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AUGUST 4, 2003 at 1:53 PM
Posted by GERI
Source: WZZM TV via The Leaky Cauldron
The Jesus Non-denominational Church in Greenville organized a Harry Potter book burning 
this past Sunday to demonstrate that glorifying wizardry and sorcery will lead people to accept and believe in Satan. They were trying to save their souls by tearing up the devil and burning his words.
Pastor Tommy Turner said:
The younger members of the church agree. Kristi Eastman says many books teach that sorcery is okay.
But Tasia Kisscorni, a high-school teacher says the church is making a much 'to do' about nothing:
Harry Potter wasn't the only thing that took a burning - some of the parishoners also burned music CD's like 'NSync. They say the music is not glorifying God, so they don't need it.
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Muggle
Points: 45
imhrien15963 says:
These people are still in the Dark Ages, Salem Witch Trials much?!!
Posted May 4, 2005 at 8:58 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 5
happyforharry says:
This article reminded me of the part in the 5th book when Umbridge banned the Quibbler from school. As Hermione said, if she could have done one thing to make sure that everyone in the whole school read the article, it was banning it. When these people just go out and by the book, then make a big commotion about burning it, they are only giving it free publicity. I think that part of the book was JKR´s little way of making fun of people like the Jesus Non-denominational Church in Greenville. They don´t realize that their book burning will only make people curious about whats in the books, and therefore add to JKR´s audience. So by all means, burn the books!!!
Posted May 10, 2005 at 4:31 PM EST
Witch
Points: 559
ff6fiend666 says:
Its people like that who oppress and discriminate against that which does't conform to their veiw of whats right luckly they arn't in charge or they would start up the burning strange old ladies again the narrow minded fools.
Posted May 22, 2005 at 12:14 AM EST
Witch
Points: 778
stillDUMBLEDORESgirl says:
THESE BOOKS DO NOT TEACH SORCEREY!!!!!!!!!!! That cristi lady said that she does every thing god wants...............WELL I DON'T THINK THAT GOD WOULD WANT THEM TO BURN BOOKS, ANY KIND OF BOOK. And these people don't understand that if you buy JKR's books to burn them you are giving her money even though you despise any thing and everything about these books. THOSE PEOPLE JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND, they should be open-minded even though they think that it is evil. Next time i go to this michigan town i am going to carry my Harry Potter book around with me the whole time to see if any one will try to "save me" and if they don't let me talk then i will pretend to cast a made up spell on them. It would be so funny. hehe
Posted May 29, 2005 at 12:23 AM EST
Squib
Points: 148
demonshadow says:
Okay, my first thought to this was: We are SUPPOSED to believe in Satan! Get real, all this holoer-than-thou CRAP. God created Satan, God gave Satan his powers and if these religious FANATICS were thinking thoroughly they would remember this! Good christian people aren't supposed to discriminate, but that is excatly what they are doing. I believe in God, I take my children to church, and I also read them Harry Potter. If I am going to Hell for that, then so be it.
Posted Jun 3, 2005 at 5:12 PM EST
Squib
Points: 148
theLadyKnight says:
My question, don't you have to buy the books to burn them? Really people let's think about this, JKR STILL gets money even if you burn them...
Posted Jun 19, 2005 at 7:27 PM EST
Order of Merlin, 2nd Class
Points: 1688
Dumbledore's_Ghost says:
Religious fanaticism, no matter what the religion, always takes the same extremely narrow worldview. There are groups of this sort in all religions. It is the same attitude that leads Jews and Palestinians to endlessly kill each other, that leads religious right zealots to murder doctors for performing abortions, that invokes amazingly unholy acts in the name of holiness all over the world.
James wrote:
I shudder to think what a democratic nation like America would become if extreme religious zealots seized control of the presidential office.
I'm sorry to say James that I think this may already have happened.
Posted Jun 26, 2005 at 2:05 PM EST
Heiress of Gryffindor
Points: 3537
Nienna Narmolanya says:
Okay then...
That is soo ridiculous. Nothing could be further from the truth. I've been into Harry Potter for so long, and I'm still the same Catholic I was so many years ago. Wanna bet he's never even read Harry Potter?
N*Sync? This has to be a joke. Well I guess I'll go on to belive in Satan if I don't stop making phone calls. I mean, it's not "glorifying God" now is it?
Can't they just get that they're not supposed to be ONLY holy stuff in the world, but normal stuff too. If everything was supposed to be holy, math would be illegal wouldn't it?
Posted Jun 29, 2005 at 6:49 PM EST
Student
Points: 222
The Pheonix Phlyer says:
Such a scandal in bold these people think that since we read Harry Potter that we practice witchcraft when all we're doing is reading! I went to a church camp once and brought Order of the Pheonix and in one of the speechs the man got up and said if you read Harry Potter you are going to Hell and I strongly disagreed with him and now I still read Harry Potter! I don't care what people think I do what I want and they should worry about themselves!!!
Posted Jun 30, 2005 at 10:37 AM EST
Order of Merlin, 4th Class
Points: 1240
*bewitched* says:
It makes me so mad when I read this sort of article. So I will just say, Christianity is supposed to teach tolerance, yes, TOLERANCE of others. Also, in the Bible it says "Test all things, hold fast what is good". There you go! TEST IT FIRST! Try before you buy. Or burn. Whatever. Or read the book by that Edmund Kern guy..."Wisdom of Harry Potter". Oh and also, can't believe THE POPE is actually backing Harry Potter! Go him! See? THAT is tolerance. Now I will stop ranting so someone else can have a go.
