Religious parents in England do not want their children to be exposed to Harry Potter books because they "normalize and trivialize acts of magic." Is it possible to get poisoning from too much irony?

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Teachers are reportedly receiving complaints that teaching the Harry Potter books in classrooms exposes children to "witchcraft and Satanism". 

Tom Bennett, a school behaviourist consulting with the Government, has claimed concerns from parents, particularly of religious backgrounds, that the popular series of novels works to "trivialise acts of magic". Speaking at an event held at London's City Hall, Bennett stated, "Harry Potter deals with the occult. There are many, many parents who are uncomfortable with their children discussing or looking at or reading anything at all do with the occult. 

For many parents, particularly of Evangelical Christian backgrounds, and sometimes of Muslim backgrounds, the occult is not something which exists in fiction and fantasy, the occult is something which is a very living, live part of the faith. Many parents, particularly if they are Jehovah's Witnesses, will ask their children not to be exposed to books which trivialise or normalise acts of magic. It's part of witchcraft and Satanism. 

They say they'd rather their children weren't exposed to literature or fiction which normalised or trivialised or even applauded or encouraged what they would regard as witchcraft."

Uh huh.

Well it makes sense that these parents would not want their children exposed to the magic in Harry Potter books, and the be able to compare it to the pathetic parlor tricks performed by the hero of THEIR favorite book. 

Seriously, walking on water, cloning loaves and fishes, raising somebody from the dead?

I've seen that Criss Angel guy do those first two several times, and I learned that last one in my CPR/First Aid class.

I think these parents are just angry that J.K. Rowling had a more fertile imagination than the old primitive fools who compiled the stories of the Bible.

By the way if you ever want to read an excellent book about the writing of the Bible I suggest you start here.

Funny but I don't remember a Professor Mephistopheles.

This is the first time that I realized that Evolution Sexuality, Psychology, and Witchcraft were all interrelated. I swear I never get the important memos.

And not to get too descriptive, but having slept with two pastor's daughters and a pastor's wife, I can pretty much attest that learning about Jesus does NOT always mean they do not know about sex.

If you get my meaning.

Sam Harris presents the Witchcraft argument.

The danger of blaming natural things on the supernatural, and of living our lives with our logic clouded by superstitious nonsense, cannot be overstated.

Trio of teen exorcists heading to England to battle the forces of Harry Potter.

(Okay one of the young ladies is twenty, but the other two ARE teens.)

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A trio of Arizona “exorcists” has ventured to England to fight what it describes as the endorsement of satanic elements in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter book series. 

“Harry is using this magic for good,” 18-year-old Brynne Larson explains in video posted by the Daily Mail on Monday. “So here we have the dangerous idea that you can use this magic for good or bad. When in reality, all magic is bad ’cause you’re getting your power from Satan.” 

Larson and friends Tess and Savannah Scherkenback will be profiled in a BBC special on Friday discussing both their longtime friendship and their training by Larson’s father, Rev. Bob Larson, who claims to have performed 15,000 exorcisms. 

The BBC reported that Bob Larson asks for donations of $200 for each exorcism. The three girls claim in the video that the popularity of Rowling’s books marked the culmination of a rise in occult activity in England. 

“The spells and things that you’re reading in the Harry Potter books, those aren’t just something that are made up,” 18-year-old Tess Scherkenback says. “Those are actual spells. Those are things that came from witchcraft books.”

The spells in Harry Potter books are NOT made up? Well that would certainly be news to J.K Rowling, who worked so hard to invent her own word combinations for her books.

This is clearly yet another bizarre pitch for reality show fame by a gaggle of giggly girls promoted by Rev. Bob Larsen, a well known charlatan.

However the Fundamentalist freakout over the Harry Potter books is all too real.

As I watched the video up above I thought t looked strangely familiar. And indeed it did.

Personally I have always thought that the main irritation by the Christian community when it comes to the Harry Potter books is that children scrambled to read them, and they they supplanted the Bible as the most popular book. And why not? After all they are better written by far, and the allegorical lessons are much easier to understand.

But what they don't teach us is how to perform actual magic. And only an imbecile would think otherwise. Or, a trio of imbeciles.