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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion oped editorial

EDITORIAL: A "Harry Potter" religion? Count us out

Back in 1997, a novel hit shelves telling of a young boy in glasses who learns he is a wizard.

“Harry Potter” is one of the most recognizable book names today, and in the years since the series concluded, many fans have remained heavily devoted. Fan fiction fills the Internet, hundreds of thousands traverse The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and many waited in line at midnight release party when Rowling contributed to a spinoff play in July, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

This past May, though, graduates from the Harvard Divinity school took the series to a new level: a religion.

They decided to embark on a 199-episode-series entitled, “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.” On their website, they explain, “We will read ‘Harry Potter,’ not just as novels, but as instructive and inspirational texts that will teach us about our own lives.” In the rest of their mission statement, they outline how they will carefully explore a chapter a week, focusing on central themes.

This podcast has had very mixed responses. In the past, adults have already questioned if “Harry Potter” pushes messages too far. In 2001, the series topped the list of banned books, with many parents citing that it encouraged witchcraft. It would seem, then, that people certainly have thought “Harry Potter” has strong themes.

As to the question of whether the novels are “religious,” the author of the series, J.K. Rowling, admitted in 2007 that she has thought it obvious that parts of the novels have religious parallels.

Practicing it as an actual religion, though, may be a different story. A few members of Opinion Board are “Potter” fans, and after listening to the first podcast, they were unimpressed.

The religious language is very heavy and has an even stronger presence in the podcast than one might expect. A few of us also found the pace of the episodes rather slow.

In addition, while religious bible study groups often encourage socializing and talking about issues, the first episode featured no optional phone calls or other means of audience participation.

There are also very dedicated Harry Potter fans who are already religious in a much more traditional way and find this idea a bit unappealing. While it does seem that the two men are proposing using the text to help guide decisions rather than one to worship, this is still a bit of a confusing concept.

Thousands of novels feature common themes that are also found in religion: love, loss, courage or destiny. These same novels may inspire readers to make a life change, or heal those who are struggling.

Usually though, meaningful novels are not turned into a studied religion.

It seems that what is really happening here is people have really connected with a text, even on a spiritual level, and want to find a way to acknowledge that. If anything, it certainly seems that those who find this appealing will have ample content to listen to 199 episodes is quite the lengthy series.

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