Reasons for Censoring:~Occult related ideas: Many parents have expressed worries that the books will cause their children to believe in witchcraft. They argue that because witchcraft is against their religion they should not be exposed to any ideas of magic or anything possibly related to the occult.
~Violent Content: Often opponents argue that some of the violent scenes in Harry Potter will be too scary for them. They often worry that children will want to recreate the violence they read about without understanding the consequences. ~Setting a Bad Example: The books are often accused of setting a bad example for children. Adults take issue with the way that the characters speak to adults and break the rules. |
Our Response~Reading about another so called religion is not going to cause children to throw away the religion that their parents have taught them. Children are taught the difference between fantasy and real life at an early age; they are not going to try to become witches simply because they read a story about one.
~Children encounter stories involving violence constantly. Simply removing this one set of books from their education will not shelter them from the harsh reality of life. The books in no way glorify violence so there is no reason to assume that children will become more violent simply because they read the books. ~Harry Potter and the other characters do end up breaking the rules throughout the books but these acts in no way go unpunished. Mike Hertenstein says in his review of the first Potter film, that "much of Harry's rule-breaking... involves the principle of disobeying a lower law to keep a higher one—not to say he's Rosa Parks, but who could criticize Harry's violation of the no-fly rule to broom his way over a bully and stand up for his friends?" |
“I don't believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book.” J.K. Rowling