I started reading the books the summer the fourth book came out; my mom had the books, and I read through them in about a week. I liked them, and found the beginning of the first book enchanting: the very sound of the first chapter, The Boy Who Lived, lent a new wonder to Baby Jesus’ escape from Herod.

While I didn’t see the great, deep evils in them that were being purported by some who had never read them — children could NOT learn to do witchcraft from reading these books (it takes a special ability which one is born with; one needs a wand made with a magical core substance that doesn’t exist; there are creatures and plants that don’t exist in our world, etc.) — I did see some other dangerous things in the books as the series progressed.

One great problem that for Christians is that she does not have an orthodox view of Christianity. Potter dies — but does he? He only seems to die, and pretends to be dead until the right moment (docetism!). Dumbledore is betrayed and killed — or is he? He arranges his “betrayal” ahead of time with Snape (sounds like the Gospel of Judas, a gnostic gospel). I can see how these elements of the stories that echo orthodox Christianity could be very confusing for children, and could subtly influence their views of Scripture and what really happened. I’ve seen it before — there is a Russian novel, The Master and Margarita, which has led a few generations of Russians to the firm belief that Jesus was crucified because Pilate had a migraine that day.

I *think* if I ever have children I will discourage them from reading these books until they are at least in junior high and can begin to hold more reasonable discussions. I certainly hope to have the sort of relationships with my children where we can discuss things like these books, and dissect truth from lies.

But all that said, like you I see deep problems with the books, but still enjoy reading them.

Grace