The left may hold the majority of authors who write/say stupid things, but they are by no means the only ones.
Georgia Mother Seeks Harry Potter Ban
A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools.
Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction books are an “evil” attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion.
That must be why the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have a week long break for both Christmas and Easter; To promote Wicca.
I never would have guessed.
The WaPo article has a picture of Mallory holding up a brochure for a Wiccan summer camp. Now, I may be mistaken, but if her children want to go to said camp, all she has to do is say “No” and the little chilluns won’t be attending. It isn’t as if the Wiccans will magically know that little Johnny Mallory wants to go and whisk him away against Mama Mallory’s wishes.
If she is afraid of having to tell her kids “No”, then perhaps she should have thought about such things before taking hold of Mr. Mallory’s wand and birthing a quad of yard-apes.
I swear, some people’s parents just get on my last nerve.
Harry Potter has almost nothing to do with Wicca. Harry Potter has no worship of pre-Christian deities, none of the Wiccan Rede (“And if it harm none, do what thou will”), no real communing with nature or celebration of the harvest cycle or seasons, and squat about fertilitiy, yadda yadda yadda. Other than the fact a bunch of New Age fluffy bunny Wiccans have latched onto the mythos of Harry Potter because they have a burning desire for their “magick” to be like the Harry Potter magic (which it isn’t), there’s no real connection between Harry Potter and Wicca.
Nope, Harry Potter deals more with the Western magical tradition. Things from the Harry Potter stories like alchemy, the Philosopher’s Stone (it was changed to Sorcerer’s Stone for the Americans because the Brits though us Yanks have no concept of the Philosopher’s stone) reading stars and crystal balls and tea leaves, making magical potions; these are all things from an imaging tradition of magic in the West which has little to no connection with Wicca or religion.
While runes are mentioned in Harry Potter, and runes have a major significance in pre-Christian Norse traditions and the modern-day reconstructed Heathen practices, I don’t think there’s ever been a time in the Harry Potter books were runes have been used by characters.
I haven’t read the Harry Potter series, although I intend to someday. But I wonder if it’ll hold a candle to the Susan Cooper “Dark is Rising” series — also for young adults. There, magic is mixed in with a mishmash of Arthurian and Celtic lore. It’s really good — “The Dark Is Rising” is a fantastic tale to read going into the Christmas holidays, and “The Grey King” proudly stands on its own and won a Newbery medal. I almost named my white shepherd “Cafall” after the dog in the Grey King. Alas, my daughter beat me to the punch.