Catholic School Bans Harry Potter

[The Straight Story]

Catholic School Bans Harry Potter
Pastor Orders Books Removed From Library Shelves

POSTED: 9:29 am MDT October 25, 2007

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- The pastor has banned Potter. Lord Voldemort has found an ally.

While Harry Potter may have survived Voldemort’s killing curse, he has been defeated by the head of a Catholic school in a Boston suburb.

All of J.K. Rowling’s wildly popular books have been taken off the library shelves at St. Joseph’s school in Wakefield, Mass., by Rev. Ron Barker who believed their themes of sorcery and witchcraft are not appropriate in a Catholic setting.

The book banning is the first time Harry Potter has been removed from a school in Massachusetts, according to the American Library Association. Seventeen other states have seen attempts to ban the books, since Rowling published "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in 1998.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/education/14422051/detail.html

[spinbaby]

1. Wizarding school bans Catechism

Idiots all.

[sakabatou]

2. .

[melody]

3. Yeah, that's exactly what we need less of in this country - children reading

Let's force them to read the Bible and all those other deadly dull books that will forever stamp out the
slightest ember of interest in reading.

[shain from kane]

4. Let's burn some witches! Things don't change much in Salem, er, Wakefield, Mass.

[Bitwit1234]

5. Jeepers..parents ban Catholic school...and the money they pay for tution

[Book Lover]

6. This reminds me of an old Slate article

http://www.slate.com/id/2100637/

<snip> Note that the other book series Potter is compared to is the Left Behind books

The little similarities go on. Both books present the media as corrupt or easily corruptible. The Left Behind tribulation takes seven years; so does Hogwarts'. Carpathia takes the form of a snake; Voldemort takes the form of a lizard, and Harry is able to tap into the evil world by speaking snake (parseltongue). And in both, the good guys bear a special "mark"—on their foreheads!—that protects them.

Finally, they both have a theology. It's not, as one might expect, that Left Behind is Christian and Harry Potter pagan, but rather that Left Behind is Protestant and Harry Potter is Catholic. One of the chief theological arguments between Catholics and Protestants has been over whether salvation is earned through faith or by good works. In Left Behind, the only thing that matters is faith in Jesus. Steele explains that church leaders had led so many people astray because they merely "expected them to lead a good life, to do the best they could, to think of others, to be kind, to live in peace. It sounded so good, and yet it was so wrong. How far from the mark!"

While everything is pre-ordained in Left Behind, in Harry Potter, by contrast, Dumbledore explicitly tells Harry that even though he carries some of the essence of Voldemort in him, he has the power to do good because he has the power of choice.

In that sense, despite their similarities, at their hearts the two series are different in a fundamental but not obvious way. Left Behind is fatalistic; Harry Potter sees outcome determined by individual actions. Both provide a roadmap for how to live a good life, but in one case the key is morality, and in the other it is faith.

[iamthebandfanman]

7. while i think its dumb that they do it...

i dont understand why people are commenting on religious schools banning things...

they can do that if they want, they are a private organisation.


sorry, but unlike everybody else in this country i still believe in seperation of church and state... even if it favors the church's actions... lol

[The Straight Story]

10. I agree - but I can still comment I think it is dumb

:)

[dembotoz]

8. good wins over evil

yah i can tell why a church would want to ban that.

maybe if Harry had glued a st christopher statue on the end of his broom all would be ok

all i know is jk got my boys to read big fat books and enjoy doing that.
don't know if that miracle counts toward sainthood, but a miracle it remains.

[Pirate Smile]

9. My son's second grade teacher at a Catholic School read their class part of a Harry Potter book.

One school is not all Catholic Schools.

[AlCzervik]

11. it's private school, they can do stupid shit all day long.

my sister lives in Wakefield and her neighbor girl goes to that school.

[TrogL]

12. Then they need to ban "the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" as well

Both are Christian allegories

[Stuckinthebush]

13. That private school is quite free to do that

...quite free to be foolish.

...quite free to be small minded.

...quite free to be mind numbingly moronic.

The funny thing about it is that the kids at that school will do whatever they can to read that book now. It's probably the best thing the school could do to get kids to read the Potter series.

Encourage literacy! Ban more books!

Fools. Sweet, simple fools.