St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition...

Evil in fiction and in our lives?

What do you think of us letting our children read the Harry Potter stories?

A. I haven’t read the Harry Potter stories myself, mainly because I was not attracted to them when I first heard what they were all about. I’ve read quite a bit about them since, and it hasn’t reassured me.

For those who don’t know, the plot is basically that Harry Potter, an orphan, is enrolled in a school of witchcraft where he trains in magic arts. During the course of the books he has a number of adventures in which he is pitted against an evil opponent, who was responsible for the deaths of his parents and is out to get him too - for it turns out that Harry is no ordinary child but has a special destiny of his own.

I think fiction which takes us out of our own world-view and puts us in a new setting is a good thing, and for that reason I have always enjoyed science fiction. At first sight it might seem like Harry Potter is just a harmless story set in an imaginary world? The problem is: a lot of the background in Harry Potter seems to come from the “real” witchcraft as practiced by those who call themselves witches: the spells, the characters’ names, the shadow side of someone’s character, and so on. The Harry Potter books introduce the reader to witchcraft.

What we should do about all this is a difficult question. On the one hand, “he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4), so a committed Christian can’t be harmed by reading such things - indeed, we need to understand the Devil’s wiles so that we can help people not to be taken in by them. On the other hand, there is no sense inviting a false and unhealthy perspective into our lives: one that can damage us just as pornography can.

So I think that just as there is a right age for keeping children to the “9-o’clock watershed”, and just as there is an age-classification for films, so it is also right for us to keep witchcraft, including Harry Potter, off the shelves of younger children.

BUT we cannot protect our older children from evil by simply refusing to let them see it. They will come across all sorts of strange world-views in fiction and on the TV, and we need to be available to help them work out what to think about what they see and read. I wouldn’t censor the reading of an older child - instead I’d try to chat with them about what they read, so that they can work out for themselves whether it is wholesome.

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. September 2001, Page 4.
Home Page. Index of articles. Questions: index, Creed, Real Devil, Sick visiting, Who made God, Harry Potter, God after 11.9. In this issue: (September 2001) Vicar's Letter, Money, Question, Creed.	In our "Questions to the clergy" slot, John will try to answer any query you throw at him, without hesitation, deviation or repetition... Evil in fiction and in our lives? *What do you think of us letting our children read the Harry Potter* stories?** A. I haven’t read the Harry Potter stories myself, mainly because I was not attracted to them when I first heard what they were all about. I’ve read quite a bit about them since, and it hasn’t reassured me. For those who don’t know, the plot is basically that Harry Potter, an orphan, is enrolled in a school of witchcraft where he trains in magic arts. During the course of the books he has a number of adventures in which he is pitted against an evil opponent, who was responsible for the deaths of his parents and is out to get him too - for it turns out that Harry is no ordinary child but has a special destiny of his own. I think fiction which takes us out of our own world-view and puts us in a new setting is a good thing, and for that reason I have always enjoyed science fiction. At first sight it might seem like Harry Potter is just a harmless story set in an imaginary world? The problem is: a lot of the background in Harry Potter seems to come from the “real” witchcraft as practiced by those who call themselves witches: the spells, the characters’ names, the shadow side of someone’s character, and so on. The Harry Potter books introduce the reader to witchcraft. What we should do about all this is a difficult question. On the one hand, “he that is in us is greater than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4), so a committed Christian can’t be harmed by reading such things - indeed, we need to understand the Devil’s wiles so that we can help people not to be taken in by them. On the other hand, there is no sense inviting a false and unhealthy perspective into our lives: one that can damage us just as pornography can. So I think that just as there is a right age for keeping children to the “9-o’clock watershed”, and just as there is an age-classification for films, so it is also right for us to keep witchcraft, including Harry Potter, off the shelves of younger children. BUT we cannot protect our older children from evil by simply refusing to let them see it. They will come across all sorts of strange world-views in fiction and on the TV, and we need to be available to help them work out what to think about what they see and read. I wouldn’t censor the reading of an older child - instead I’d try to chat with them about what they read, so that they can work out for themselves whether it is wholesome. John Hartley
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