Round one goes to Harry Potter

[kay1864]

Fundie mom vs. Harry Potter--a likely win for Potter!

Round one goes to Harry Potter
Hearing officer recommends school board keep books on shelves
By LAURA DIAMOND
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/10/06

A hearing officer "strongly recommends" that the popular Harry Potter books remain in Gwinnett County public school libraries.

The hearing officer's decision, released Wednesday, is not final. The recommendation from retired DeKalb school administrator Su Ellen Bray and other supporting documents goes to Gwinnett school board members, who are scheduled to vote Thursday night on whether to remove the Harry Potter books from library shelves.

The books were challenged by Laura Mallory, a Loganville mother who said the series promotes witchcraft and encourages interest in the occult. Mallory, who says she hasn't read any of the books in their entirety, filed a complaint asking the school system to ban the books from all school libraries.

http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/0510potter.html

Totally expected, but gratifying nonetheless!

[gratuitous]

1. Dear Ms. Mallory

Please feel free to ban all Harry Potter books from your home. Then stay there, safe from the ravages of unfettered literacy. The world's a dangerous place for the likes of you, and the less contact you have with it, the better.

[Arkansas Granny]

19. Yes, the better for her and the world.

[JuniperLea]

2. I'd become a witch...

Just so I could fight something like that... I have a right to freedom of religion... and this lady's narrow minded bogus bull is not it!

[MikeNearMcChord]

3. The forces of good win this time!

Thank God.:evilgrin:

[ninkasi]

4. My whole family loves the Harry Potter books

Both of my youngest granddaughters, 13 and soon to be 13 have been reading them since they came out. From what I can tell, that series has been credited with getting kids to read more. I wish these obnoxious fundies who want everybody else to conform to their ideas would just stop it. They have a perfect right as a parent to control what their own children read, but they seem to have the idea that they have a right to control other people's children as well.

[tulsakatz]

21. that's true!

The best thing about the Harry Potter series is that it does encourage kids to read!! And that's a great accomplishment!

Who cares what they're reading so long as they ARE reading?

[Supersedeas]

28. Is it better to be illiterate and hear about the bible that to read things

other than the bible?

[NoAmericanTaliban]

5. What do you expect from someone who didn't even read the books

& what ever happended to 'getting gov't out of our lives' - guess the religious cultist want gov't to control you the way they want to.

[Pithy Cherub]

6. Wands at the ready...

She - Mallory, Who Must Be Named and Laughed Upon, was fighting a losing battle on behalf of Bush Ministry of Magic. We shall all be able to send her owls care of St. Mungo's. The Daily Prophet is reporting that she has a deep love of Chocolate Frogs - she hearts the now highly collectible Dumbledore - due to recent events covered by Rita Skeeter for the DP, Bertie Botts Any Flavored Beans and especially enjoys gifts of U-NO-POO which has greatly relieved one of her maladies.

The Daily Prophet has also discovered a deep dark secret. She is the frog spawn of MOM's Dolores Umbridge and currently imprisoned Death Eater Lucius Malfoy.

:crazy:

[Samurai_Writer]

10. Rita Skeeter, is that you? *nt*

[Pithy Cherub]

16. My new Deluxe Quill is quivering with anticipation... LOL!

[kay1864]

17. OMG that's good

"She Who Must Be Named and Laughed Upon"

:rofl:

[Boomer]

7. She's a Muggle

'nuff said.

[Book Lover]

8. Even if they did, and they don't, so what?

Do these books magically transform into guns that whisper into a child's ear, "Worship Satan or I'll blow your head off!" ?

[genieroze]

9. Laura Mallory = nutball

[Whoa_Nelly]

11. Great story! And still time to edit and change title per LBN rules

or your thread will get locked and/or moved :hi:

[leesa]

12. Too bad she didn't read the books or she would have realized they are

simply the age old good vs evil and good wins every time. I guess she would ban the Wizard of Oz as well since Glynda was a good witch and all...

[opihimoimoi]

13. And what does her religious beliefs promote? Peace? Not by the looks of it

and Peace is not under the desk or behind the curtains...

[OKNancy]

14. kay1864 - please edit your subject line to read:

Round one goes to Harry Potter

You have one hour from the time of the post to make the change.
LBN rules state that the subject line must match the article title

[Kixel]

15. Why is it...

That people who want to ban books never actually read the whole book? I just don't get it. How can you possibly judge something unless you have read it? Also, why admit you didn't read the whole book?

The right wing logic, my favorite oxymoron.

[lavenderdiva]

37. there you go thinking again...

please stop it; especially when referring to right-wing 'literate' types. Ok? :sarcasm:

[tulsakatz]

18. before the first Harry Potter film came out........

..I was sitting in the break room at work watching a program about it on CNN. It looked like a fun movie to me!!

