Harry Potter and the Vatican Enforcer

[Bitterandtwisted]

Apparantly, the Pope ain't too keen on poor Harry. Writing to Gabriele Kuby, who wrote a book explaining why Harry Potter was so evil, Ratzinger said:

"It is good, that you enlighten people about Harry Potter, because those are subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly."

Strange how people can feel one work of fiction can be so threatening when they devote their lives to another one;-)

Wonder if we'll see Christian Voice or Mrs Ross picketing Ottakar's at midnight tonight?

[hr]

Life is as tedious as a twice told tale
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.

[The Yettoner]

The other work of fiction being...?

[hr]

"Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see." - Hebrews 11:1

[the racing tortoise]

The other work of fiction being...?

I hope that was sarcasm, though from your signiture it is entirely possible that it wasn't.

So whos up for a book burning in the name of our holy furher, sorry, father.

[hr]

It could be worse, your hair could be on fire.

if your hair is on fire it still could be worse, your other hair could be on fire.

[Slash wannabe]

I think we all know Ratzinger just feels challenged by Voldemorts superior evil.

It pisses me off that someone with such power whines about a popular book instead of saving millions of people from aids.

[hr]

IMAGE:www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~es54/images/alice.png
I could set you free, rather hear the sound of your body breaking as I take you down

[McNugget]

Who's the worst villain, voldemort or satan? The dark lord just doesn't cut it in the modern world anymore. Big V tries to kill babies which automatically gets my vote. How come Ratzinger is all worked up about Harry Potter? Was Jesus not a wizzard with magical powers? Forcing loaves and fish to multiply smells like the occult to me. Maybe J.K. Rowling wrote the bible! Similar storylines but i prefer Harry Potter.

[The Yettoner]

I personally don't see the problem with Harry Potter, apart from the fact that the books are pretty rubbish. The first three were good, the last two were pants.

Seriously, which other work of fiction?

McNugget, Jesus was NOT a wizard, he was the Son of God. His multiplying of the bread and fish was not occultish because the occult is something directed by the Devil which can be used, seemingly, for good but actually cannot be a good thing and ultimatly can only end up being bad. God is 100% good, though people, I know, don't always see it that way. Jesus' multiplying of the bread and fish demonstated his awesome power, but also illustrated how he provides for us.

I'm pretty sure JK didn't write the Bible, unless she's very old.

[hr]

"Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see." - Hebrews 11:1

[David Bean]

You know, chaps, it's quite possible to be a moderate Christian who doesn't believe either that the Bible is fiction or that Harry Potter leads to the Dark Side (or am I getting confused with Star Wars, here?). The way I know this, is that I'm one of them.

Even if Harry Potter is a homewrecker, damn him!

[novium]

go on, get the catholic bashing out of your systems, if it makes you feel better.

[hr]

'ooh, I can see my house from here.'

[novium]

that makes no sense whatsoever.

Think of it logically:
if they were all such good catholics that they never strayed from the churches teachings, there'd be a lot fewer cases of aids- for example, no one would be visiting prostitutes or having affairs.

So to say that the only thing keeping them from using condoms is that the pope says they shouldn't (and obviously they do everything they are supposed to) is frankly, ridiculous.

Quoting Slash wannabe from 16:29, 15th Jul 2005
I think we all know Ratzinger just feels challenged by Voldemorts superior evil.

It pisses me off that someone with such power whines about a popular book instead of saving millions of people from aids.

[hr]

IMAGE:www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~es54/images/alice.png
I could set you free, rather hear the sound of your body breaking as I take you down

[hr]

'ooh, I can see my house from here.'

[JAK]

On that topic, David, I saw this, http://www.ooze.com/toolofsatan/, which must be a parody.

[hr]

I got my BBC

[David Bean]

Quoting novium from 20:39, 15th Jul 2005
So to say that the only thing keeping them from using condoms is that the pope says they shouldn't (and obviously they do everything they are supposed to) is frankly, ridiculous.

I think the wider problem to which our colleague may have been referring is the tendency of the Catholic Church to refuse to allow its charitable funding to be directed towards bodies that advocate the use of contraception as one measure of protection against AIDS. This is hard to argue with, although it could be argued that those giving charitable aid have the prerogative to dictate the uses to which such aid may be put.

Personally, I think the Catholic Church's attitude towards contraception is unjustified by Scripture and should be revised, but it has precious little to do with its ridiculous pronouncements (which even Cardinal Cormack Murphy O'Connor, Britain's leading Catholic, has rejected) about Harry Potter.

