Potter magic banned by Christian school

[The Anti Chive- Cogent, Relevant, Topical]

Potter magic banned by Christian school


Wednesday, 02 July , 2003, 12:38



Sydney: An Australian Christian school has banned the new best-selling
adventure of teenage wizard Harry Potter, saying the book promotes evil
witchcraft and magic.

Bert Langerak, principal of the Maranatha Christian School in the
southern city of Melbourne, said on Wednesday none of the five books in
author J K Rowling's blockbuster Harry Potter series was welcome on the
school's library shelves.

"We would deal with, say, Macbeth and Hamlet, because evil there is
being portrayed as evil and not as being good, whereas Harry Potter is on a
quest to become the best possible wizard and that's being applauded by the
author," Langerak told Reuters.

"And us poor muggles are being put in a bad light," he added, using
the name by which the book refers to non-magical people.

The latest book in the series -- Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix -- became an instant best seller around the world when it was
launched last month.

Langerak said the school was leaving it up to parents to decide if
they wanted to expose their children to Harry Potter and his unchristian
magic turbo-charged brooms.

"If they want their kids to read Harry Potter, so be it. But I think
that parents also have to be given the opportunity to say, 'No, I don't want
my child to read Harry Potter'."




http://sify.com/peopleandplaces/fullstory.php?id=13188184&vsv=38

[Paul Hume]

Post by The Anti Chive- Cogent, Relevant, Topical
Sydney: An Australian Christian school has banned the new best-selling
adventure of teenage wizard Harry Potter, saying the book promotes evil
witchcraft and magic.

I am unclear how large this school is, and more to the point, what the
word "ban" covers these days.

A sectarian school decided not to stock a particular book in its
school library. This is a ban?

Are they frisking students for personal copies? Expelling students
from households that contain a Potter title? Scouring the locl
bookshops for copies and burning them? Seeking court injunctions
against the possession or sale of the titles?

Back in the good old days, when a book was banned it was BANNED.
Customs officials siezed shipments at the docks and destroyed them.
Bookstores were cited and closed for selling them. Public display of a
banned title was illegal and don't even think about finding banned
titles in public libraries.

Now THAT is book banning. Is this? Calling it a ban seems on a par
with equating harsh language to grievous bodily harm. Hell, the
nitwits in the western US who burned a batch of Potter titles last
year were closer to that good old book banning spirit than these
ginzos.

Paul

Paul

[Paul Hume]

Now *this* article discusses the real deal...

http://www.aft.org/american_educator/summer2003/thingruel.html