Thursday, October 25, 2007

"Harry Potter" Disapparates from Catholic School

...Last month, students [at St. Joseph's Catholic School] found that their favorite series had "disapparated" from the school library, after St. Joseph's pastor, the Rev. Ron Barker, removed the books, declaring that the themes of witchcraft and sorcery were inappropriate for a Catholic school.
"He said that he thought most children were strong enough to resist the temptation," said one mother who asked that her name not be used because she did not want her family to be singled out. "But he said it's his job to protect the weak and the strong."
Way to go, Reverend Barker. Good thinking. Why, if you let some of your more feeble-minded students read Harry Potter, the next thing you know they're all going to be flying around on Norwegian Ridgeback dragons, trying to coax angry giants out of their caves, or shooting patronuses out of their wands at Dementors, left and right. It would have been utter chaos.

Next I propose they ban Dr. Seuss, just in case any of the slower kids get it into their minds to discriminate against un-starred Sneetches.

1 comment:

Ken said...

I don't know if this is more small-minded or slow-witted. Kids have been reading these books for year and now they're taking them off the shelves? How many thousand of pages of dangerous magical ideas have they already been exposed to?
Most of the Catholic church had a very constructive response to the books. The Catholic Church even has a Harry Potter podcast. It's actually very good and encourages kids to see the some of the literary elements of the book.