Scratch

Christian and I own all of the Harry Potter books, when the seventh one came out I stayed up all night reading it until eleven. IN THE MORNING!
[sorta off topic: i was at the midnight release and the fox news team was there. and then these two girls in front of me got on the news when i didn't! btw the party was AWESOME]

Well in fairness, The Golden Compass did have some rather strong anti-religion undertones. I know it's fiction, but authors can still express a point of view through their work.

That said, I think outright banning books is a bit ridiculous and paranoid. Also, I personally cannot see why some Christians have a problem with Harry Potter, considering there's no negative message and it takes place in a completely fictitious world.

Harry Potter is awesomeness, I mean look at my signature. I am Christian and I don't see how it's offensive at all, and neither do my other friends. I am not allowed to read Golden Compass, though... well, at least I wasn't when I was 8, maybe I would be now XD probably not

helltank wrote:

@Harakou-Actually, if you read it carefully, you'd notice that its definition of angels are slightly different from ours. Also, I don't think the Bible even mentioned "The Authority". I conclude that the evil religion exists only in Lyra's world, as little to no mention of an evil Christian religion in Will's world has been made. Even the most extreme Christians can't deny that "The Authority" is completely fake. Also, Lord Asriel quotes their "Bible", and it mentions daemons, so I'd gather it's simply a similar religion, not the same. It's inspired by Christianity, sure, but not the same as Christianity.

It's still pretty close, and I think you're missing the point. There doesn't have to be an explicit, literal connection for the author to make a real world point about something. Parody, for example.

scmb1 wrote:

I'm against banning books whether they offend certain groups or not. Many often challenged books are classics that provide valuable insight into our past. In my opinion, the simple answer to not being offended is to not read the books. My solution is to mark controversial books in some obvious way so people can avoid them if they wish.

+1
We need to remember that the 1st amendment protects speech...even of ideas we don't like.

helltank wrote:

@Ace-of-Hearts-Magic books??

Yeah, magic in books. Because magic is a tool of the devil or something like that.

Harry Potter if anything had good meanings, read The Gospel According to HArry Potter to see what I mean 

helltank wrote:

@Wickimen-Well, His Dark Materials, and even Golden Compass is pretty heavy... I read it when I was 12(ie. this year), and I still found it pretty heavy, even though my reading level is incredibly high. Also, nice siggy. Always wanted to watch that movie. Too bad Umbridge doesn't look like a toad 

I'm 12 too and according to the school test I have "Past High School" reading level, but my parents are strict about what I read XD Oddly, however, I am allowed to watch the later Harry Potter movies, hence my signature, weird isn't it    Thanks, and I wish Umbridge looked more toad-ish too lol

maxskywalker wrote:

Harakou wrote:

Well in fairness, The Golden Compass did have some rather strong anti-religion undertones. I know it's fiction, but authors can still express a point of view through their work.

First of all, religion is (this is not my personal opinion, it is actual history/phsycology) a fall-back point to hide people's ignorance.  For example, the ancient Egyptians looked up at the sun and didn't know how it moved across the sky, so they just said "Oh, look!  It's Ra the Sun God pushing the sun across the sky!".

To a probably more acceptable point, their belief (I am just making assumtions about what you're talking about as I've never read it) in the Golden Compass did not agree with every aspect of Christianity because the people were going through a time when that was their belief, just like how Christianity is our belief today.  One of the most important rules in writing a book is that you have to relate to the character.  After all, otherwise the main antagonist (ie. 'bad guy') would just go up to the main protagonist (ie. 'good guy' or 'hero') and say, "Hi.  I'm evil so put me in jail/kill me."

I've honestly got nothing against The Golden Compass, and I think it's ridiculous for it to be banned. I was just pointing out that it was pretty provocative in some ways.

Whether or not religion is just a "fall-back" to explain things is a discussion for somewhere else and is unrelated to this discussion. (I'm agnostic, so I think it's foolish to claim either way, btw.)

blazerv82 wrote:

Updating books, banning books, re-writing history, what's next? Seriously, get a grip people. What you are doing is a little thing called overreacting. Calm down.

Magic offends the Christian religion? I did not know that.

I don't care. And I'm Christian.

helltank wrote:

Why? Why? Why the madness? Why the banning of awesome books like Harry Potter and The Golden Compass.
  If you're against magic because it offends the Christian religion(by the way, I'm a Christian and I don't feel offended..) or against The Golden Compass because it says that Catholic religion is a con to make money and stuff, you should get a life.
  If a non fiction book proclaimed that, I would say,"Okay, that's fair." But this is fiction!! We all know it's fake. Why must you go around banning it from schools and libraries? Think of the children!
  It doesn't take an expert psychologist(but judging from your behaviors, you think it does for some reason) to tell you that reading Harry Potter will not make your son become embroiled in an evil cult with bloodletting and sacrificial rituals, nor will reading His Dark Materials(also known as The Golden Compass trilogy) make your child renounce everything he's ever known about Christianity, ever, and join the devil.

/rant

Yes, I too am a Christian. I don't read those books with dark magic and sorcery because I am simply not interested and because of my religion. However, I still don't believe they should take them out of libraries and such. Other people like those books and the library should respect that. Might as well take out Cat in the Hat next! 

PandaGuy wrote:

helltank wrote:

Why? Why? Why the madness? Why the banning of awesome books like Harry Potter and The Golden Compass.
  If you're against magic because it offends the Christian religion(by the way, I'm a Christian and I don't feel offended..) or against The Golden Compass because it says that Catholic religion is a con to make money and stuff, you should get a life.
  If a non fiction book proclaimed that, I would say,"Okay, that's fair." But this is fiction!! We all know it's fake. Why must you go around banning it from schools and libraries? Think of the children!
  It doesn't take an expert psychologist(but judging from your behaviors, you think it does for some reason) to tell you that reading Harry Potter will not make your son become embroiled in an evil cult with bloodletting and sacrificial rituals, nor will reading His Dark Materials(also known as The Golden Compass trilogy) make your child renounce everything he's ever known about Christianity, ever, and join the devil.

/rant

Yes, I too am a Christian. I don't read those books with dark magic and sorcery because I am simply not interested and because of my religion. However, I still don't believe they should take them out of libraries and such. Other people like those books and the library should respect that. Might as well take out Cat in the Hat next! 

Lol, dark magic?

That's summoning, it even mentioned that none of the magic in Harry Potter is summoning in some book I read. (Not even Voldemort summons anything)

Last edited by soupoftomato (2011-07-11 20:33:06)