[David Bean]

Quoting JAK from 20:40, 15th Jul 2005
On that topic, David, I saw this, http://www.ooze.com/toolofsatan/, which must be a parody.

LOL, 'Jesus is the Force'? True, I'm sure, but I don't think He really needed a lightsabre to make his point! Survey says: parody

[novium]

I would agree. But they are only human. And I disagree, their point almost as if the church were going around infecting people.

Quoting David Bean from 21:03, 15th Jul 2005

Quoting novium from 20:39, 15th Jul 2005
So to say that the only thing keeping them from using condoms is that the pope says they shouldn't (and obviously they do everything they are supposed to) is frankly, ridiculous.

Personally, I think the Catholic Church's attitude towards contraception is unjustified by Scripture and should be revised, but it has precious little to do with its ridiculous pronouncements (which even Cardinal Cormack Murphy O'Connor, Britain's leading Catholic, has rejected) about Harry Potter.

[hr]

"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!"

[Yeats]

Quoting David Bean from 21:03, 15th Jul 2005

Quoting novium from 20:39, 15th Jul 2005
but it has precious little to do with its ridiculous pronouncements (which even Cardinal Cormack Murphy O'Connor, Britain's leading Catholic, has rejected) about Harry Potter.

First of all there is no such thing as "Britain's leading Catholic" England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland are all seperate provinces, thus Cormack Cardinal Murphy O'Connor has no more authority in Scotland or Ireland than Keith Patrick Cardinal O'Brien has in England.

More importantly however I would be fascinated to see how Cardinal Murphy O'Connor's view (or lack of it) on Harry Potter makes the Catholic Church's argument against contraception any less valid.

[hr]

Some day we shall be glad to remember such things

[David Bean]

You know, when someone says 'X has precious little to do with Y', it's generally assumed that they aren't trying to claim that Y undermines X. But then, maybe you'd be slightly less fascinated by a little elementary logic.

[hr]

"Don't ask me what you know is true, don't have to tell you, I love your precious heart. I - I was standing, you were there, two worlds collided, and they could never tear us apart" - INXS

[Jason Dunn]

Quoting novium from 22:34, 15th Jul 2005
And I disagree, their point almost as if the church were going around infecting people.

The Roman Catholic Church is neither causing the infection or attempting to do anything effective about it: their response is alarmingly indifferent. If it were doing the same with starvation eyebrows would rightly be raised.

"Ok, so we don't feed 'em. It's not like we are taking their food away from them."

Hardly charitable or christian.

[ryan]

To borrow a line from the Daily Show-
If anyone knows about outside evil influences on childern...its Ratzinger

[Tweedle-Dum]

African countries "controlled" by the Catholic Church have fairly low AIDS rates compared to the rest of Africa because they have publicity campaigns advocating abstainance and monogamy (basically no sex before marriage) so to say that nothing is being done by them is a ridiculous statement, they are just trying to enforce their moral teachings at the same time as reducing AIDS.

Quoting Jason Dunn from 21:52, 18th Jul 2005

Quoting novium from 22:34, 15th Jul 2005
And I disagree, their point almost as if the church were going around infecting people.

The Roman Catholic Church is neither causing the infection or attempting to do anything effective about it: their response is alarmingly indifferent. If it were doing the same with starvation eyebrows would rightly be raised.

"Ok, so we don't feed 'em. It's not like we are taking their food away from them."

Hardly charitable or christian.

[hr]

Live by the sword, die by the arrow.

[David Bean]

My colleagues from the UDS both make excellent pounts. I must differ slightly with Tweedle Dum, though, on the grounds that these advertising campaigns, being, as you say, in Catholic countries, may well have been paid for extensively by the countries' governments, not by Catholic aid organisations.

I always think that the real question that should be posed by the genuinely charitable is, how can aid money be spent most efficiently? From that, I can't escape the conclusion that ruling out the possibility of condoms being of any use at all (and in some cases mounting disinformation campaigns claiming that they don't work as effectively as we can prove that they do) cannot be but a counter-productive measure - particularly if, as I have argued without any challenge so far, the prohibition of contraception is unjustified by Scripture.

[hr]

"Don't ask me what you know is true, don't have to tell you, I love your precious heart. I - I was standing, you were there, two worlds collided, and they could never tear us apart" - INXS

[Setsuna]

I heard that the Vatican actually had a few advance orders for the Harry Potter book. Maybe not Ratzinger himself.

I was in Rome last week, and not only got myself some quality Ratzinger tack (JP2 Ratzinger Rosary, anyone?) BUT I also have a snowglobe with a pope and vatican scene within. I am so proud.