Witchcraft in Georgia
From the Gwinnett [County, GA] Daily Post and the continuing saga of the woman who filed the complaint to have the Harry Potter books removed from school libraries because they promote witchcraft, come these tidbits*:
“I want to protect children from evil, not fill their minds with it,” Mallory said. “The ‘Harry Potter’ books teach children and adults that witchcraft is OK for children.”
[…]
At Thursday’s hearing, Mallory spoke against the books along with four other parents and students. One of them was Stacy Thomas, a mother of five, who said reading the “Harry Potter” series made her daughter turn to witchcraft, ultimately causing their Christian family to lose friends, finances and their reputation.Her daughter, Jordan Fusch, 15, testified that she began experimenting with tarot cards, curses and seances after reading the books.
“As a former witch, I can tell you that witchcraft is not fantasy. … I felt I could not escape the clutches of witchcraft,” Fusch said. “It has taken several years of counseling to get to where I was before witchcraft and reading ‘Harry Potter’ books.”
Not surprisingly, I have two problems with this. At least two.
What in the world do these parents really think they're protecting their children from? As the article points out, children can tell that the books are fiction, and I think the books are a lot less scary than the evening news, a lot less indoctrinating than, say, a Republican convention or a broadcast church service. Okay, more likely these "concerned parents" are just making a publicity play for their extremist point of view, but still.
Second point is this: witchcraft is not real. I'm a scientist; I don't believe in silly supernatural superstitions like witchcraft. How the school board could sit through this testimony about the child in the clutches of witchcraft without howling with laughter, I'm sure I don't know. However, I suppose that for religious extremists who believe the patently incredible stories about Jesus and God and miraculous images in tortillas and melted cheese, witchcraft must be a scary thing.
But who is this child who could not "escape its clutches"? Didn't we get over this in Salem, MA several centuries ago? And how many "years of counseling" could she have had to regain her witchcraft virginity — she's only fifteen now, after all! And where was her concerned mother while she was turning to witchcraft — doesn't she supervise any of her child's activities? Can one really become an ex-witch anyway, once one has fallen prey to the black arts? Perhaps the school libraries just need more copies of The Exorcist.
I know this is a cheap shot, but the people in Gwinnett county might want to reconsider the names of their schools. Three are mentioned: Alton C. Crews Middle School, Trickum Middle School, and Dacula High School. Now, "Alton C. Crews" sounds normal enough, but is it any wonder that children are drawn to witchcraft with names that sound like "Trick 'Em" and "Dracula High"?
Last word on this for the moment comes from the article (my emphasis):
The possibility of their beloved books being taken off school shelves inspired many Potter fans to attend the hearings. Some high school students silently sat in the back, wearing T-shirts that read, “Censorship Destroys Education.”
[I first saw the story at Shakespeare's Sister: Misty's "more on the scary that is Harry", 21 April 2006.]
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*Rubina Madan, "Trouble With Harry", Gwinnett Daily Post, 21 April 2006.
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on Saturday, 22 April 2006 at 01.18
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When I was a little boy, my grandparents lived for awhile in an apartment above a drug store. Going to visit them, my mother would sometimes stop in the drug store to pick something up, with me in tow.
One day while Mom was shopping in the drug store, a paperback book on a rack caught my eye. As my mother later recalled the incident, I was staring at the book, jaw dropped and wide-eyed. The book cover featured a very voluptuous blonde in a filmy, basically see-through negligee that left nothing to the imagination.
My mother wasn't concerned about me being corrupted by the book cover. Giving the store owner grief for putting the book out where young eyes could see it never occurred to her.
Mom's only concern was that my gawking could result in embarrassment for her and/or for me if other people noticed. So she quickly tugged me away and hurried to the cashier to pay for her stuff.
Later, I asked her how come women were so undressed on book covers, or something like that. She laughed and said it was to help sell the books, and that I'd understand when I got older.
I mention this incident because I think it illustrates a fairly healthy, normal approach to child rearing. In the drug store incident, the book didn't bring anything corrupting to me; I was young and completely innocent, and Mom knew that I was.
In other words, what's important is not what the book brings to the child but what the child brings along to the book.
The Gwinnett teenager wasn't corrupted by a fantastical novel. She had problems when she picked up the book, and those problems became manifest along certain lines, most likely, because the book aligned with her needs or things going on in her psyche.
The girl's mother exhibited an example of another kind of child rearing. It's based on the notion: "Any child of mind is a perfect child. If she has a problem or does something wrong, it's because some external factor has had a negative effect on her."
Following that line of parental reasoning, the whole world must be perfect enough, virtuous enough, to not corrupt or in any way degrade her perfect daughter. It doesn't take much imagination to see that's never going to work, and that any parent who tries to operate on that basis is going to have problems at home, at school and just about everywhere else.
on Saturday, 22 April 2006 at 23.55
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First off, let me say that since I own the first three Harry Potter DVD's I must be a witch (hold on whilst I get my wand). Second, why do people always want to blame music or television or books for their problems. Why not take some responsibility for your own actions. When I dropped out of high school I did not blame anyone or anything other than myself.
This whole issue kind of reminds me of television shows where you see the parents say how proud they are of their child when the child does something good, but when the child does something bad one parent will say "your" child… So I guess the child only belongs to both parents when s/he is good and belongs to the other parent when s/he is bad.
Each individual is responsible for his/her own actions.
on Monday, 19 June 2006 at 10.54
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There are a number of reputable ministries run by exWitches who have since come to Christ…
Such as:
exWitch Australia – http://exwitchaustralia.com
(which has NO connection or affiliation with the US based exWitch Ministries)
Refuge Ministries – http://www.refugeministries.cc/main.asp
(run by an exSatanist)
Hour of the Witch – http://hourofthewitch.com
WRNet Ministries – http://wrnetministries.com/occult.html
and
The Son and the Moon Forums – http://sonandthemoon.10.forumer.com
(A place of help, healing and support for those who have come to Christ from Wiccan, Neo-Pagan or Occult backgrounds)
Hope this information proves useful/is of interest…
on Monday, 24 July 2006 at 05.20
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I had to laugh at all the comotion though behind the so-called Ex-witch row when a friend showed me this link:
http://www.patregan.freeuk.com/ex_witch_splits.htm
As a committed Christian myself I think they would all be better off preying in chapel than entertaining Satan like this and the recent fuss amongst them proves this so well. This is not serving the Lord it is MOCKING Him!