1st! THANK YOU. I totally agree with this guy. I'm a Christian, and this is what I've been telling people ever since I first read the books. :-D

It's about time someone in a religious organization realized and publicized the very things that everyone who has read the books has known for years: Harry Potter is packed with Christian themes, and rather than inspiring the occult, does quite the opposite: It teaches people the values of love, and sacrifice, and friendship. Upon careful inspection (which naysayers always neglect to do), the series cannot possibly be deemed as a negative influence.

My thoughts exactly, SiriuslyBlack03. It's about gosh darn time!!

finally! i'm not a christian but he's so right- the books are full of christian themes, so there are no reasons for people to hate it. especially when they haven't even read it.

I was having this very discussion with my next door neighbor last night. I look forward to reading the book mentioned in the article...

I was having this very discussion with my next door neighbor last night. I look forward to reading the book mentioned in the article...

FINALLY. We are finally hearing from someone who has actually read the books, i fully agree with his comments and am overjoyed that the books are being defended against the Laura Mallory types! x

The Harry Potter books have absolutely NOTHING to do with religion. I do not understand why people are still linking it with Satanism or Christianity or any man-made belief system. Get out of Salem, Massachusetts, 1692 please!

I agree that it does present Christian themes and doesn't push the "occult." However, the thing to remember, I think, is that Rowling also draws from themes and myth from various aspects of old religions (Greek, Roman, etc.) and other myth-- this is emphasized by her frequent use of Latin. So, I think what the books really do is highlight the similar themes among many (perhaps all) religions/belief systems. I mean, themes of "love and sacrifice" are far from exclusively Christian. The good point that he makes is that Christians should be accepting of the books because their morality in fact meshes with that of Christianity.

"I do not think there is any intelligent view out there that says these books are evil. They are the sort of objections that come from people who have not read them." That reminds me of a certain someone..

I personally have to deal with the, "Harry Potter is wicked" crap an I don't believe it is wicked. Yes, Harry Potter is witch craft but that's not what the overall story is about. I have never understood the whole thing about the objection of Harry Potter. Yes, i am a christian but I watch it and read it regardless of what my Bishop might tell me. Harry POtter has a message way past just wizards and witch craft. Its about love and sacrifice and trying to be the best person you can be. But the Christians took that and made it seem like something evil. Whatever!

Keep your Jesus out of my Harry Potter. He has no place there and to push him in is disgusting and insulting to the sanctity of Harry Potter.

Yes! Harry is a GOOD character and even if he makes magic (which some people condemn), some people make much worse without magic, like killing or raping! Honestly, what's wrong with witchcraft??? In the HP books, it is used as both darkness and light, it is but a fight like so many others after all! LONG LIVE HARRY POTTER AND J.K.ROWLING!!!!

i'm doing my senior project on finding God in harry potter. it's a really interesting subject. i don't think there's anything bad or wrong about harry. there are alot of religious views and underlying theories. this guy is absolutaly right :]

Finaly! I've been reading the books since i was about 6 and i'm not practing spells at midnight in fact, i got to church alomst every sunday

When will people realize that the themes of love, sacrifice, and friendship are UNIVERSAL? That they apply to everyone, not strictly Chritians, or Jews, or Muslims, Atheists, or Pastafarians, or any other religion...

To NoMoreJesusPlease I'm not putting Harry Potter into the Christian religion. What I'm saying is that Harry Potter has a good message, and the Christian religion has taken that and twisted it around to make bad. That's all I'm saying.

I completely agree! My school hated them and i would always defend it saying that love and sacrifice are themes! Heck Harry "dies" to save all his friends and everyone he loved! Sound Familiar????

For those of you who insist that Harry Potter has nothing to do with religion, you need to reconsider that point, as the author, a certain Jo Rowling, is a religious woman, and has stated that her beliefs have inspired certain aspects of the series. (This, from a seventeen-year-old atheist.)

Ha! He's going to get his wrist slapped - Ratzinger had already condemned the HP books before he became pope.

My very Christian friend doesn't like HP one bit, and I asked if it was because of her beliefs (I knew she didn't celebrate Halloween) and she said yes. I told her there are a lot of really good morals that would support her beliefs, and she gave me this look, like, what planet are you from?, and then said, "Well, some things that SEEM innocent..." and then I stopped listening because I was so disgusted. She has not read them. She should not judge them based on the false things her parents or church director tell her. Some people are just no fun at all. Thank goodness someone is letting the scardy-cat goodie-good people in his religion know that HP is okay. I hope my friend reads his book.

go you, monk dude!

