If you’re an avid Harry Potter fan, you may already understand why the series of books and movies may be considered controversial. If you’re like me, you don’t have too much investment in JK Rowling’s critically acclaimed book and film series. Harry Potter is a series in which a young wizard explores the world of magic and mischief with his friends.
Recently, the work of fiction has been deemed to contain “real curses and spells” by Reverend Dan Reehill, pastor of St Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee. As a result, the Harry Potter series was completely banned from the Catholic school’s library. The pastor says that he “consulted with Vatican exorcists” before arriving at this conclusion.
Reverend Dan Reehill explained this decision to parents via email, saying, “These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception. The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.”
Personally, this quote reads like an argument that an internet troll would use to criticize Rowling’s best-selling series. Rebecca Hammel, the superintendent for the school’s related Catholic district, affirms that every pastor has “canonical authority” over their associated Catholic School.
All I can wonder is if Rowling’s series was considerately less popular, would the connection have been made between its fictitious spells and “conjuring evil spirits” in real life?
Darlon Riviere - Contributing Writer