It's Just A Story People...

Okay, last week, author J. K. Rowling told the world that one of her characters, Dumbledore, is gay.

I figured I'd leave the story alone, and wait until the raving lunatics of the far right started shrieking. Sure enough, The Peter™ comes out with opens his yap right on cue.

Young children, adolescents, and even many adults fall victim to the specious syllogistic reasoning that goes something like 1. Kindness is good, 2. Homosexuals are kind, 3. Therefore, homosexuality is good. It is clearly a faulty syllogism, and yet it’s wildly successful.

Of course, LaBarbera conveniently ignores the equally invalid syllogism of his entire organization:

1. The Bible Says Homosexuality is Evil
2. The Bible is the inerrant word of God
Therefore...
3. Society should outlaw gay people

But, like picking at an scab over an infected wound, The Peter™ goes on to try and conjure up some connection to the oh-so-evil "gay agenda":

The “gay” manifesto After the Ball written in 1989 describes a number of strategies to be used to transform cultural views of homosexuality, one of which is “conversion” (how very darkly ironic). The authors Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen write that “In Conversion, we mimic the natural process of stereotype learning, with the following effect: we take the bigot’s good feelings about all-right guys, and attach them to the label ‘gay,’ either weakening or, eventually, replacing his bad feelings toward the label and the prior stereotype.” Whether Rowling is aware of this process or not, she is employing it.

This is one of the most significant problems with repeated exposure to positive portrayals of homosexuals in films, television show, plays, novels, textbooks, and speakers. Unsophisticated thinkers come to believe that somehow good behaviors or traits are inherently exculpatory in regard to others. But we should no more say that the sin of homosexuality is effaced by a homosexual’s compassion, generosity, or good humor than we would say that a polygamist’s sin is effaced my his compassion, generosity, or good humor.

The short synopsis - normalizing someone being gay is a bad thing - why? Well...ummm...gee - it might lead to other bad things like polygamy. Sorry Peter, but you'll have to better than a slippery slope argument to convince this audience. Recognizing that people who are different as normal people is not a bad thing.

Nor should we be burning books because we don't like them. In the case of Harry Potter - it's fiction, deal with it.

What is it With "Christians" and Harry Potter???

There are times where you have to just give your head a shake. Today's insanity comes to us from Lifesite, where they are still whining about the latest Harry Potter book.

All told, it is the grandest trans-cultural event of epic proportions in the history of mankind, rivaled only by the Bible.

I use the word rivaled with some consideration, not only because of the impact of the series on the modern world, but also because of the worldview it so powerfully implants in its devotees. In short, the series is a kind of anti-Gospel, a dramatized manifesto for behavior and belief embodied by loveable, at times admirable, fictional characters who live out the modern ethos of secular humanism to its maximum parameters.

Huh? Where did that little leap of illogic come from? Has the writer actually read the Harry Potter books? Or is he merely taking his cues from the insane ravings of the writers over at Wingnut Daily?

Calling the Harry Potter novels an "anti-Gospel" suggests that the stories aspire to a higher objective than they actually do. Of course, in the shrieking insanity of the columnist's mind, we find that it gets even more insidious:

More precisely, it is all about Homo Sine Deo, man without God, who, in order to find his identity in a flattened cosmos, must pursue power and knowledge at all costs lest he be blasted into non-being by a killing curse. He feels abandoned, alone, and believes, therefore, that he must rely upon himself - though he will bond, to a degree, with those who assist in the revelation and development of his hidden identity.

Yeah, well - guess what pal - in most heroic literature, the hero doesn't kneel down and start praying to some deity to save their butts. Even in the legends of Ancient Greece, the Gods were there more to create obstacles for someone than to actually help out. (and interestingly, there are echoes of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey in most heroic literature - whether we are talking about Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or Narnia.

The series is also about the usefulness of hatred and pride, malice toward your real or perceived enemies, seeking and using secret knowledge, lies, cunning, contempt, and sheer good luck in order to defeat whatever threatens you or stands in the path of your desires. It is a cornucopia of other false messages: The end justifies the means. Nothing is as it seems.

