Religiously motivated critics cross themselves when reading Potter, the churches themselves remain calm. Harry Potter as the spiritual spoiler of youth? Whoever believes will be saved.
Not only millions of Potter fans are loyal to the Hogwarts pupil from book to book. Harry also calls his critics on the scene with every new adventure. Seduction to Satanism, a mockery of Christianity, belittling of occultism, and belief in spirits are the allegations.
The criticism comes mainly from Christian fundamentalist circles. The Catholic sociologist and book author Gabriele Kuby, for example, does not mince words when criticizing the Potter mania: she is disgusted by a world of violence and horror, the constant threat and obsession that children have with the world of Get used to the occult, she says.
Religious Backlash Towards Harry Potter
“Harry Potter is a global long-term project to change the culture,” emphasizes Kuby in her 2003 account of the sorcerer’s apprentice phenomenon, “Harry Potter – good or bad?”. “With the trivialization of magic, the forces penetrate into a society which Christianity once overcame,” explains the author.
In the novels there is no one who wants the good, Harry’s fight against evil is basically just a sham fight due to his relationship with the evil magician Voldemort.
The writer’s opinion has not changed in the last four years – on the contrary. “I have received a lot of mail from parents who have encouraged me in my criticism and were happy that at least one of them publicly takes action against this hype,” she explains.
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The then-Cardinal Ratzinger also expressly supported her educational work: In a letter published on Kuby’s homepage from 2003, today’s Pope recognizes in Harry Potter “subtle seductions that have an imperceptible and therefore deep effect and decompose Christianity in the soul before marriage it could grow quite well at all “.
This argument recently animated a hacker who, according to his own account, had managed to break into the Bloomsbury computer: “We act as spoilsport to make reading the book useless and boring,” wrote the self-proclaimed avenging angel “Gabriel” the publishing industry, according to Reuters news agency.
It turned out to be a mistake that parents at a school in Chemnitz enforced in March that reading a Harry Potter novel should be removed from the curriculum. The sociologist’s advice, however, is clear: “Keep the children away from Harry Potter as long as possible.”