Thursday, June 19, 2003 :::
 
As long as the Harry Potter series of books has been around, people have been accusing it of helping to spread witchcraft and Paganism. While this is generally the hysterical fears of extremely religious people, this MSN article does claim that Paganism is on the rise in the UK. The whole thing seems rather silly to me, as the Christian religious people are accusing the Pagan religious people of making "spiritual evil" into mere fantasy, instead of the cold-hard reality it is.

“The rise of interest in Paganism is damaging because it normalizes spiritual evil by presenting it as mere fantasy and fiction,” said Reverend Joel Edwards of the Evangelical Alliance, a grouping of some one million UK Christians.

Frankly, if you believe in Satan and other "spiritual evil", you're sitting in the same boat with people who believe Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter are real people in real situations. It's just amusing to watch these two groups, with two fictionalized world-views, butting heads over whose fantasy is more "true".

Kevin Carlyon, High Priest of British White Witches said “Harry Potter” in recent years had continued the trend, helping create what he called “the fastest growing belief system in the world.” But it was not all good, he added.
Fresh back from a trip to Scotland to lift an old hex from the Loch Ness Monster, he warned teenagers against joining witch covens too young.

Lifting a hex from the Loch Ness Monster! Truly great.

::: posted by Andrewski at 7:20 PM