Fundies :heart: Harry Potter

[marmar]

via Truthdig:



Conservative Christians Give Harry Potter Their Blessing
Posted on Jul 17, 2009


Although the pope and other prominent Christians have registered their disapproval of the Harry Potter franchise in the past, the newest film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” is getting glowing reviews from fellow members of their fold. It’s not quite on the level of WWHPD? but some are noting the teenage wand-wielder’s similarities to a certain other powerful young man from a very popular book.

“Under God” in The Washington Post:

“As ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ opens, we are once again reminded of the characteristics that make him something of a Christ figure,” Connie Neal writes for the evangelical Christianity Today.

“It is more likely that at the end of the viewing or reading, rather than the allure of magic ... what remains are the scenes that evoke values such as friendship, altruism, loyalty, and the gift of self,” wrote L’Osservatore, the Vatican’s semi-official newspaper.

Read more

http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20090717_conservative_christians_give_harry_potter_their_blessing/

[Heidi]

1. Weren't Christian extremists up in arms a few years ago about the so-called "occult"

content of the HP books? Good grief.

[hobbit709]

2. Consistency has never been their strong point.

[shadowknows69]

4. Then they realized that every kid in the universe now reads JK Rowling

And if they want new generations to keep coming to church, they better make peace with some youthful icons.

[Heidi]

6. Ah. They're rebranding HP as a recruiting tool.

:gross:

[sinkingfeeling]

15. Reply in wrong place.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. They should REALLY like the last book then (Spoilers- in case you just haven't read it yet)

With Harry "coming back to life" and all and his final triumph over Satan.....er.....I mean, Voldemort. ;-)

I'm surprised that fundies haven't caught on to the fact that the books really have ALWAYS promoted good "Christian" values IMHO

[johnaries]

27. Well, except for the part about Dumbledore being.., you know.

It will be very interesting to see how they handle that!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

28. Oh yeah, forgot about THAT part

Although IMHO it's more implied in the book than it is explicit, so maybe they would be too dense to pick up on it. I know that JK Rowling confirmed that the character of Dumbledore was gay publicly but the character of Dumbledore doesn't come right out and say that he's gay or that the other wizard was his *lover* per se in the book.

[johnaries]

30. Good point. They'll probably say it was a just a "bromance".

:rofl:

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Best not tell them about the actor, then:

In an interview with Esquire magazine, Radcliffe risked the US box office prospects of the new Harry Potter film by declaring himself to be an atheist.

In a pronouncement that will dismay America's religious Right, which has long voiced suspicions about Potter's "anti-Christian" message, the 19-year-old actor said he did not believe in God.

He also expressed his admiration for Professor Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist and bete noir of Evangelical Christians.

Radcliffe has been reticent on the subject of religion in the past, but in an interview to promote the latest instalment in the film franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, released on July 15, he said: "I'm an atheist, but I'm very relaxed about it. I don't preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do. Anything he does on television, I will watch."

He joked: "There we go, Dan, that's half of America that's not going to see the next Harry Potter film on the back of that comment."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/5734000/Daniel-Radcliffe-a-cool-nerd.html

[Heidi]

7. :thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

:kick:

[marmar]

8. "that's half of America that's not going to see the next Harry Potter film on the back of that ...."

:rofl:

Everyone knows how puritanically silly this country is.

[Berry Cool]

11. He needn't worry.

At least he didn't say Harry is bigger than Jesus.

[blogslut]

9. I take it that

the anti-totalitarianism theme of the previous film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, went right over their wee heads.

Those wacky fundies love to cherry pick their Jesus metaphors.

[get the red out]

10. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em?

I guess the book burnings and threats of hell didn't hurt book and movie ticket sales, so now for the next tactic....:shrug:

[VWolf]

12. Yeah, as if my daughters would give a

FLYING FUCK whether or not the fundies approve of Harry Potter

:rofl:

FWIW, I thought the latest film was weak.

[sinkingfeeling]

13. Wait till they find out Harry is 'resurrected' in the Deathly Hallows!

[shadowknows69]

14. Yeah, thanks for the spoiler warning on that WTF!

[sinkingfeeling]

16. . How can somebody discussing Harry Potter and the fundies reaction to the books not have read them?

