Laura Mallory and the Misguided Crusade

by La Shawn on 12.21.06

in Censorship, Pop Culture

Laura MalloryTuesday, May 29: For the latest on Laura Mallory’s misguided crusade, see Laura Mallory, Foiled Again!

Update II (12/21 @ 2:47 p.m.): Would it be too much to ask readers to follow links and read the articles before commenting on this post? Probably. :?

Update: According to Scholastic, J. K. Rowling’s American publisher, Book 7 will be titled, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. More here.

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Laura Mallory, Christian mother, has been on a year-long crusade to have the Harry Potter books removed from government school library shelves in Gwinnett County, Georgia.

A few months ago, the Gwinnett County School Board refused to remove the books. Last week, the Georgia Board of Education upheld Gwinnett County’s decision. Mallory says she may appeal.

By the way, she’s never read the books. Not one.

Mallory’s quest is misguided, and her efforts will be fruitless. I don’t know any Christians who want to ban books, and I hope I never meet any. In the scheme of things, what Mallory is doing doesn’t matter that much. There are more important things going on in the world for Christians to worry about, and the Harry Potter books are so far down the list, they barely register.

So what is it about the books that offend Mallory’s sensibilities as a Christian?

The Bible and the Practice of Sorcery

When Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone washed up on American shores in the late 1990s, some Christians went ballistic.

On the grounds that the Bible clearly condemns the practice of witchcraft and sorcery, these Christians spoke out against the books for “promoting” witchcraft and advised others not to allow their children to read them.

Practicing sorcery was punishable by death in ancient Israel. Among the “detestable practices” are human sacrifice, “reading” the future, casting spells, and communicating with the dead. Along with fornication, idolatry, and jealousy, the practice of witchcraft is a sin.

That much should be clear to Bible-believing Christians.

Christians by definition are not materialists (only matter exists). We believe in the spiritual realm, the “chief” spirit being the Holy Spirit, the third person in the godhead. The Bible describes the Holy Spirit (first mentioned explicitly in Acts) as our counselor and teacher, guiding us through our spiritual journey as Christ followers.

In that regard, Christians believe in the existence of unseen forces, good and evil.

Harry Potter and the Philosophers StoneHarry Potter and the Irate Christians

Joanne Rowling, a divorced mother on welfare in the 1990s, had spent years developing an idea that popped into her head while riding a train. An orphaned boy named Harry Potter discovered that he was a wizard and that his parents had been killed by an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort. The same wizard tried and failed to kill Harry in his crib. So began Rowling’s adventurous tale of “The Boy Who Lived.”

She finished the manuscript for the first book in 1995. Rejected by several publishers (I’ll bet those dopes are extremely sorry now), Bloomsbury took a chance on it. Since then, the books have won numerous awards, sold millions worldwide, and have been translated in dozens of languages, and made into high-grossing movies. Teachers and parents report that children who once hated reading are reading the Harry Potter books.

I won’t rehash the plot here, as I and many others have written enough about Harry Potter and our fascination with Rowling’s series to make your head spin. Begin by visiting the following sites:

As I write, Rowling is completing the seventh and final book in the septology.

American editor Alfred Knopf started a whirlwind of controversy when he decided to change the title of the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. He thought young American readers would think the book was about philosophy and miss the reference to alchemy. In other words he figured (probably correctly) that Americans were too illiterate to understand the title and would, therefore, stay away from the books.

According to legend, a philosopher’s stone was a substance used to turn base metals into gold. The philosopher’s stone was also an ingredient in the so-called the elixir of life, which gives anyone who drinks it eternal life. In Sorcerer’s Stone, the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, having lost his powers and part of his humanity after trying to kill baby Harry Potter, tried to steal the philosopher’s stone. Harry once against thwarts his plans, and the Dark Lord’s return is delayed for a time.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone[Note: While reading the first book, I immediately picked up on the classic "fear of physical death" theme and the desire to live forever, which is what Voldemort wants to do. He is so afraid of death that he split his soul seven times to avoid it. Fascinating themes and implications. Throughout human history, there's always been a fear of dying, or more precisely, of the unknown. Rowling's story, like all good literature, resonates because it echoes common refrains of the human condition.]

