posted on November 15, 2002 04:24:50 PM new
Actually, I just went to go see the new movie (it's cute). The interesting thing to note was that when the coming attractions for Tolkein's "The Two Towers" came on, the crowd burst ito applause and cheering! That'll be one that's hard to get tickets too.
Oh, and yes, Fundamentalists covered the eyes and ears of their children as they walked past the doorway to the Harry Potter movie to a different movie - just in case Satan Himself should lunge out at them and spirit away one of their own!
posted on November 15, 2002 04:30:52 PM new
Well, I just bought the second Harry Potter book for my daughter at her school book fair this afternoon. She goes to a Catholic school and they don't seem to have a problem with Harry Potter. The school fair had all four books plus HP bookmarks, coloring books, and other related ephemera.
But in a small ministry across this mid-Maine city, the mood is not of devilish good humor. There, in the headquarters of the Oneness Pentecostal Church, the Rev. Douglas Taylor sees the hand of the devil in the appeal of the Harry Potter books and films. A public ''book-cutting'' took place at which Taylor and five other pastors tore a copy of the J. K. Rowling book, on which the film is based, to shreds last night before a clapping audience of 100 people at a local hotel.
posted on November 15, 2002 05:39:14 PM new
With the Republicans having swept into power, the groups that helped are given special powers to implement corrective action to what they believe to be wrong with America. Here the religious right fundies are seen removing the evil influence of Harry Potter and the disasterous effects of actual reading of books.... Their leader, Field Marshall Jerry Falwell is here wearing his dress black uniform
.................................................
I live in my own little world, but it is Okay...They know me here.
[ edited by mlecher on Nov 15, 2002 05:39 PM ]
[ edited by mlecher on Nov 15, 2002 05:42 PM ]
posted on November 16, 2002 09:38:48 AM new
What I find further bizaar is that these Fundies haven't made a sound about the Tolkein movies. It, too, is filled with Magic and Fantasy, War and Death, Horror and Hatred, and Hope for Salvation. It has ghosts and goblins and demons of various sorts, and elves and dwarves, and other characters of mythical origin. How, then, did Fundies miss out on these films and instead, focus on something sugar-filled and sanitized as the Harry Potter books and films?
posted on November 16, 2002 09:51:51 AM new
mlecher, there really isn't too much of a difference between the Christian-Right and the Naziis in their early years. With a wave of the hand from this all-Republican government now, perhaps these people will become the new Storm Troopers to terrorize America and the world? Certainly, the courts will no longer rule against them, the government will make laws allowing them, and the Office of Homeland Security will be encouraging them. My only wish is to put THEM on the Front Lines of the Wars that they are getting us into! Right now, it's US who have become cannon fodder for their vile foolishness!
posted on November 16, 2002 03:28:39 PM new
The fundamentalists put on a good show and pretend that they're having a good time destroying books, but it can't be much fun for them, like it was in the old days, when you could have a mock trial and then tear into people with the blessings of God and the state. That's why they've had to become so politically aggressive I suppose.
posted on November 16, 2002 03:48:54 PM new
To the pastor's wife, Susan Taylor, the world is a black and white division between good and evil. ''If you do not have the spirit of God in you, you have the spirit of the devil in you,'' she says.
Just as George says, "You're either with us or against us!!!"
Helen
The pastor had asked Lewiston officials if he could burn the book, but the request was rejected as a ''toxic emission,'' Taylor says.
posted on November 16, 2002 04:42:29 PM new
Yes, that quote in the article stuck out at me as well, Helen. I personally don't believe it, because according to the Bible, human beings are given Free Will. If it's a case of where either one supernatural entity is controlling and directing your thoughts and actions or another, then where is there any Free Will? And if there is no Free Will, then how can anyone be punished in an afterlife by being denied Heaven and/or sent to a Hell? That sort of irrational, illogical belief shared by Mrs. Taylor requires that a person NOT think!
posted on November 16, 2002 04:54:52 PM new
I found it especially interesting that they found the possibility of toxic emission more serious than book burning.
And gee, this is in the enlightened state of Maine! If J.K Rowling plans to visit America, she may need a body guard.
posted on November 17, 2002 05:13:44 AM new
This is why I alway assert that the GREATEST freedom is NOT Freedom OF Religion, but Freedom FROM Religion!
posted on November 17, 2002 08:36:43 AM new
It's frightening to think that seventy five percent of the American population literally believe in religious miracles.
The numbers who believe in the devil or in resurrection or in God actually being responsible for happenings is amazing!
posted on November 17, 2002 11:32:29 AM new
While I'm not going to try to define God for anyone, it is of intrest to note the amount of recorded supernatural miricles. Or, superhuman miricles if you prefer. Patients, lying on their deathbeds full of cancer suddenly reverse their illness and all traces of cancer dissappears. It's happened many a time, rare though that is. Supernatural Hand of God, or some power within humans to heal themselves if they can only tap it? The universe is far, far stranger than we'll ever come to know.
posted on November 17, 2002 04:14:02 PM new
The Lord of the Rings seems to keep 'Powers' seperate, there are good powers and there are evil powers. It suggests you fight the power of the evil and stand firm on the power of the good. Which suggests that you have to chose and constantly be on guard of the other.
Star Wars seems to say the power is the same, but used both by the good for good, and by the evil for evil. Which suggests we are all both, and must decide which to follow.
Harry Potter seems to say the power is just one form of available power, used by the good to do good and by the evil to do evil, but is a limited power. It displays the struggle of good and evil within oneself, not by the choice of practicing or not practicing it. It is benign, the individual has the ability to make it an evil power or a good power.
It seems popular books/movies are often variations on the different religions.
and yet, a 'good' thing can be used to do evil, and an 'evil' thing can be used to do good.
posted on November 17, 2002 05:07:45 PM new
I think you're right. We all have that fantasy that if only somehow, we could wave a magic wand and get what we want or to go back in time to rectify a terrible mistake. "Magic" is an expression of that desire, wishful thinking.
posted on November 20, 2002 07:12:30 PM new
Borillar: the fundamentalists don't get their knickers in a twist over Tolkien because A) it isn't set in a realistic world; B) it doesn't have kids learning wizardry; and C) it doesn't show guardians (read "parents" in a bad light & being "defied." BUT MOST OF ALL: D) kids aren't rushing out in droves to read the novels, over & over again and then letting all their friends know about them so they'll read them too...
Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there --Clare Booth Luce
[ edited by bunnicula on Nov 20, 2002 07:23 PM ]
in a bad light & being "defied." BUT MOST OF ALL: D) kids aren't rushing out in droves to read the novels, over & over again and then letting all their friends know about them so they'll read them too...