BLARGistania
25-11-2005, 07:45
Its long, so deal with it. It deals with Harry Potter and the religious right.
Have at it.
In 1999, a children’s book was published under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. No one knew it, but within another two years, this first book and its predecessors would be sweeping the world in media-storms of publicity surrounding each release date. The explosion of popularity around the Harry Potter novels begged a response from all sections of the earth’s population. The Ivory Tower academics refused to classify it under literature, pop culture called it a sensation, and the Christian fundamentalist wing called it the spawn of Satan. The Christian response was perhaps the most widely heard of the non-pop culture opinions, and it was one of the most vocal. Why were some sections of the Christdom calling Harry Potter evil? Why were they so vocal? Why did it matter to them?
The main theory behind the Christian response was righteousness in American culture, or, in many eyes, the decline of that righteousness. To many people in the fundamentalist group, Harry Potter represented what was taking away from the morals of America and why it needed to be stopped. From imaginary worlds to witchcraft, the Christian right saw dozens of images and themes in the book that they felt threatened their theology. Once this threat was realized to the Christian right, they began to do everything in their power to try and stop it. Fortunately for the rest of the world, no one took them very seriously and the books continued to be published. But the question remains, why would such a response matter within US culture? Tracing the roots from the Puritan settlers all the way up to the modern fundamentalist movements of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, one can come to understand how such a response was formulated in a collective unconscious and why it would matter to analyze such a response.
The initial roots of the Christian fundamentalist movement come from the early Puritan settlers and how they managed their everyday religious life. To the Puritans, “god was a distant deity, not of this ‘god is my-copilot’ modern theology”. The Puritans believed that god watched their every move from afar and only those that were righteous could gain access into heaven. Moving away from the Anglican church and the trappings of European Christianity, the Puritans settled into the new world to practice their own brand of religion. This did not mean that they practiced any sort of religious tolerance by any stretch of the imagination. Dissenters were usually tossed out into the wilderness, a sentence tantamount to death. When Ann Hutchinson started to challenge the local pastor, creating her own religion (known as Quakerism), she was exiled from the community and left for Rhode Island (www.wfu.edu). This early attitude that the Puritans had of their own “city on the hill” (John Winthrop) showed that their own beliefs took precedence over all others. The Puritans were vocal enough to make a fuss if someone disagreed with them over theology, and the fuss usually ended with up with someone getting expelled from the community. The Puritan brand of religion eventually died out, but it left what is known as “the Puritan ghost” – a remaining subconscious ghost of the Puritan way of thinking.
This ghost has manifested itself several times throughout history in the form of popular thought that any dissent or difference is not tolerated. The McCarthy era of politics is another example of this ghost where anyone perceived as disagreeing with the US was branded a red and blackballed in popular culture- unable to get a job or an education because of their sympathies. The most important manifestation of this ghost still lives today in the form of religious fundamentalism, in the US, it is Christian fundamentalism. Starting in the early 19th century (www.whrnet.org), Christian fundamentalism began to grow in popularity. This particular brand of Christianity had several key tenants to its faith. The tenant that matters within this discussion is the inerrancy of the bible. Two passages within the Old Testament state that witchcraft is evil and shall not be tolerated because the only source of miracles (magic is not used because of its connotations with witches) is God. These two passages are: Deuteronomy 18:10-11 – “Let no one be found among you who ... practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, | or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” And the other passage is Exodus 22:18 “Do not allow a sorceress to live.” (New International Version) These two passages give the base of the movement against the Harry Potter books. After all, a series that is dedicated to a school of witchcraft and wizardry is in obvious conflict with the passages in the bible. With the publishing of the book, the Christian fundamentalists broke out their pitchforks and cried murder, saying the book was subverting Christian values by luring readers into the occult with the use of “white magic” or a way of talking about magic that makes it seem harmless.
In a world where most people acknowledge that magic doesn’t exist, why did this point get such attention from the media and from society? The answer resides in the development of fundamentalism as a pop culture idea. US politics, more than any other country, exempt the Middle East, revolves around religion in politics. All of the US Presidents, with the exception of John F. Kennedy have been at least nominally Protestant (with doubts about the founders that were Presidents, i.e. Washington, Adams, and Jefferson). Also, in the last two elections, 2000 and 2004, the faith of the President has been a major issue. The “wall of separation between Church and State” that Jefferson spoke about fell when George W. Bush ran on the platform of being from the party of “morals and values”. We all know how true that is now. GWB’s faith was a major player in his election run and his born-again Christian theology appealed to a lot of conservative America. Again, the Puritan ghost shows itself in a theology where dissent is not permitted and the bible cannot go wrong, no matter what it says. Once this wall of separation fell, religion had fair game at politics, and through politics, pop culture. Because of the influence on politics, the Christian fundamental response to the Harry Potter books became important, it actually started to matter. Libraries began to receive challenges to Harry Potter from people seeking to ban the books (www.ala.org), some small towns received enough pressure to ban the book in schools, and media began to show attention to the people that were criticizing the books for leading Americans astray (www.news.bbc.co.uk).
