[Anne L.]

I am interested in how Rick came up with this view. He lists himself as ‘Atheist,’ so I’m not certain that he would be qualified to make a judgment on the efficacy of a religion that is foreign to him. On the other hand, it sounds as though his opinion came from some experience. Perhaps the sharing of that experience would be more useful to Y? readers than his advice.

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Name : Anne L., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 36, City : Schenectady, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Graduate student, FT, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Anne L.]

Harry Potter books may promote ‘witchcraft,’ but I think that that is simply because there is, in fact, a ‘witchcraft’ to promote. The concepts in The Lord of the Rings and The Never Ending Story don’t exist in our world as actual disciplines that can be pursued. But does banning children from reading Harry Potter really solve the problem? It is my experience with children that once you have banned something it becomes all that much more enticing to them. Then when they have discovered it on their own, read about it and discussed it with their friends, they will not have the benefit of their parent’s wisdom, because the parents have already made it clear that they will not accept this particular concept. Fantasy witchcraft is one thing. ‘Real’ witchcraft in our world is many different things. It includes pagan earth religions, even native american religions, and ‘Wicca’ or ‘Witta,’ the revival earth religions from pre-christian Europe. ‘Witchcraft’ is even used to describe (although not correctly) Satanism, and other ‘evil-worshipping’ activities. In as much as parents are educating themselves about the dangers of gang violence, and the risks of teen sexuality, and trying to form more open relationships with their children around these matters, foreknowledge of the spiritual matters that children and adolescents may be interested in exploring will probably serve families well. It will keep things in perspective if a child should show an actual interest in, say, Wicca, for example, and the parent has a bit of education on it and therefore does not overreact. Very likely, if given a bit of freedom to explore, the child will return more strongly to the religion of their family. The Amish have known this for generations.

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Name : Anne L., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 36, City : Schenectady, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Graduate student, FT, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Anne L.]

How do you know witchcraft is ‘totally ineffective?’

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Name : Anne L., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 36, City : Schenectady, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Graduate student, FT, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Anne L.]

I think that sometimes people have a very instinctual, primitive, negative reaction to the word ‘witchcraft.’ This includes its use in Harry Potter books and perhaps others that portray fantasy-witchcraft. People can more easily handle fantasy concepts for which there is no real counterpart, but since there is ‘real witchcraft’ (regardless of what the reader thinks it is, and I’m sure there’s a lot of variety of thought on the matter!), and it has been systematically maligned over the last 1000+ years by Christians, naturally today’s typical Christians are going to have a somewhat alarmed gut response to the word. People DO worry about what their kids might choose to pursue, and they think the Harry Potter books might give them ideas that will lead them away from their own faith. This seems justified. On the other hand, the cure is probably education. A parent could educate themselves on what today’s ‘witchcraft’ is and is not, and then not be so frightened if their child should ask questions. What applies in the world, applies to witchcraft: we should not be scared by words, although we should certainly be wary of some people.

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Name : Anne L., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 36, City : Schenectady, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Graduate student, FT, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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