Against human folly.....

Volker_Nemsch · 27 December 2001, 09:38 AM

Oh my God ...

These above mentioned priests (or whatever they are called or call themselves) live on a distant planet and the deepest middle age was nearly as progressive! The comparison with the inquisition was pretty good.

Harry Potter is indeed very good fiction! The story is definitely made for children! The movie was brilliant (unfortunately only half as good as "The life of Brian" or "The meaning of life")! The story is so good that adults are reading the stories!

BTW, did these religious radicals (or better idiots) burn Tolkiens book several decades ago?

"Belief" and "intelligence" sometimes don´t fit together ...

Only a bit more than half a century ago books were burned in Nazi Germany. (And so my grandfather started to build two separate private libraries after 1933: the "official" one in the living room and the "good" one in the cellar. BTW, according to my father he was often seen in the cellar reading while my grandmother was dusting the unread "official" books. He certainly would have enjoyed Harry Potter and he read Tolkien in the 1970´s.)

Vin · 27 December 2001, 10:18 AM

Times have changed, Volker. Nowadays the womenfolk sit around reading while the men dust off the shelves ! Your grandfather must have loved books, alright. Most blokes I know would have been filling their cellars with good reds.

Vin

27 December 2001, 10:36 AM

Mike I agree that Harry Potter is a great CHILDRENS book.And the day my sense of wonder dies is the day you cremate me.After all this medium we are using now to me is "magic"ie something I do not understand-but do appreciate

After all look at our fellow forumites:tho` few in number we gird the world

WFS · 27 December 2001, 11:11 AM

Hi Guys,

I just couldn't resist getting into a discussion involving two of my favorite topics: Christianity and books. I fully support the rights of those who choose to not let their children read the Harry Potter books. However, I am not in favor of book burning. Frankly, I agree with Stephen's original statement that such people are scary.

For the last couple of month's I have been posting at a Christian dg. I just decided today to stop because the radical fundamentalists are taking it over. One woman posted an Email that she received which presented a story from "The Onion" (a humor/satire magazine) as proof that Harry Potter was leading children to worship Satan. When I pointed out that the story was not only fiction but that it was making fun of Christian's fears of the Harry Potter books I got pounced upon. Some of those people not only believe that Harry Potter is the work of Satan but also any translation of the bible other than the King James, the celebration of Christmas in any form, denominational churches, freedom of religion (except for them) and in fact, anything that does not fit into their own preconceptions of what is Godly.

However, these people DO NOT represent the majority of Christians. They are often, unfortunately, the most vocal and the most likely to make their views public. I assure you that even a conservative and fundamental Christian such as I find their actions distasteful and not supported by scripture.

BTW, Andy, Heinlein was
always one of my favorites too. Even if he was, as I suspect, an atheist.

Regards,
Wayne

stephen · 27 December 2001, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Before you ban a book should you not READ IT FIRST?Sorry Stephen but Harry Potter is FICTION.What s more it is GOOD FICTION.It is good fiction because people want to read it. It follows the old Good versus Evil school of writing.Stephen Harry Potter is *NOT about Wizardry per se it merely uses that as a vehicle.Yes I have read the books,in fact I flew through them[only four so far] why? because I appreciate good writing and JK Rowling writes a good story.What is more she has got kids READING and in this day and age that can only be a GOOD THING.As for myself I regard the christian bible,the koran and all the other religious tracts as fiction but I know whose writing I prefer!![actually it is Heinlein.Go figure ]

Strange. I would think that parents who carefully try to expose their children to things as they deem them ready, and instill a specific belief system in those children (regardless of whether its mine or not) would be generally classified as a "good" thing.

But then, a quick glance around any high school shows that parenting has been out of style for some time now.

mike_baram · 27 December 2001, 03:08 PM

My former girlfriend had a sister and brother-in-law who not only believed that only members of their church could get into heaven (that means members of THEIR subdivision of the church, with THEIR interpretation of the Bible), but they steadfastedly believed that the earth was @6,000 years old.
When their bible teacher dared to say that the Bible could be interpreted in various ways, they got him fired.
"Thou shalt not think."
Obviously, no member of that sect ever won a Nobel prize for science.

stephen · 27 December 2001, 03:42 PM

Actually, Mike, there's quite a number of qualified scientists who believe that the earth is between six and ten thousand years old.

Scientists who support the young earth theory, however, were not there when the earth came into being and therefore cannot conclusively prove their point.

Oddly enough, scientists who support the old earth theory face the same problem, though they are less inclined to admit it.

27 December 2001, 05:28 PM

God has told me what books,and movies
he says you can watch or read.
And for only $19.99 ,I will send you
Gods thumbs up list!
And for only a $9.95 donation,I will throw
in a pack of Saint Michael matches
to light your candles
call 1-800-sleezyripoff
call now!,call now!

Michael · 27 December 2001, 05:39 PM

Quote:

God has told me what books,and movies
he says you can watch or read.
And for only $19.99 ,I will send you
Gods thumbs up list!
And for only a $9.95 donation,I will throw
in a pack of Saint Michael matches
to light your candles
call 1-800-sleezyripoff
call *now!,call now!

Pray-tel Records presents - Hooked on Hymns.

Look simony up in your dictionary.

Michael · 27 December 2001, 05:41 PM

Quote:

My former girlfriend had a sister and brother-in-law who not only believed that only members of their church could get into heaven (that means members of THEIR subdivision of the church, with THEIR interpretation of the Bible), but they steadfastedly believed that the earth was @6,000 years old.
When their bible teacher dared to say that the Bible could be interpreted in various ways, they got him fired.
"Thou shalt not think."
Obviously, no member of that sect ever won a Nobel prize for science.

Dear old Bishop Ussher again. *I posted a link sometime back.

To regard the Bible as literal history invites madness. *You have only to look at Bishop Ussher, who calculated the date of the creation of the world as Sunday the 23rd of October 4004 B.C.[E.] (see, I don't want to offend anyone!). * (for more on him see http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/Ussher.htm ).