Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Religion in Harry Potter by Ari Armstrong

This reading by Ari Armstrong was quite interesting. I did not know that many people believed that Harry Potter was written with in a religious manner. I’ve read almost every one of those books and I’ve never once thought that they represented religion in any way. They are about sorcery, not a God. Some of the topics can be mistaken though. I never thought of religion when reading these books, I just thought that magic isn’t real but it would be awesome if it was. Harry Potter is a wizard, not a messiah or a religious figure in any way. This reading showed me how ridiculous some religious individuals can be. I really enjoyed this reading though because it was pretty insightful. I never really knew that people thought of Harry Potter in this way, but now I do. The book is about wizards going to wizard school to learn magic. That cannot happen in real life unfortunately. These books should not be looked upon as religious novels. Harry Potter does not represent Jesus or any other religious figure. Although some of the topics are close to that of a religious novel, Rowling probably did not do that intentionally. Every person reads this book differently, but it’s not the bible. 

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you this reading was very interesting. I also did not know that many people believed that Harry Potter was written in a religious manner. I agree Harry Potter was made for pure entertainment not to undermine any religion. Some of the topics I think were taken out of context. I agree with you I never thought Harry Potter was trying to indoctrinate anyone. Harry Potter should never represent as Jesus. I personally don’t believe in religion so this article was hard for me to relate to something I don’t think is real. Everyone should have the opinions on this book.

    Stefan Groening

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  2. I also agree with you Kathleen. The religious figures that critiqued Rowling's novels were over analyzing every part of the book that had the slightest hint of religious undertone. As a young writer, I do not believe that Rowling had predisposed intentions of sneaking her religious views into a novel that she didn't even know would be successful in the first place. I think that the critics were jealous of the success and publicity that the series was attracting and viewed it as an opportunity to get their voices heard. I believe that their intentions were more impure then the actions they were accusing Rowling for.

    Avery Muchnick

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  3. I, as well, agree with you. I never thought that reading Harry Potter would relate to religious figures. I can now see a resemblance but I think it is a little crazy that some people think there is a resemblance. I also agree that this reading was interesting but I was also found it a little incomprehensible. I also like your closing statement, and I agree that this series is not the Bible. I always thought that this series was written to open up imagination and it sure opened up mine. I am sure that people in this world are always going to criticize the series for having a religious resemblance but for those who followed the series to the very end, that is not the case.

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