The claims of the books leading people away from their Christian values and morals became stronger as more voices joined in. The Internet helped this spread with dozens of bloggers and on-line columnists typing away at why Harry Potter needed to go. Pat Roberston (www.patroberston.com) , one of the US’s leading evangelists was leading the call to ban Harry Potter citing incidents like the death of Cedric Diggory (Goblet of Fire) as showing that the death of your friends was necessary to grow, a distinctly un-Christian idea. He also pointed to the very use of magic, in conjunction with the book of Exodus, stating that the books were showing children being a witch was cool. To back this claim up with pop-culture facts, he pointed to bookstores which routinely sell out their stocks of books of Wicca and the occult. He also pointed to Internet search engines, one of them, askjeeves.com returns on the first hit “8 simple steps to becoming your own witch”. Robertson used this evidence as claims that America was moving away from its traditional Christian roots (www.whrnet.org)(www.christianitytoday.net). This argument held sway because according to religioustolerance.org, 77% of Americans identify themselves as Christians (2001). With this indictment against the very religion that the people were practicing, Americans began to take notice and look seriously at the claims the Christian right was making. Again, the Puritan ghost shows itself.
So what? Just because Americans still identify themselves as Christian doesn’t mean that the argument matters. Right? Well, no. The very fact that Americans still want to identify themselves as Christian gives credence to the idea of decrying something as anti-Christian. The Harry Potter books just provided a convenient jumping-off point for a criticism of modern society. The fundamentalist Christian movements of the US during this time frame have revolved in large part around trying to convince people that if they do not believe in a certain aspect of faith, then they cannot call themselves Christian anymore.
The basic essence of the American religious culture has created this issue for current pop culture. Starting with the Puritans and continuing up to Pat Robertson and the Christian right today, every issue gets analyzed by how it stacks up to the bible and how holy you are if you believe in a particular issue. The fundamentalist movement of Christianity is still considered a fringe group by pop culture and by and large ignored, however, their arguments are becoming louder and louder and more and more effective as time goes on.
The Harry Potter controversy centers itself around the question of whether or not children should be exposed to the themes of magic and witchcraft at as young of an age as they are. While most of the culture says yes, the fundamentalist movement takes the “protection of the children” side of things by claiming that the children are not yet ready to embrace what is going in the Harry Potter novels. These claims center around the story of Voldermort killing Harry’s parents (Sorcerer’s Stone), the possession and “petrification” of people in Chamber of Secrets, mass murder in Prisoner of Azkaban, and death in Goblet of Fire. Other themes come to include betrayal and evil as the series progresses even further. These hand-picked themes represent what the fundamentalists are talking about: concepts and ideas that may be too complex or traumatic for child readers.
On the other side of the argument though, the voice of the readers speak out against the attacks on Harry Potter. The website readingmatters.co.uk presents a variety of reader responses on why the books should be kept. Children and adults can leave messages commenting on the arguments against the Harry Potter books. Oscar, a New Zealand 11 year old makes a good point “This is insane thats like saying that the fairy godmother in the 7 dwarfes is recruting sataniest's.” [sic]. Comments on the obvious fiction of the novel would make the fundamentalist argument seem thin, but the fundamentalist movement covered its rear with an argument that has a degree of logic to it.
Christianitytoday.net provides a good example of the counter argument:
I have an idea for a wonderful series of children's books. I'm imagining a delightful fantasy world. In my world, there is a secret: tucked away on the upper shelves of every home is a product that, when used the right way, can make children's dreams come true: common rat poison, when mixed with orange soda, turns into an elixir that's out of this world. When you drink it in one big gulp, not only does it taste heavenly, it also makes you happy, beautiful—and for 24 hours, it gives you the power to accomplish one wish.
This is the classic “if it can be imagined by a kid, it will be done in real life” argument. Critics of the popular game “Grand Theft Auto” have been using it for years. This is the argument that holds the true punch. Parents begin to wonder what will happen if their kid imagines themselves performing this magic and it really does lead them to the occult. Despite being a false argument (as no one yet can cast a death-spell), it still worries parents and fundamentalists alike.
The end result of all of this is that the Christian fundamentalist movement was able to get its message across, if not accepted, because the movement was able to strike a nerve at the center of the American psyche. The Puritan ghost is still echoing through the centuries to give people the theological fear of god’s wrath. Luckily for our society it is only strong enough to bring attention to the issue, rather than force cooperation with the issue. The idea of divine anger scares people, and the Christian right tried to use it to scare people away from Harry Potter. The move was unsuccessful, but it deserves attention because of the significance of what that ghost means to Americans as a culture and as to how it can define what pop society will believe in.