There was another woman in the break room, I don't know if she was a Republican but she was definitely a Christian. She started talking about how this film would be a bad influence on kids by teaching them witch craft. At this point, I told her........it's a fictional book!! It's not like it was some kind of teaching manual. She went on and continued to tell me all of the ways that this film (and the books) threaten our society.........even though I tried to make it clear I wasn't interested in her limited opinions.

At one point, I told her I didn't feel that I could speak clearly to her objections because I hadn't seen the movie yet. She told me she hadn't seen the movie either but she clearly didn't mind voicing her biased opinions on it!

I just thought it was strange that she seemed to have such strong opinions about something she knew nothing about!

PS........I love Harry Potter!! And it was mainly due to that conversation that made me determined to see it!! I've seen all of them and am anxiously awaiting for the new one to be on HBO!

[FlaGranny]

22. She had strong feelings about

something she knew nothing about because she gave up her "god-given" right to independent thought and took the word of a third party as truth, and who probably did not read the book either. Strange people, who do not appreciate the gifts their god supposedly gave them.

[tulsakatz]

40. that's the part that seemed so crazy to me too!

I got the impression that someone at her church told her that stuff......maybe a minister.

But I had just gotten through telling her that I hadn't read the book and didn't feel qualified to discuss it with her. But here she was.........someone who also had not read the book and yet she didn't have any problem expressing her extremely biased opinion!!

I guess she didn't realize how stupid that made her look.........

[lovuian]

20. Salem had witchhunts this is one of them

Harry Potter is a great story and its got kids reading... this is a witchhunt and lets not forget they were burned at the stake too...

[WritingIsMyReligion]

23. These people go after Harry Potter???

If I were a rabid fundie, I'd go after Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, one of my favorite trilogies out there. Hell, Mr. Pullman absolutely RIPS organized religion to pieces from the very first pages, and doesn't look back.

But then again, fundies don't think so clearly...

:crazy:

[kay1864]

25. Yes but

All those Innocent Little Children™ aren't reading Philip Pullman in droves.

These fundies are absolutely horrified that the most popular children's books in the past decade are about witches and warlocks.

And if they were in charge, all the HP books would be thrown into a huge bonfire.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

30. They should be reading Pullman.

He's more sophisticated than Rowling, though I love both HDM and Harry Potter.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. That will come up once the movie is about to be released

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/

It's a more popular series in the UK - The Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award - the first time a children's book ever won it.

[CPMaz]

32. More like they don't get publicity

from attacking books that most people haven't heard of, much less actually read.

Criticize the most popular series of books going? For the cost of a couple of press releases they get a higher profile, and with it, more money from donors of a similar mindlessness.

[radfringe]

24. went through this argument with a fundie once

he maintained that kids imitate what they read, and reading harry potter would encourage kids to try witchcraft, doing spells etc.

I asked him if his kids read the Bible

of course, he replied, we encourage reading the Bible

then I asked him if he was concerned that his kids may try to walk on water, turn water into wine, or attempt to raise the dead?

standard response... "uhhh, uhhhh, that's different"

me: how is it different? If they imitate what they read then what's stopping them from trying to imitate things they read in the Bible?

[Boomer]

26. Same result either way

There's nothing more boring than casting spell after spell and having nothing, absolutely nothing happen. What better way to teach kids that spells don't work and witchcraft isn't real?

Whether or not they start wondering about the reality of turning water to wine, well, that's another issue entirely. :evilgrin:

[philosophie_en_rose]

27. Outrageous! Why aren't there warning signs on them there bookie things?

WARNING: Contains Language.

WARNING: Jumping off roof with broom = dead.

WARNING: Reading Harry Potter will put thoughts in your head.

WARNING: Moms that hate Harry are Death Eaters. :P

[0007]

29. This will piss the freepers off big time.

[onehandle]

31. The Bible "encourages" incest.

Of course here in the South, there's no complaints about that.

People in Gwinnett and Cobb counties are some of the worst people in Georgia.

(before someone from those counties flame me, I didn't say all)

[The Icon Painter]

34. You're Right

I have lived in Morningside in Atlanta for a long time and, frankly, I am afraid to go to Cobb Country. They are not very nice people up there. Their irrational fear and hatred of 'the Other' makes their territory alien to me. Christianity is the weapon they use against any they cannot control.

[sakabatou]

33. I guess that means banning...

The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz and the Crucible.

[jwirr]

39. And Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and a whole raft of other

traditional fairy tales.

[Cronus Protagonist]

35. She also asked that the bible be banned for promoting slavery and bigotry

NOT! Why, that would be, well, unChristian!

:sarcasm:



Educate A Freeper - Flaunt Your Opinions!
http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[Jersey Ginny]

38. What's the matter with witchcraft anyway?

I like it that my kids walk around casting spells. No bible reading in my house with all the support of incest, the killing of children, and other violence.