Why is Harry Potter Controversial?

By Chick Publications "The Nervous Witch" from Wikimedia Commons

"Religious debates over the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling stem largely from assertions that the novels contain occult or Satanic subtexts. A number of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians have argued against the series, as have some Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Responses to these claims have come from many corners. Supporters of the series have asserted that the magic inHarry Potter bears little resemblance to occultism, being more in the vein of fairy tales such as Cinderella and Snow White, or to the works of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, both authors known for writing fantasy novels with heavily Christian subtexts.^[1] Far from promoting a particular religion, some argue,^[1] the Harry Potter novels go out of their way to avoid discussing religion at all.^[2] However, the books' author, J. K. Rowling, describes herself as a practising Christian,^[3] and many have noted the overtly Christian references she includes in the final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.^[4

In the United States, calls for the books to be banned from schools have occasionally led to widely publicised legal challenges, often on the grounds that witchcraft is a government-recognised religion and that to allow the books to be held in public schools violates the separation of church and state.<sup>[5][6][7]"

From the Wikipedia article about Religious Debates over the Harry Potter Series</sup>