The word Sorcerer’s on the cover of the American version was just the beginning of some Christians’ problems with the book. They say the books promote witchcraft, but those who’ve read the books understand the distinction between promoting witchcraft and using it as a backdrop in the story. Others, like myself, make distinctions between the incantational magic of Harry Potter and the invocation magic condemned in the Bible. Also consider that Harry Potter is fiction, and the Bible doesn’t condemn reading about sorcery.

Rather than rehash the arguments here, I’ll point you to a two-part column I wrote titled, “Harry Potter and the Charmed Christians,” Part I and Part II. Warning: Here be spoilers!

The Bible condemns the practice of sorcery, but I don’t believe Christians are forbidden to read about it as fiction or non-fiction. I also believe this is a discussion for Christians and shouldn’t be argued among secularists, who have no qualms with witchcraft or any other occult practices. If Christians believe that a few books on a government school library shelf have the power to corrupt their kids, Harry Potter is the least of their problems.

Instead of wasting time, energy, and money trying to ban books, Christian parents should take their children out of government schools. Enter Laura Mallory.

Resources:

Laura Mallory and the Misguided Crusade

Every now and then I read stories about Christians who wanted Harry Potter books banned from government schools. Once an anti-Harry Potter Christian myself, I didn’t support the idea of banning, but I understood where these Christians were coming from.

I was a die-hard fan of Harry Potter by the time Laura Mallory began her one-woman crusade against the books, so I took a special interest in this “Christians against Harry Potter” drama. Mallory, an evangelical Christian, says she finds the book offensive to her Christian faith and harmful to her children’s spiritual health. She even blames Harry Potter for school shootings!

Now all this sounds like a personal problem to me, given that her children attend government schools. There’s a lot about such schools I don’t like, which is why if I ever have children, they won’t be going to government schools.

burning bookFor over a year, Mallory has been trying to convince the Gwinnett County Board of Education in Georgia to remove the Harry Potter books from library shelves. After the local board refused her request,” she took her case to the Georgia Board of Education, which upheld Gwinnett County’s decision.

(Also see “Potter vote no surprise” and “Mother May Appeal Harry Potter Books Decision.”)

If I had children, I wouldn’t want them to read books like Heather Has Two Mommies, but trying to get the book banned would be the last thing I’d do. A child’s education begins at home. Bad influences from the outside will creep in, but that is part of the spiritual journey, so to speak.

The Bible teaches that believers should teach their children about God and his commands. At the same time, part of any spiritual journey involves facing temptation and overcoming it, and children need to learn how to do this. I believe what Mallory is doing is counterproductive. Her time and energy would be better spent training her children’s young minds to formulate and support arguments, and articulate why they believe Harry Potter is “dangerous” for Christians.

Yes, I wrote that. In a way, I support Mallory’s decision to keep Harry Potter from her children. If she believes the books are dangerous, she, as a mother, has a responsibility to protect them. In fact, I don’t think young children should read the later books because of their dark themes. The sorcery is secondary.

Keeping “bad” books out of the house is one thing, but trying to keep them out of government schools is quite another. I’ve expressed my views about government schooling. I support school choice. Taxpaying parents should be allowed to move their kids from low-performing to higher-performing government schools if they wish. I also think parents who currently send kids to private schools ought to get a tax break. And I’m a passionate advocate of homeschooling.

Book banning stinks of medieval hysteria. Just as it embarrasses me to hear and read about blacks fighting for lowered standards, it embarrasses me to hear and read about professing Christians trying to ban books for “promoting” the occult. If your kid is in a government school filled with books on homosexuality and Harry Potter — and you don’t want them reading about either topic — explain to them why the books go against your values and why you don’t want them reading such books. Banning a book (excluding child pornography) only provides a slippery slope for banning others, including books you may like. It’s dangerous, ignorant, and uncool.

Remember what the character Hermione Granger said in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? After nasty Professor Dolores Umbridge forbade students from reading a tabloid called The Quibbler because it featured a Harry Potter interview that made the Ministry of Magic look bad, Hermoine was happy. The best way to make sure someone reads something, she said, is to ban it.

Take a memo, Laura Mallory.

Harry Potter-related books:

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