Have at it.
In 1999, a children’s book was published under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. No one knew it, but within another two years, this first book and its predecessors would be sweeping the world in media-storms of publicity surrounding each release date. The explosion of popularity around the Harry Potter novels begged a response from all sections of the earth’s population. The Ivory Tower academics refused to classify it under literature, pop culture called it a sensation, and the Christian fundamentalist wing called it the spawn of Satan. The Christian response was perhaps the most widely heard of the non-pop culture opinions, and it was one of the most vocal. Why were some sections of the Christdom calling Harry Potter evil? Why were they so vocal? Why did it matter to them?
The main theory behind the Christian response was righteousness in American culture, or, in many eyes, the decline of that righteousness. To many people in the fundamentalist group, Harry Potter represented what was taking away from the morals of America and why it needed to be stopped. From imaginary worlds to witchcraft, the Christian right saw dozens of images and themes in the book that they felt threatened their theology. Once this threat was realized to the Christian right, they began to do everything in their power to try and stop it. Fortunately for the rest of the world, no one took them very seriously and the books continued to be published. But the question remains, why would such a response matter within US culture? Tracing the roots from the Puritan settlers all the way up to the modern fundamentalist movements of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, one can come to understand how such a response was formulated in a collective unconscious and why it would matter to analyze such a response.
The initial roots of the Christian fundamentalist movement come from the early Puritan settlers and how they managed their everyday religious life. To the Puritans, “god was a distant deity, not of this ‘god is my-copilot’ modern theology”. The Puritans believed that god watched their every move from afar and only those that were righteous could gain access into heaven. Moving away from the Anglican church and the trappings of European Christianity, the Puritans settled into the new world to practice their own brand of religion. This did not mean that they practiced any sort of religious tolerance by any stretch of the imagination. Dissenters were usually tossed out into the wilderness, a sentence tantamount to death. When Ann Hutchinson started to challenge the local pastor, creating her own religion (known as Quakerism), she was exiled from the community and left for Rhode Island (www.wfu.edu). This early attitude that the Puritans had of their own “city on the hill” (John Winthrop) showed that their own beliefs took precedence over all others. The Puritans were vocal enough to make a fuss if someone disagreed with them over theology, and the fuss usually ended with up with someone getting expelled from the community. The Puritan brand of religion eventually died out, but it left what is known as “the Puritan ghost” – a remaining subconscious ghost of the Puritan way of thinking.
This ghost has manifested itself several times throughout history in the form of popular thought that any dissent or difference is not tolerated. The McCarthy era of politics is another example of this ghost where anyone perceived as disagreeing with the US was branded a red and blackballed in popular culture- unable to get a job or an education because of their sympathies. The most important manifestation of this ghost still lives today in the form of religious fundamentalism, in the US, it is Christian fundamentalism. Starting in the early 19th century (www.whrnet.org), Christian fundamentalism began to grow in popularity. This particular brand of Christianity had several key tenants to its faith. The tenant that matters within this discussion is the inerrancy of the bible. Two passages within the Old Testament state that witchcraft is evil and shall not be tolerated because the only source of miracles (magic is not used because of its connotations with witches) is God. These two passages are: Deuteronomy 18:10-11 – “Let no one be found among you who ... practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, | or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” And the other passage is Exodus 22:18 “Do not allow a sorceress to live.” (New International Version) These two passages give the base of the movement against the Harry Potter books. After all, a series that is dedicated to a school of witchcraft and wizardry is in obvious conflict with the passages in the bible. With the publishing of the book, the Christian fundamentalists broke out their pitchforks and cried murder, saying the book was subverting Christian values by luring readers into the occult with the use of “white magic” or a way of talking about magic that makes it seem harmless.
In a world where most people acknowledge that magic doesn’t exist, why did this point get such attention from the media and from society? The answer resides in the development of fundamentalism as a pop culture idea. US politics, more than any other country, exempt the Middle East, revolves around religion in politics. All of the US Presidents, with the exception of John F. Kennedy have been at least nominally Protestant (with doubts about the founders that were Presidents, i.e. Washington, Adams, and Jefferson). Also, in the last two elections, 2000 and 2004, the faith of the President has been a major issue. The “wall of separation between Church and State” that Jefferson spoke about fell when George W. Bush ran on the platform of being from the party of “morals and values”. We all know how true that is now. GWB’s faith was a major player in his election run and his born-again Christian theology appealed to a lot of conservative America. Again, the Puritan ghost shows itself in a theology where dissent is not permitted and the bible cannot go wrong, no matter what it says. Once this wall of separation fell, religion had fair game at politics, and through politics, pop culture. Because of the influence on politics, the Christian fundamental response to the Harry Potter books became important, it actually started to matter. Libraries began to receive challenges to Harry Potter from people seeking to ban the books (www.ala.org), some small towns received enough pressure to ban the book in schools, and media began to show attention to the people that were criticizing the books for leading Americans astray (www.news.bbc.co.uk).
