointed by signs and hints that they haven’t even read the books themselves. And then I’ve heard others who have a special enthusiasm in favor of these stories who completely gloss over the legitimate concerns that might be offered by the other side.

And now, more recently, I saw some headline about a Catholic Priest removing copies of Harry Potter from his school’s library over concerns that the books lead children into dimensions of supernatural evil. This, of course, erupted into endless online “debates” between the two committed factions and, as far as I can tell, not much was accomplished.

I want to start by trying to compose an argument against the Harry Potter books in a succinct way because I haven’t really come across something like this. I’ve seen a lot of false equivalencies between historical notions of witchcraft and the magic portrayed in the books as well as a lot of emphasis on the possible risks associated with an immersion in this subject matter, but that alone doesn’t fully establish the degree of risk contrasted with possible benefits.

So, how’s this for an argument?

1. The Harry Potter books draw influence from and implicitly endorse elements of pagan folklore and belief.

2. Pagan notions of spirituality and the supernatural are incompatible with Christian notions of such things and Psalm 96 says, depending on your translation, “For all the gods of the nations are demons.” And St. Athanasius described pagan idol worship as demons who took their abode in rivers, trees, and stones, deceiving people that they were gods.

3. Therefore, the Harry Potter stories impose a similar demonic deception by portraying such pagan superstitions in a positive way.

So if you agree that this is a good argument against the Harry Potter stories, then lets scrutinize it from a Catholic perspective to see if it holds up.

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