I have often heard, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Good advice. In order to understand the things that might (or designed to) take me away from God, I want to understand what’s out there – both good and bad. That means that sometimes, I need to read books that many Christians have deemed “demon material”. Many people don’t understand my reason for doing this, in fact, in just the last three years I’ve been scolded by a fellow homeschooling mom because of Harry Potter and told by another that I should burn them.
Are we really there? Burning books? Won’t that just add fuel to Satan’s plan? If we don’t read the books that might be risky, how can we teach our children to identify evil in real life?
I don’t believe that Harry Potter is evil. I don’t believe that J.K. Rowling wrote this series with any intent to expose the world to a level of magic that would cause people to turn away from the Christian faith and embrace witchcraft. I believe her intent was to share a great story with some serious Christian themes. If you’ve read the series, you know what I’m talking about: good vs. evil, resurrection, prodigal son, good Samaritan, evil snakes, dark spirits, and possession. All these elements are found in the bible too.
It all comes down to the intent in which the books are read. If children are allowed to read this series, or Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy, then a parent should read it along with them and discuss the implications. (Unlike the Harry Potter series, Philip Pullman wrote his books to pull teens away from Christianity.) These characters and their plots have become engrained in our society. As such, I want my children aware of the books, the characters and how they fit (or don’t fit) within the Catholic teachings.
I was teaching Junior High when Philip Pullman’s books were released. One of my students gave me the first book. I loved it. From a writer’s point of view, it was candy. My students read it too, and many of their parents joined us in the discussions after school. It wasn’t until after I read the third book that I realized the problem. In the book, God dies. Ridiculous, I know, but so is Philip Pullman. Shortly after the last book was released, I read an article in which the author declared himself an atheist and confirmed the rumors that the books were written to destroy young adults belief in God.
Yikes!
After a discussion with my students and their parents, the students came to their own conclusion: while the story is fantastic, there was a serious flaw in Pullman’s plot…if God truly is the creator of all, then to destroy Him is to destroy all living things.
Look at that! While given a book with evil intent, students who were encouraged to think for themselves didn’t turn away from God. They defeated the intent of the book and strengthened their own faith.
I do allow my children to read Harry Potter – but they do it with me. We discuss why magic is evil and why the author would use it as a focal point for the series. We discuss the strengths and the weaknesses of the characters. We go back to the bible and to the Catechism to see what the Church has to say about evil, magic, and leadership. We made charts that show comparisons between bible stories and the books.
The benefit? My children will know what the books reveal and know what the church has to say about it. They won’t fall victim to another person’s faulty interpretation because they will already have formed their own conclusions based on the Church’s teachings.
The enemy might lurk among banned books, but in reading them with the Church’s eye, we can acknowledge the good, reveal the bad, and protect ourselves from the intent of the Evil One.
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