Use Harry Potter to spread Christian message, churches are told
October 9, 2002 at 9:24 PM ET
TheSnitch.co.uk
LONDON (AP) -- He's been attacked by evangelical Christians as glamorizing the occult, but young wizard Harry Potter could be a powerful force for spreading the gospel, an ecumenical church group said Wednesday.
A new booklet published by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland cites J.K. Rowling's best-selling books as a good way of illustrating important themes like the battle between good and evil.
The Harry Potter books "ask people to look again at the selfish material world and the presence within it of Christian values -- truth, love and, supremely, self-giving and sacrifice," says the booklet, which accompanies the book "Presence and Prophesy."
"Christianity is not 'vanquished' or irrelevant," said the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, bishop of Rochester and chairman of the group that produced the booklet.
Some Christians in Britain and the United States have attacked Rowling's books, which have sold millions of copies worldwide, as a dangerous influence on children because they describe a wizard's lifestyle.
Canterbury Cathedral rejected requests to allow shooting there for the first Potter movie, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," for fear of upsetting groups unhappy with the books. The movie was called "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" when it came out in the United States.
-----
Bianca