Oh please! I love how they're all jumping on the bandwagon now. First the Popes and now the Monks. But I completely agree, all the people I encountered who said Harry Potter was evil or whatever else never actually read the books themselves. They just made assumptions because it involved witchcraft. But we fans have KNOWN for quite a while (10 years in fact) that Harry Potter is AMAZING on so many different levels. We don't need them to tell us that.

i'm a christian my father has been a pastor for over 25 years and is now the pricipal of a babtist seminary in toronto and my mother has been a christian since she was in her teens my reletives are christians and my granparents are christians and i have lots of christian friends and we have absolutely no problem with harry potter which i think you can tell since i'm on mugglenet my brothers and reletives make fun of me for liking it cause they think it's dumb ha ha but me and my sis love harry potter and my like to watch the movies and my mom has read a few so NOT ALL christians are against harry potter and Gryffindor_seaker you should try to get your friend to just read half of the 1st book and see how it goes

NoMoreJesusPlease, I'm not a big fan of your comment. The way you're being so overprotective of our series as though someone is trying to contaminate is just weird. I am not a Christian, but I am not offended when someone says that the books contain Christian values. After all, all religions are basically about positive values and ideals and decency, and Harry Potter is full of those. But what I don't get is why people contrive to dismiss all evidence of any Christianity in the books, and criticize anyone who cites Christianty as the criterion by which the books are judged (for example, when discussing Dumbledore's sexuality and how it does not conform with Christian rules.) Isn't Britain - were the books are set - a majorly Christian country? Doesn't Hogwarts celebrate Christmas and Easter? Last time I checked, those were Christian holidays (at least originally.) Again I am not a Christian, and I'm not defending Christianty or anything. Now the writer wasn't actually trying to force "Jesus" into the series anyway. He was just saying that those Christian condemners of the Harry Potter books need to look more closely into them to realize that they actually teach values that do agree with values preached for in Christianity, not necessarily drawn form them, but at least not contradicting them. wow that was the longest comment i've ever writtten :O

jkwellum -- I have tried to get SO many people to read HP, but a lot of them just WON'T. It drives me crazy! The only person I've gotten to read the books is my mom, LOL. It just makes me so happy when she makes HP references in regular conversation like my dad and me. :) But I think my friend is a lost cause. We're not like best friends, and I don't want to offend her or anything. You're right though, any sensible person would be hooked after reading half of the first book. The problem is getting them to pick up the book. *Sigh...*

FINALLY! someone who's christain and actually likes the books, i'am so happy that their praising the book and not just yelling stuff like "send it to hell" and stuff like that

While I do not believe these are religious books, I do beleive that if you look closely enough, you can find symbolism from many religions, not just Christianity. There is also an abundance of Pagan/Wiccan symbolism as well. As a High Priest of Witchcraft, I can appreciate the fact that the stories appeal to folks of many religions. I also do not believe that the Harry Potter books lure people to Witchcraft, unless they already had a pre-existing interesting in the subject. Witchcraft is not "evil" or "Satanic". In fact, real Witches do not believe in the Devil or Hell. These are Christian concepts and have no place in Witchcraft. True Witchcraft (or Wicca) is about healing and transformation. The word "Occult" simply means "hidden", or knowledge that is hidden from those whose minds are not open to comprehend it. Many arguments that people have against Harry Potter are based on fear and ignorance. All of this being said, I do not beleive the Harry Potter books are based on ANY religion, and they should not be used for religious purposes, even though symbolism from many religions can be found within the pages of these wonderful books.

I love that finally one religious person doesn't think Harry Potter is satanic!!!! I totally agree with him (and practically everyone who commented here) and I think Harry Potter really has themes that are meaningful not in just the christian way! I'm reading a book called how harry cast his spell and it's all about the religious aspects of harry potter which I think is a great book for christian harry potter fans to read because it dives deeper into how harry potter can be interpreted. It's a great book to understand more about the imagery/symbolism displayed in the books.

