Harry’s House at Hogwarts is symbolized by a Gryffon; a Gryffon is a symbol of Christ.

In “Chamber of Secrets”, Harry must descend to a cave deep below the castle to battle an enormous deadly Serpent, whom he defeats by the aid of a Phoenix, which then carrys him up, back to the world of the living. The Phoenix is another symbol of Christ.

Harry drives off the Dementors, spirits of Depression and Despair, by calling for his “Patronus”, protecting spirit, which takes the shape of a Stag–again, a symbol of Christ.

Finally, the last book is so absolutely rife with Christian symbolilsm that I can’t describe it all without giving away too much of the plot.

You who continue to vilify JKR, what part of “thou shalt not bear false witness” don’t you understand?

There are no real spells in HP. None. Nada. Harry’s spells involve waving his wand (which has a core of phoenix feather) and saying a simple Latinate word or phrase. There is no resemblence to Neo-Pagan witchcraft. As for mentioning the names of real witches, where? Nicholas Flamel was an alchemist, not a magus, and a devout Catholic.

Who claims that Rowling consulted “real witches”? Name your authorities. How does your source know that? All that she’s said about her research was that she learned about “a ridiculous amount about alchemy.” Reject HP all you want. Clearly these books aren’t for you. But please don’t misrepresent their contents or listen to people who do.

Did you understand what I posted , the people who frown on this book? Those who fight the very things HP promotes, are the ones who encourage us to stay away from it. Do you understand the power in that. What these people see and hear. What they experience. Dosent that mean anything?

Here is a comment from someone whom is in that catagory. “The last aspect which disturbed me greatly is the fact that Harry uses his magic to get what he wants, the list almost matches the seven deadly sins, wealth, power, pride, envy, anger and lust. (Harry gets what he wants through magic) proves power over parents, authority, and fellows, vengeance against those who would dare trod upon his ground, and finally wins the girl in the end. This very much fits the first commandment of the “Satanic Bible” “Do what thou wilt is the whole of the law.”

There is much more that HP fans clearly dont understand. Again I would encourage you to do your homework. HP is seeped in the occult.

Thanks for conversing with me. You have been very charitable. I will close with this. This book has caused a lot of confusion of what is good and what is evil. Who is the master of confusion?

I applaud your desire to keep your mind on things that are pure and holy and I believe we should all strive to do this. That is a primary reason why we don’t own a TV, why we homeschool, why we strictly control what our children can read, and why we don’t allow our children to be exposed to the garbage out there that passes for “entertainment.”

But I would strongly disagree with your assessment that Harry Potter falls into the category of evil influences. In fact, I would argue that they can be a very positive influence on children. I have spent years forming my mind to the Catholic Faith and after reading these books I can say with confidence that they are not contrary to that Faith. But I am not infallible, so that is why I urge anyone interested to find out on their own by reading the actual books – that is by far the best research anyone can do.

There are a number of problems with your analysis.

1) We are not allowed to dabble in sorcery or witchcraft in real life. There is no injunction in the Bible against reading fantasy literature, which often uses magic in a fantastical way (thus the genre name) to make the made-up world more interesting. For example, in Lord of the Rings, the elves have many magical powers which they use for good – should LOTR be condemned then? If your standard is “mention magic”=”evil”, then all fantasy literature, including LOTR, must be condemned.

2) The pope has not condemned Harry Potter. As Sandra mentioned previously, he has never read the books nor has he definitely pronounced judgement on them in any manner.

3) I agree that one does not need personal experience to “vilify” certain things that are unquestionably wrong. Playboy, for example. His Dark Materials, for another. However, in both those cases, ALL faithful Catholics agree that the material in question is dangerous and evil. In the case of Harry Potter, however, many, many faithful Catholics (including many clergy) have come out in favor of the series. So we are not “forgetting what our leaders are telling us.” This is a case of prudential judgement left to the faithful, and we are allowed to decide for ourselves whether or not we want to allow our children to read the books. But because it is a prudential judgement and not a case of objective evil, I would submit that one cannot make a claim for or against them without reading them for himself.