Posted Jul 5, 2005 at 9:55 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 60
MagicalQuillz says:
Oh, yeah, great idea...let's just burn everything we don't agree with so everybody will see that we're right in the end. That's terrible.
Posted Jul 9, 2005 at 6:39 AM EST
Mistress of Chaos
Points: 10109
Ehtrym says:
[i]The Jesus Non-denominational Church in Greenville organized a Harry Potter book burning this past Sunday to demonstrate that glorifying wizardry and sorcery will lead people to accept and believe in Satan.[/b]
I don't know if this has been said before, but I'm going to say it now.
Witchcraft and the Devil have nothing to do with each other at all. As some of you might know, there are still witches in the world. (If you don't believe this, just goolge the word witch or wiccan) And as every single one of them can tell you, they don't believe in the Devil. The Devil is Christian, having nothing at all to do with witches. The Devil is said to be worshipped by witches, because he and the wiccan God have some similarities in appearance. This doesn't mean it's the same deity!
Posted Sep 8, 2005 at 10:40 AM EST
Points: 1797
howdoideletethis says:
Yeah.. thats weird. I mean, common, it's a BOOK. And it's not like HP is saying in his book "practice witchcraft and sorcery!" haha..
Posted Sep 23, 2005 at 7:31 PM EST
Mage of Celestial Melody
Points: 3324
Telos says:
Whoa!!!! Burning books! Tha is alittle extreme. I mean believe it or not harry potter has alot of Christian conotations and have alot of religiouis significance. But i guess WITCH AND WIZARDY, is all they see and that is taboo.
Posted Oct 8, 2005 at 11:06 PM EST
Order of Merlin, 3rd Class
Points: 1483
DragonTattoo says:
These people are nuts, if they actually READ the books, they'd see that there are parts of celebrating christmas and lots of moral values for the kids...idiots...
Posted Oct 9, 2005 at 10:22 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 30
sinnergirl13 says:
Thats just insulting.Im a christian and im not gonna co and burn my favorite book series.its like a 50$ waste.anyway,thats just going too far.They can believe what they want,but their burning of my fav book is insulting.I mean what if I went into their church and burnt all the bibles? How would they feel?
Posted Oct 27, 2005 at 1:49 PM EST
Order of Merlin, 4th Class
Points: 1370
hellothere says:
So that is why Harry Potter is on the bestseller list! All those anti-harry potter people buy tons of books just so they can burn them!
Posted Nov 30, 2005 at 7:57 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 9
pumpkinbroom says:
This is madness. I can kinda see where there are coming from being a Christian but HP burning, that's gone way too far, this is madness, madness...
Posted Dec 4, 2005 at 4:09 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 72
My Dark Master SNAPE says:
"I'm very strongly against witchcraft... because I know it's not of God and I do everything God wants."
Even if the person is against something he cannot say that they do everything God Wants. People are sinners and no one is perfect. What is up with that statment. Why should I agree with someone when they contradict themselves in the same sentence.
Posted Dec 6, 2005 at 4:51 PM EST
Student
Points: 290
voldemorts apprentice says:
All i can say is what the hell man ??!!. I can understand people having their own beliefs but to burn Harry Puotter books i dont understand. Also to do it publicily is just wrong . They are going about this the wrong way. But burning the Nsync cds .............. well at least they did one good thing laugh out loud.
Posted Dec 12, 2005 at 11:43 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 8
mary<3harry says:
I am a Christian and I think what they are doing is very stupid. If they would take the time to read the books, then they would realize that it is not teaching people to do witchcraft at all! It is fun, harmless fiction! I know many Christian people who are Harry Potter fans, but this book burning stuff makes everyone think that all church-going people are against Harry Potter. That is not true.
Posted Dec 16, 2005 at 5:51 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 1
the_rain says:
Well I've read the Harry Potter books, and I didn't like them. I didn't burn them. But I put them in the trash bin. I guess there are different procedures to this kind of thing.
Posted Jan 5, 2006 at 5:24 PM EST
Witch
Points: 570
AvalonKarma says:
You have GOT to be kidding me?? This is just plain scary! Last time people started burning books, not so great things hapenned in history. Like burning people. Not saying this will happen now, but how sad can you be? Intolerance and ignorance truly do go hand in hand!
Posted Jan 9, 2006 at 5:06 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 89
Foaly says:
Geez these people are crazy!!!
I mean, everybody's got a right to an opinion and all, but what they're doing is just hurtful!!
Witchcraft is actual religion, more commonly known as Wicca, which doesn't even have a concept of Satan or any beings of evil. The main wiccan rede is "Harm None." hmmmmm. I can't help but wonder if Father Tommy knew that before pronouncing Witchcraft as evil. People should get the facts first before making blind and ignorant assumtions and judgments about other people and religions.
Posted Jan 9, 2006 at 7:01 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 18
LJ. says:
These days, Everything is against the church. Nothing is safe.
Posted Jan 26, 2006 at 2:15 AM EST
Grillows Girl
Points: 2785
Miss Baltimore Crabs says:
It's fiction, not real life! Honestly, my six year old brother has more sense than Pastor Tommy Turner. If you don't like a book, it's simple: DON'T READ IT!
PS: Harry Potter is the best.
Posted Feb 6, 2006 at 2:56 PM EST
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