School Bans Potter's Magic
Wed July 2, 2003 08:13 AM ET
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian Christian school has banned the new best-selling adventure of teenage wizard Harry Potter, saying the book promotes evil witchcraft and magic.
Bert Langerak, principal of the Maranatha Christian School in the southern city of Melbourne, said Wednesday none of the five books in author J. K. Rowling's blockbuster Harry Potter series was welcome on the school's library shelves.
"We would deal with, say, Macbeth and Hamlet, because evil there is being portrayed as evil and not as being good, whereas Harry Potter is on a quest to become the best possible wizard and that's being applauded by the author," Langerak told Reuters.
"And us poor muggles are being put in a bad light," he added, using the name by which the book refers to non-magical people.
The latest book in the series -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -- became an instant best seller around the world when it was launched last month.
Langerak said the school was leaving it up to parents to decide if they wanted to expose their children to Harry Potter and his unchristian magic turbo-charged brooms.
"If they want their kids to read Harry Potter, so be it. But I think that parents also have to be given the opportunity to say, 'No, I don't want my child to read Harry Potter'."
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(Wasn't sure where to start this thread...apologies if it should be elsewhere).
The principal justifys the banning of ALL Potter books, because the books portray evil (as being) good.
My questions: Is banning Harry Potter justified?
Is the banning of books ever justified?
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