October 4, 2006

Can Today's World Afford to Lose Harry Potter?

The Associated Press carried an interesting bit of news this morning. In the wake of all the evil that has stepped foot on American school grounds this last month, a Georgia mother is asking her Board of Education to ban Harry Potter from its schools.

Of all the things to ban in the world, Harry Potter shouldn’t be one of them. He has gotten a bad rap by Christians who many times have criticized the books without even reading them because of the reference to witchcraft and wizardry. Wow, how many of our beloved children’s tales would find themselves in the burning flames of the banned if we were to follow this line of (un-)reasoning? We would lose C.S. Lewis and J.R. Tolkien for sure.

And can today’s world afford to lose classic stories of good prevailing over evil?

I’m sorry, but parenting isn’t always about shielding your child from evil. It’s also about teaching discernment. How about reading the Potter books with your children? You’d be amazed at the discussions and teaching moments that might pop up. I started reading Harry Potter with my son. It was one of the few books that had a boy as the main character. A boy with lots of choices to make, the kind of choices most kids face at school today that involve peer pressure and doing what’s right. I started reading Harry Potter for my son but I continue to read for myself.

And yes, I eat Frosted Flakes for breakfast.

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