WOW! I didn't know the DIVERSITY of religions here.. not only do we have Christians but also Jesus-haters (Atheists) and Wiccans... You know i'm happy that you came out RikPotterButler. May People link Wicca to SATANISM, when both religions are quite different BOTH are PAGAN, but one glorifies EVIL, while the Other glorifies NATURE.. Someone told me that Wicca originated from Europe of course, but the modern day religion has elements of Native American nature spirituality in it too, is that true? And i don't wanna get started with all this religious aruguments.. but it's NOT the FIRST time that a Religious Christian Figure admitted the truth that Harry Potter is NOT EVIL.. Look, I've been reading these books and everything for 10 YEARS! From October 1999 up till now, November 2009 and NOTHING has shaken my Christian faith... in fact, Harry Potter has rather STRENGTHENED my faith in God. Undoubtedly, Harry Potter has Christian themes in it just like Narnia, though not as DIRECT, which I like. Look at Deathly Hallows.. the Fate and brief Passion Harry had to go through was similar to Jesus Christ. JK Rowling said that she was gonna do something like that too, but she didn't want to speak too much about her faith before some might have guessed it. So it's obvious that that's what she was going for.. there's also 2 quotes DIRECTLY from the Bible New Testament. Harry Potter books don't have to call upon the name of GOD just to prove to some people that it's a book about wisdom and love. I think 10 YEARS is MORE than enough to totally become evil and Satanic.. I mean it took Harry less than 7 YEARS to master Magic and become the Master of Death.. so if the books were truly evil.. Sheeyit, we should ALL be Devil worshippers by now, LMAO!

WOW! I didn't know the DIVERSITY of religions here.. not only do we have Christians but also Jesus-haters (Atheists) and Wiccans... You know i'm happy that you came out RikPotterButler. May People link Wicca to SATANISM, when both religions are quite different BOTH are PAGAN, but one glorifies EVIL, while the Other glorifies NATURE.. Someone told me that Wicca originated from Europe of course, but the modern day religion has elements of Native American nature spirituality in it too, is that true? And i don't wanna get started with all this religious aruguments.. but it's NOT the FIRST time that a Religious Christian Figure admitted the truth that Harry Potter is NOT EVIL.. Look, I've been reading these books and everything for 10 YEARS! From October 1999 up till now, November 2009 and NOTHING has shaken my Christian faith... in fact, Harry Potter has rather STRENGTHENED my faith in God. Undoubtedly, Harry Potter has Christian themes in it just like Narnia, though not as DIRECT, which I like. Look at Deathly Hallows.. the Fate and brief Passion Harry had to go through was similar to Jesus Christ. JK Rowling said that she was gonna do something like that too, but she didn't want to speak too much about her faith before some might have guessed it. So it's obvious that that's what she was going for.. there's also 2 quotes DIRECTLY from the Bible New Testament. Harry Potter books don't have to call upon the name of GOD just to prove to some people that it's a book about wisdom and love. I think 10 YEARS is MORE than enough to totally become evil and Satanic.. I mean it took Harry less than 7 YEARS to master Magic and become the Master of Death.. so if the books were truly evil.. Sheeyit, we should ALL be Devil worshippers by now, LMAO!

i agree with him 100000007%!!! finally someone christian doesn't think harry potter is demonic. GMH!!!

I have this super religious friend who refuses to read the Harry Potter series because they are not (and these are his exact words) "healty for your walk with god." We argue about this sort of thing constantly, so I'm emailing him this article :)

Thank you Firestorm for your comment. Just because you don;t like Jesus NoMoreJesusPlease that's fine, but don't criticize me because I'm a Christian.

I'm glad there's a Christian out there who didn't put the book down and mark it as evil as soon as they read the word "Wizard". Some people don't seem to want anyone to have an imagination. It's really sad. You could re-write this whole series (not that you'd want to), to have almost the exact same lessons and principals as the originals and the people who banned the book would probably love it. They just hang themselves on the magic instead of taking the time to read between the witches and wizards. It's so sad that people deny themselves such simple pleasures. Yay for this guy!

As a Christian and a parent I agree that HP books actually have spurred me on to look more deeply into Scripture. This helps me answer my 11 year old's questions about the book and reinforce the Christian themeology with actual Scriptural references. I have to admit I didn't always feel this way about the books; initially I too was a blind condemner!! Then my son started reading the books last year and I paid more attention and watched my first movie (books are MUCH better!!). Finally I was hooked and I went to see HBP and had to buy DH to find out how it all ended. These books are really great and , yes, Christian themes aren't the only ones but as others have stated they can't be denied. Yes, love and forgiveness aren't solely Christian themes yet when Scripture is appropriately examined they are cornerstones of our faith (greatest Commandment is love others above yourself) A little side note - as a late comer to HP "mania" I really feel like I've missed out on so much (waiting eagerly for each new text, movie premiers, etc!!) Just glad there are 2 more movies to come. Thanks to all you wonderful and varied fans. COOL :)