Ummm...really? Perhaps one could equally spin it that the Harry Potter stories are about the "wonder of the world" - encouraging people to seek that little bit of "magic" in their daily lives? Urging young minds to look beyond the surface of what the world shows them, perhaps?

Coming from so-called "Christians" who routinely claim that "God moves in mysterious ways", and formulate vast conspiracies against "Christianity™", there's a certain irony. While we hear so often about the evils of such things as the "Gay Agenda", we see these same clowns self-justifying Bush's invasion of Iraq(talk about a case of the "ends justifying the means" there!).

Such humanism cannot long survive without a "spirituality" of some kind or other - and what better spirituality for Homo Sine Deo than one which offers the thrills and rewards of the preternatural, without moral accountability to God. One might call this, paradoxically, the religion of secular humanism.

Wow - what an amazing screed. I realize that many people of faith simply cannot imagine existing without that faith as a part of their lives. When it's constructive and helpful to them, I think that's wonderful. However, when that same faith causes you to close your mind's eye to other ways of looking at the world, then I believe it is crippling your ability to think clearly and critically.

When someone stands up and condemns a piece of escape literature as "evil", I can only imagine that somewhere, lurking behind a "don't open this door sign" in their minds is an imagination - because clearly they have lost sight of something somewhere along the way.

Mark Twain once said "You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus"

Paranoibia: When You Think They're Out To Get You

According to our friendly loons over at Wingnut Daily, the Harry Potter books are a source of "anti-Christian bigotry".

Our kids hear every day in public schools about the perils of "intolerance" and "homophobia." They are cautioned frequently to "separate church and state," because not to do so would result in vague, unspecified horrors. And merely raising an eyebrow at evolutionary theory can unleash pent-up fury over Christian beliefs.

Wow, that's quite an opener. We start out with a claim that the world is out to beat up on their poor little "Christian" sensibilities. After all, why wouldn't we all subscribe to their absolutist view of the world, right?

Only occasionally do the wizards pull back the curtain to reveal to Muggles what's really going on, and it's usually more than these one-dimensional creatures can handle. Denial is one response; dying of fright is another.

Why yes, that would seem to be analogous to the christianist response to the reality that GLBT people are not only real, but amazingly also productive members of society. (In spite of the discrimination and abuse faced on a near daily basis)

In fact, Uncle Vernon's attitude toward Harry is classic bigotry:

"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled. "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured. …" (page 56, "Sorcerer's Stone")

The message that screams from these pages for children to absorb is that these despicable people who object to "magic" are worthy of the worst scorn. And that's mostly what they receive throughout the Potter books.

Or, one might just turn it on its ear and derive that Rowling is in fact railing against the irrational bigotry that the "Others" in any society face daily. Whether we are talking about GBLT people, or Western European people living in the Middle East. In fact, I'd say that if Rowling had christianist wingnuts in mind when she wrote about the "Muggles", it was little more than holding a mirror up to them.

In the Potter books, it's OK to hold such people in thorough contempt and sometimes openly mock them. Harry's school nemesis, wizard Draco Malfoy, shows undisguised bias against Muggles or those with mixed Muggle and wizard "blood," and his nasty attitude is politically incorrect by the school's standards. But Malfoy just expresses what the others secretly think.

Whoa there! There isn't a shred of evidence in any of the Potter books to back this claim up. Malfoy is the classic schoolyard bully - no more, no less. He's arrogant, abusive, and apparently just charismatic enough to attract a couple of boot-licking cronies to do his thuggery for him.

What astounds me here is the notion that because someone "secretly thinks" something that it is somehow "right". It wasn't so long ago that the "majority" thought that women weren't rational enough to have a legitimate voice in politics. (and in some regions of the world, they still do not) Does that make the belief that women are "too irrational" for a political voice correct? No, of course not.

Similarly, the belief that Evolution theory is wrong because the Bible says differently doesn't factually alter the reality that to date, Evolution theory has been able to encompass all the evidence available.

