Every time a new Harry Potter book or movie comes out, somebody's gotta freak out and warn the world against the Satanic forces at works at the (fictional) Hogwart's. Somebody has to inform us that our children are being lured into dangerous activities like spell casting by the (fictional) characters. We are told that our youth is being indoctrinated into witchcraft and magic because of these (fictional) books.

By "somebody" I mean, of course, mostly Christians (but not "most" Christians, mind you) who just don't want to spend the money on movie tickets and popcorn for their kids and need some excuse to get out of it without looking cheap.

So it's no surprise that a Hogwart's amusement park has some folks all a-flutter, although to be fair, most of them wouldn't risk their children's immortal souls (or their wallets) at a Disney movie or theme park in the first place.

I get what they're saying about the world of Harry Potter, I really do. Nobody gets to do magic except for God or Jesus. Nobody else gets to create worlds, bring the dead back to life, turn water into wine, impregnate virgins, turn people into salt pillars, flood the entire world, part seas, bring plagues, send armies of angels to kill people ... I get it. But what I don't get is that these same folks don't seem to understand that ...

HOGWART'S DOESN'T EXIST. They do not need to worry that their children will all of a sudden be able to do any of the things mentioned above, or even any of the things Harry and his buddies can do. They don't need to worry that a random "alohamora" is going to open the lock on the porn drawer, know what I mean?

There's nothing to be done about folks who are so afraid of fiction, and of course it's their decision as to what to watch and I respect that. Kinda.

But there are more interesting bits in this article than the silly fear of fictional teenaged wizards:

In the outstanding book The Culture Wise Family, Dr. Ted Baehr and Pat Boone say "The average child in the United States only gets about 21 minutes a day of primary attention with their parents, but, according to the Motion Picture Association, spends up to 10.25 hours per day with the Internet and TV." No wonder parents are having very little influence in how their children view the occult or anything else.

Now, had they led with this, I might have given them a little more credit. I totally agree with the view that parents who turn their children over to the TV have very little right to complain if their kids don't model their values. Kids will model whatever they are exposed to constantly and if parents allow them to watch TV all day, the kids will assume an implied approval of the content and behaviors seen onscreen. But this has nothing to do with Harry Potter, for goodness sakes, and short of turning the TV off altogether (which is fine), I challenge any parent to watch TV without coming across supernatural influences. Barney changes from a stuffed animal to a living creature. Bugs Bunny talks. There's a vampire on Sesame Street. Boohbahs (the creepy little bastards) fly - and since there are rainbows in the opening credits, they're probably gay too, but that's another post.

Less than 100 people, most of them from a handful of families, control 98% of the media empire and most of the content that is thrust upon our children. They have become the primary teachers and caregivers of America's youth, flooding them with pornography, the occult, socialism and multiculturalism. They leave their passive audience illiterate, immobile and prepared for tyranny to come.

Um, cite? Which 100 people, please? This is just sloppy. And what tyranny "to come," aren't we already there?

All of history proves that the kingdom of God has led civilization for 2000 years to the highest forms of science, business, law, civil government, art, music, education and even entertainment.

Does this even make sense? Seems like you couldn't find a more perfect example of the fallacy that correlation implies causation.

I've only seen a few other articles from this site, but think that I will be bookmarking it for future entertainment.

Only 8 more days til my new Harry Potter book arrives!