The claims of the books leading people away from their Christian values and morals became stronger as more voices joined in. The Internet helped this spread with dozens of bloggers and on-line columnists typing away at why Harry Potter needed to go. Pat Roberston (www.patroberston.com) , one of the US’s leading evangelists was leading the call to ban Harry Potter citing incidents like the death of Cedric Diggory (Goblet of Fire) as showing that the death of your friends was necessary to grow, a distinctly un-Christian idea. He also pointed to the very use of magic, in conjunction with the book of Exodus, stating that the books were showing children being a witch was cool. To back this claim up with pop-culture facts, he pointed to bookstores which routinely sell out their stocks of books of Wicca and the occult. He also pointed to Internet search engines, one of them, askjeeves.com returns on the first hit “8 simple steps to becoming your own witch”. Robertson used this evidence as claims that America was moving away from its traditional Christian roots (www.whrnet.org)(www.christianitytoday.net). This argument held sway because according to religioustolerance.org, 77% of Americans identify themselves as Christians (2001). With this indictment against the very religion that the people were practicing, Americans began to take notice and look seriously at the claims the Christian right was making. Again, the Puritan ghost shows itself.
So what? Just because Americans still identify themselves as Christian doesn’t mean that the argument matters. Right? Well, no. The very fact that Americans still want to identify themselves as Christian gives credence to the idea of decrying something as anti-Christian. The Harry Potter books just provided a convenient jumping-off point for a criticism of modern society. The fundamentalist Christian movements of the US during this time frame have revolved in large part around trying to convince people that if they do not believe in a certain aspect of faith, then they cannot call themselves Christian anymore.
The basic essence of the American religious culture has created this issue for current pop culture. Starting with the Puritans and continuing up to Pat Robertson and the Christian right today, every issue gets analyzed by how it stacks up to the bible and how holy you are if you believe in a particular issue. The fundamentalist movement of Christianity is still considered a fringe group by pop culture and by and large ignored, however, their arguments are becoming louder and louder and more and more effective as time goes on.
The Harry Potter controversy centers itself around the question of whether or not children should be exposed to the themes of magic and witchcraft at as young of an age as they are. While most of the culture says yes, the fundamentalist movement takes the “protection of the children” side of things by claiming that the children are not yet ready to embrace what is going in the Harry Potter novels. These claims center around the story of Voldermort killing Harry’s parents (Sorcerer’s Stone), the possession and “petrification” of people in Chamber of Secrets, mass murder in Prisoner of Azkaban, and death in Goblet of Fire. Other themes come to include betrayal and evil as the series progresses even further. These hand-picked themes represent what the fundamentalists are talking about: concepts and ideas that may be too complex or traumatic for child readers.
On the other side of the argument though, the voice of the readers speak out against the attacks on Harry Potter. The website readingmatters.co.uk presents a variety of reader responses on why the books should be kept. Children and adults can leave messages commenting on the arguments against the Harry Potter books. Oscar, a New Zealand 11 year old makes a good point “This is insane thats like saying that the fairy godmother in the 7 dwarfes is recruting sataniest's.” [sic]. Comments on the obvious fiction of the novel would make the fundamentalist argument seem thin, but the fundamentalist movement covered its rear with an argument that has a degree of logic to it.
Christianitytoday.net provides a good example of the counter argument:
I have an idea for a wonderful series of children's books. I'm imagining a delightful fantasy world. In my world, there is a secret: tucked away on the upper shelves of every home is a product that, when used the right way, can make children's dreams come true: common rat poison, when mixed with orange soda, turns into an elixir that's out of this world. When you drink it in one big gulp, not only does it taste heavenly, it also makes you happy, beautiful—and for 24 hours, it gives you the power to accomplish one wish.
This is the classic “if it can be imagined by a kid, it will be done in real life” argument. Critics of the popular game “Grand Theft Auto” have been using it for years. This is the argument that holds the true punch. Parents begin to wonder what will happen if their kid imagines themselves performing this magic and it really does lead them to the occult. Despite being a false argument (as no one yet can cast a death-spell), it still worries parents and fundamentalists alike.
The end result of all of this is that the Christian fundamentalist movement was able to get its message across, if not accepted, because the movement was able to strike a nerve at the center of the American psyche. The Puritan ghost is still echoing through the centuries to give people the theological fear of god’s wrath. Luckily for our society it is only strong enough to bring attention to the issue, rather than force cooperation with the issue. The idea of divine anger scares people, and the Christian right tried to use it to scare people away from Harry Potter. The move was unsuccessful, but it deserves attention because of the significance of what that ghost means to Americans as a culture and as to how it can define what pop society will believe in.