[shadowknows69]

18. Well sorry, some of us haven't but intended to eventually

[sinkingfeeling]

26. I do believe that by the time you get through Deadly Hallows, you will have had a lot

more shocks than the one I mentioned. I also think that the book series is a thousand times better than the movies. Another thing, is with the guy directing HBP and the two Deadly Hallows movies, nothing may be the same between the books and movies!

[dysfunctional press]

19. because a lot of us have just been following along with the movies.

[shadowknows69]

20. I had to learn the end to Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" due to an inconsiderate post like this too

Albeit on a different board. But it just aint done!!! Someone in this same post posted a spoiler warning in the subject line and, Hello! I chose not to click on it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

29. Well, to be fair

There's WAY more to it than THAT. Actually, I'm not sure what happens could be considered *resurrection*. So, if you haven't read the book yet, hearing that he gets *resurrected" doesn't really explain what really happens and/or why, so I think that by the time you read through the book, you probably won't feel as though it has really been spoiled for you. In fact, it's rather unique how JK Rowling handles it.

[keroro gunsou]

17. i had that same arguement

with one of my idiot aunts. she's a hard core fundy, for as long as i've known her, she's pissed on anything like video games, comic books/manga, harry potter, d&d, the forgotten realms books, anything not in line with her fucked up world view. this is the same woman who is (still) desperately trying to keep her now teen-aged kids away from me, lest i corrupt their pure souls.

anyhoo, she's ranting about how it is base blasphemy that harry potter was killed by tom riddle and rose from the dead. well it didn't help matters when i told that ignorant git, that technically harry wasn't dead. the shard of tom riddle's soul that was lodged in him took the hit, and the whole chapter with him talking with dumbledore could be classified as either near-death or out of body. meltdown and frothing ensued.

i honestly think if it wasn't for me, her kids would be as fucked up as she is, or dead. i'm the "cool" one, who does all the fun things, and let's em join in...

to wit:

playstation 3: 450 dollars
grand theft auto 4: 35 dollars
dead space: 30 dollars
biohazard 5 (resident evil): 60 dollars

look on my aunt's face when watching her dear, precious snowflakes playing with the above - priceless.

[KatyMan]

25. Well, but

the look on my aunt's face when watching her dear, precious snowflakes playing with the above - priceless.

It's really not your place to tell your aunt how to raise her kids, not to mention if she doesn't want them exposed to certain things, you should respect her wishes, no matter how messed up she may or may not be.

[keroro gunsou]

31. thanks for your concern

but i always found it amusing that the kids prefer hanging out with me and my fun toys that her and her lame ones.

[Iggo]

21. More kids read Harry Potter than the bible.

Pope's just gettin on the bandwagon.

[redqueen]

22. "Vatican Praises Harry Potter Film"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=6073446


This is surprising... I thought for sure the Vatican praising it would cause the fundies to hate it even more.

[justiceischeap]

23. Wait until they find out (spoiler inside)

Albus Dumbledore is gay!

Source: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carnegie-hall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-abbott-and-scores-more

[Canuckistanian]

32. And Daniel Radcliffe is an *gasp* ATHEIST

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.examiner.com%2Fx-2044-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m7d4-Harry-Potters-Daniel-Radcliffe-is-an-atheists-and-respects-Richard-Dawkins&ei=yGdnSoC0FMGSlAfKg93dDA&usg=AFQjCNHWF6_EICOlkW4z2-4uLJOx10ZQ2g&sig2=D2UGPi3nr-npv7BIpBLBnw

[Mrs. Overall]

24. Is this because as the story unfolds it becomes more blatantly obvious that there is a "good" side

and a "bad" side? That seemed apparent from the first book.

These people can not stand any grey area, though to any discerning reader, it has been obvious throughout the entire series that Harry and Voldemort would be locked in the archetypal light and dark battle.

I never understood why they derided Harry Potter yet loved The Lord of the Rings. Harry, like Jesus, Frodo, Luke Skywalker, and innumerable other hero figures throughout literature/mythology is the "chosen one" for a super human task and must undergo a trial by fire as he defeats an ultimate enemy who can potentially cause huge destruction.

I can't stand people who need everything to be so fucking obvious and "cut and dry" before they sign on for approval.

Real life is grey.