Common Debates About The Harry Potter Series
The Harry Potter series of books has become a worldwide phenomenon. The books alone have made the author, J.K. Rowling one of the most successful authors in history, even the merchandising and the movies that were made have taken the whole world by storm. It is like everyone everywhere knows about the famous boy wizard Harry Potter. But with success also comes a bit of trouble, and Harry Potter and his creator is no stranger when it comes to debate and controversy.
When the first book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" ("Sorceror's Stone" in some countries) came out, it was an instant success. The Philosopher's Stone garnered praise and admiration from a lot of people. But it seems that there are also a lot of people that are somewhat displeased by the sudden rise to fame of Harry Potter, and those are the people in religious groups, and the group that is speaking more loudly than any other is the Evangelical Christian groups.
Being blasted by Christian groups are somehow ironic, considering the fact that J.K. Rowling is a self-proclaimed practicing Christian herself. The most common allegation that Christian groups have thrown against Rowling is that they believe that the Harry Potter books promote the practice of Wicca or witchcraft; they say that these books corrupt the minds of the younger generation by filling their minds with ideas that practicing witchcraft is cool.
Rowling's camp defended themselves from these allegations by pointing out that there has been no instance in the books where there are any discussions about any kind of religion. They say that in fact, Rowling has taken extraordinary measures to not touch on any form of religion in any of the books. This debate has become so heated in fact, that there have even been bills that were proposed in the US Congress that proposes that the Harry Potter books banned from all US public schools. The reason for this rather rash reaction is due to the fact that Wicca is a recognized religion in the US, and carrying around a book that purportedly teaches about Wicca in public schools is a violation of the separation between state and religion.
This debate is still raging until now, and some religious groups have even gone so far as having a book burning of J.K. Rowling's books. The religious debates have been so rampant that it has even spawned two highly-circulated urban legends about the Harry Potter books and their author.
One urban legend tells of a newspaper article from a reputable newspaper that found out that there have been a staggering increase of people that are practicing Satanism ever since the book series got launched, and most of the new practitioners are children; the supposed newspaper article even quoted the high priest of Satanism in America as saying that "J.K. Rowling is a godsend for us and our mission." This sparked a huge movement, especially in the online community that seeks to boycott the Harry Potter books and all related material. But in truth the supposed "newspaper article" is a satire that was published in the online newspaper The Onion. When the truth regarding the urban myth came out, the debates against Harry Potter books have died down significantly, but not entirely.
With massive success comes people who will do anything to pull you down, such is the case of J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter. But even though there have been quite a number of demonstrations trying to demonize Harry Potter, the boy wizard and his adventures are still running strong in the hearts and minds of his millions of fans around the world.