Christianity Today

We still like Harry Potter—and we're getting tired of being asked why we hate it
Yesterday, Weblog got a call from MSNBC's Buchanan and Press show. They were putting together a segment on Christians' response to the Harry Potter books since the fifth book in the series is being released Saturday. The booking producer had heard that Christianity Today had published some articles about the books. Would we be interested in talking about them?

Certainly, Weblog said, and directed the producer to this page, which has all of our Harry Potter coverage (as well as articles from our sister publications) neatly arranged in chronological order. I summarized our point of view: we like the Potter series because …

Sorry, she interrupted. We're looking for someone who opposes the books. That's not you, huh?

No. That's not us. It's not much of anyone—as we've repeatedly explained, criticism of Harry Potter is coming (indeed, has always come) from individual parents. There's no organizational opposition to Potter—even from groups that comment on just about every issue under the sun.

Too bad television news rarely cares about what's really going on in the world. If the producer had done a simple Google search, she would have found a great article from Reuters.

"The evil Lord Voldemort may still have it in for the boy wizard, but the lawyers, preachers and family groups seem ready to give it a rest," writes Broward Liston, who usually reports on space matters. In fact, he notes, "many conservative Christians have come to embrace the books, in part drawn by a portrayal of evil that has grown increasingly sophisticated, almost Biblical, with each book."

Even former critics of the book are silent this time around. "I've moved on. I have other things ...

This article is currently available to CT subscribers only.

To continue reading:

or