In honor of the US release of the new Harry Potter book today, we wanted to mention something that we ran across on Skeptico. As you may know, the Catholic Church has spent the past few years whining about how J.K. Rowling's books are E-ville because they promote witchcraft. Other small-minded Christian groups have also joined in the persistent whine.

Well, the folks over at The Chaser ran an article the other day that turns the tables on the goddites:

A number of concerned British Harry Potter fans have spoken out against the Bible, claiming that the holy text of the Christian Church can cause serious damage to children. "Reading the Bible teaches children to believe in the supernatural," said one English Literature academic from Oxford University, Lewis Williams. "The tales of Jesus turning water into wine are fairly harmless, but there is a serious risk of children drowning if they try to walk on water," he said. "And the chance of serious bodily harm isn't exactly minimised by that whole 'resurrection-from-the-dead' story either."

It's a short but extremely funny article — go read the rest, even if you aren't a Harry Potter fan.

And to the goddites: maybe if you didn't believe that magic and demons and ghosts were real, then these kinds of fictional stories might not worry you so much. Grow up.

Now please excuse us — our pre-ordered copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince literally just arrived, and it's time to do some reading!

As the parents of 9 children, this comes up in our home a lot.

The God Squad, whether fundamentalist Protestants or Catholic, fears not that the children will develop beliefs in magic, but that they'll develop beliefs in the wrong magic. It's absolute lunacy.

I encounter Wiccans and other witches in my travels through the magical land of paranormal message boards, and they welcome this apparent interest of children in magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. Many see it as an endorsement of their beliefs and practices.

The crucial detail that both camps miss -if my many kids and their friends are any indication -is that virtually NONE of the kids who love the Harry Potter franchise of books and movies take it at all seriously, and certainly don't believe it, except to the extent that kids will wonder if saying Candy Man 20 times in a mirror will bring forth that spectre. One test proves the lie.

The God Squad and the Witches squabble on, sounding very much like people who believe in Santa Claus making fun of people who believe in the Easter Bunny, all the while exercising less common sense than the kids they pretend concern for.

Religiosity, in which belief comes solely on faith and without evidence, sets an inner intellectual template that does not at all translate well into real world experiences and needs. Religiosity leaves one vulnerable to any unsubstantiated belief that happens to feel good and serves to satisfy emotional need. That is dangerous (said G, demonstrating a firm grasp of the grossly obvious).

Credo consolans.

Thanks Grendel!

I had to blog about your comment!

http://sillyhumans.blogspot.com/2005/07/santa-clause-vs-easter-bunny.html

Wow! A testimonial! Could fame and fortune be far behind?

(G runs to the mailbox to look for checks...)

Thank you, MBains.