1st of all, if anyone's wondering, I DO NOT believe in the whole "2012 end of the world theory". Whenever I made my email however many years ago 2012 came to mind so that's why I used it. For some reason it really annoys me when people ask why I have 2012 in my username for anything. Anyways, now back on topic... I am very glad to see a religious figure admiring the Harry Potter series for what it really is, instead of automatically demonizing it like SO many other religious figures/people have done. Although I've never had anybody criticize me for reading Harry Potter books, I know how many of you feel. I am a huge metal fan (and a Christian) and I can't tell you how many people think that listening to metal automatically makes you evil or Satanic or whatever. Of course, whenever I tell them that there are many Christian metal bands out there, they look at me like I'm an alien. All I can say is that I hope all of us Harry Potter fans will respond sensibly and maturely to anyone who questions our "evilness" for liking (and respecting) the entire Harry Potter series, regardless of religion or opinions.

I do like the way this man is expressing the fact that Harry Potter isn't a threat to Judeo-Christain beliefs. Firestorm, thank you for the comment. Contrary to belief, no one has "dibs" on Harry Potter, and if people see parallels to their particular beliefs it's ridiculous to slam them for pointing it out. I do wish that people wouldn't act like this is the first time a Christian has supported Harry Potter. Harry Potter has had a huge Christian fan-base from the beginning, but unfortunately people only like to remember the negative comments. The ironic thing is, I'm a Christian with a diverse group of friends, and many of my friends of different beliefs plain won't read Harry Potter because it's "kids stuff". Plenty have had tart things to say about the devoted fans, likening them to cults (again, not coming from my Christian friends). It's not the Christian "religion" (and I hesitate to use that word, because it should be faith, not fanatacism) that contradicts or condemns Harry Potter. It's narrow-minded people who see demons around every corner who use christianity as a club against anything different (or in their mind, threatening). In those cases, the Christian religion is their excuse, but not the driving force in their blindness. I think that no matter what our beliefs are, everyone can find something good in Harry Potter, and we can all be encouraged to see the best in human nature. Let's hear it for a fantastic and diverse tale of magic!

Thank You! I am Catholic and HP has definitely not changed my views in any way. Plus, like he said, the books are full of good messages. Love is the main theme and it's all about defeating evil and living after death.

Oh and like somebody above mentioned, Harry somewhat does what Jesus did. He walks to his own death as to sacrafice himself for the ones he loved. And then he kind of rises from the "dead". I included that comparison in the English project that i did about HP.

yeah BellatrixCrucioYou I mentioned that earlier in my post here.. It was in response to that "JesusHater" guy who said that we should keep Jesus OUT of Harry Potter.. It's the people like him that give Harry Potter a bad name.

I mean... they celebrate Christmas in the books...

@NoMoreJesusPlease: JK Rowling is a pretty faithful person, so whatever religious themes appear in Harry Potter were put there on purpose. But anyways, that's one thing I love about Harry Potter...there are so many different themes and connections in the stories. I know college classes that are based entirely on the HP books and all the different topics and themes that are present in the stories. You can evaluate those books for hours, days, and years and find something new every time. I love it. Different people notice different aspects of the story so it makes sense for a Monk or a priest to notice the religious themes.

I'm so happy that there is a positive religious view on Harry Potter, and the best part is that these monks are not the only Christians for Harry Potter. A teacher of mine wrote a book about movies and their religious connections, and one of the chapters was on Harry Potter. Here's the link to his highly praising review: http://books.google.com/b ooks?q=james+hogan+reel+p arables+harry+potter&btnG =Search+Books

iwantorlando05-off topic a bit but do you think you can tell me any of of the colleges you have heard of that offer those classes?? haha I was just wondering...because I never knew they had such classes.

HOORAY!! This is good news to me. "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." (Biblical reference)

I rather Christianity hate Harry Potter than try to infuse their religion into Harry Potter. Keep your religion out of my Potter, thanks.

And another Bible quote- "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also". The priest at my church used that in one of his homalies and I was like omg HP quote haha

@BellatrixCrucio: My school (The University of Alabama) offered a summer course all about Harry Potter. They read and discussed all the books and then went to see the movie (Prisoner of Azkaban at the time) as the final exam. Other colleges that offer courses about Harry Potter include: Yale Divinity School, Georgetown, Pepperdine, Stanford, Lawrence, Frostburg State, University of Washington, Ohio State, and many others. I haven't gotten a chance to take one unfortunately, but HP was on the required reading list for a couple of my Literature classes. :P

I always thought the entire HP series seemed to convey the ideology don't follow anything blindly without feeling it in your heart and knowing some fundamental truths. Sure, that goes with regards to religious themes, but also with politics and mass media. Anyway, I think this monk is a voice of reason.