So next time you hear your kids dish out scorn for Christians and /or Christian beliefs, maybe it's time to take an inventory of their favorite books and movies.

What will another Potter tale add to the mix? Rowling could decide to have Harry repent of his open rebellion against God through sorcery. Maybe she will cease dishonoring traditional "non-magic" beliefs. And, pigs could also start flying.

Until this happens, Christian families need to protect their kids from Harry Potter's clever seduction.

Ah - so censorship to support christianist views is okay? All books we read must be devoutly "christian". {Oh my, could I write some dark stuff centered around the Inquisition...or perhaps the conniving of the oh-so-moral "church leaders" who rail against homosexuality from the pulpit, and engage in it in seedy back alleys.

Sane parents will have long ago realized that Harry Potter (or the Oz books for that matter) are good basic children's literature. They are no more "pro", or 'anti' Christian than my sofa. The only offense in those books is in the mind of the truly paranoid.

Frankly, I think the author of that article on Wingnut Daily forgot to take their anti-paranoia medications ... or they decided somebody was messing with them.

*Note: I use the term "christianist" to refer to these people because they have twisted their faith so far beyond recognition that I can't bring myself to tar faithful Christians with the brush of christianist extremism.

Reading Too Much In

The recent release of the latest (and presumably last) Harry Potter novel has spawned all sorts of attempts at analysis which try to read far too much into a story that is pure escape literature.

While I can understand some degree of interest and curiousity being express with respect to what one can only describe as a societal phenomenon that has spanned the globe, we should be cautious about treating it as anything other than a pop culture moment. To apply much more than basic literary criticism to the Harry Potter books is granting what is obviously no deeper than your average Star Trek episode far too much intellectual credibility.

Perhaps the best example of the insanity that has come to surround the Harry Potter stories is expressed by Wingnut Daily, whose writers are getting themselves thoroughly tied up in knots over the dark evil of the "occult" in these books:

Wohlberg's new book "Exposing Harry Potter and Witchcraft: The Menace Beneath the Magic," asserts that "Harry Potter" purchases are often accompanied at the sales counter with materials on Wicca. Increasing numbers of young readers also frequent Wicca websites, cast "Love and Money Spells," and practice "white magic."

You know, I remember hearing those same kind of idiotic criticisms levelled at Dungeons and Dragons when I was in Junior High school. I think magic is something that many people find appealing, especially in adolescence. Who wouldn't give almost anything to make the pain and angst of our adolescent years go away (or turn that Math teacher that nobody could stand into a toad?)

Magic, at least on this world, isn't "real". Nobody accomplishes anything by incantations (at least that can be proven demonstrably) - whether those incantations are meant to boil a cauldron of water, or bring favor from some arbitrary sky-being.

Arguably, what many religions call prayer is little different from the ritualized casting of spells that many claim is an expression of "evil".

Many people I know scratch their heads and stare somewhat in askance at the near hysteria of the claims of the fundamentalists when they speak of Harry Potter (or Tolkein, or Dungeons and Dragons...). But, when you step back from it for a moment, it starts to make a little sense.

The fundamentalist claims that not only is "God" an absolute reality, but also that this same being had something to do with the writing of the Bible/Q'Ran/Pentateuch {pick your faith}. This grants a "reality" to an unknowable that is perhaps slightly irrational when framed in the context of our world. There is no way I can know the truth value of either claim, as they are statements of faith, not fact.

Looking a little further, it's not hard to see how if one accepts the claim that some meta being called "God" is real, that one might similarly be willing to believe that there is some "real" truth value to the kind of magic described in the Harry Potter books. Neither is demonstrable in any real sense in this world, but if you are willing to assign an absolute truth to one unknowable, credulity will similarly allow you to assume that magic is equally real.

More seriously, I think we have to ask ourselves if the hysteria around Harry Potter ultimately is about adults who have forgotten the imagination of youth, and the dalliances and explorations of those years between 11 and adulthood. Worrying that a piece of escape literature is exposing someone to evil is just plain silly - unless you happen to assign a reality to it that isn't really appropriate.