What Did Harry Potter Ever Do to Laura Mallory?

Lately my hubby and I have been on a Harry Potter kick. We have each read through the book series again inspired by the fact that we keep catching (and pausing to watch) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on cable. Oh yes and by the all too quick taste of what is to come in movie #5 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Personally I love the Harry Potter books.  Yes, the first two books were a bit fluffy but as the characters aged so did the themes of the books themselves and what started out as my reading a book to screen it for my daughter turned into well “love” in the sense of a set of books I can read over and over again.

Now I’ve read over the years how various parents have tried to ban the books and I am always amazed that someone could read what, in my mind, is a classic tale of good vs. evil and only see “the evil”.

On Thursday 12/14/06 a school board meeting is being held in Georgia to decide the fate of Harry Potter and its place on school library shelves.  A student’s mother, Laura Mallory, has been fighting for a year to remove the books because the stories contain “evil themes, witchcraft, demonic activity, murder, evil blood sacrifice, spells”.

However, Mrs. Mallory admits that she has never read the book series and states as a partial reason that “they’re really very long and I have four kids”.  However she hastens to add that despite not reading the books themselves, she has “put a lot of work into what I’ve studied and read.” which I guess would mean summaries and reviews written by others.  She adds as another reason for not reading the series that it would be hypocritical of her to read them as she doesn’t agree with the content.

According to MSNBC she also claims that the books are an “evil” attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion, or practitioners of religious witchcraft.  In fact, Mrs. Mallory feels so strongly that the Harry Potter series is a set of religious texts that she makes the comparison between a teacher having a class read one of the books and having a class read the Bible.

I am happy to say that there are some open minds left as Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny defends the series stating that the books “don’t support any particular religion but present instead universal themes of friendship and overcoming adversity.”

Now I could berate Mrs. Mallory but I won’t.

Certainly Mrs. Mallory, as a Fundamentalist Christian, has the right to disagree with the themes in the books.  I’m sure she finds many books (and potentially even parts of some textbooks) offensive.

She has the right to banish them from her home and to forbid her children from reading them, or seeing the movies.  She may even have a point that the themes in the book are such that it might not make the best choice for “assigned reading” by a teacher.  Not because I think there’s anything wrong with the books.  But because some parts of the books are violent and others can be potentially upsetting or frightening. (I cried when Dumbldore died)

But to say that the books are “evil” and should be removed from the shelves of a PUBLIC SCHOOL library is just plain wrong.

Obviously the first major flaw with her argument is that not every student is Christian, and even of those that are, not every parent finds the books offensive. 

Mrs. Mallory wants to protect her children (heck everyone’s children) from sex violence and the occult.  I may not have a problem with #3 necessarily but I certainly want to protect my kids from #1 and #2.  Or more accurately I want to protect them from the aspects that they are not emotionally prepared to handle.  But, it is not for ME to decide what books their friends read, what shows their friends watch, etc.  We talk about it, more and more as my older daughter approaches her teen years why certain things are still “off limits”.  We talk about issues like why a book her friend has read, and which sits on my own personal bookshelf, is disallowed to her.  But I don’t try and take access to that book away from that child’s parent (though I did recently get the opportunity to verify that the friend in question is in fact allowed to read whatever she wants to from her parents’ bookshelves).

My point is that I think that Mrs. Mallory is very very scared for her children.  I understand that fear in that I understand the beliefs that are behind it.  My feeling is that Mrs. Mallory is afraid that she can’t protect her children if the school allows access to Harry Potter.  She may forbid them, but if they are on the school shelves her children MIGHT in a moment of temptation/curiosity/being children read the books she should have before judging them so harshly.

As a Witch I can honestly say that it never once occured to me that reading Harry Potter was a good way to introduce my own children to the faith I hold dear.  And I will say, with all respect to Mrs. Mallory, that if she honestly belives what she claims that she needs to do two things : read the series and read up on Wicca and Paganism in general.

Because in trying to shield her children from the “paganism” that she feels is hidden in the world of Harry Potter she is missing a few points :  the magic in Wicca and the magic in Harry Potter have little to nothing in common; the world of Harry Potter does not mention religion or God at all (though the only holidays mentioned are Christian ones Easter and Christmas) which leaves it open for interpretation, and even if she does feel that paganism hides in the pages one does not strengthen one’s faith (or the faith of one’s children) by ignoring that other religions exist. 

Blessings to you and yours

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