Funny article in the Guardian today about the Pastor/Father of a school in America removing all the Harry Potter books from the library because they contain dangerous and "real" spells and curses. Now this isn't some fringe loony-tunes sect it's just a Catholic school and apparently this cleric had consulted with Vatican "exorcists" previously on this matter. Of course we all know that Harry potter is a series of children's books (and films) about a boy wizard who battles with his nemesis (he who cannot be named) eventually vanquishing the "dark-lord" in a spectacular show-down in the final episode, it's harmless fantasy as opposed to the Catholic church which, although also fantasy, is in no way harmless. It's difficult to take such decisions or indeed such organisations seriously until you realise what power, wealth and influence they possess, someone who should clearly be selling pencils from a cup is in fact having a real impact upon the cultural development and education of future generations. No wonder America is such a freakish outlier when it comes to first-world religiosity, although, I'm sure if Harry Potter had been authored by an American, brandished a M-16 and been swathed in the stars and stripes this decision would have been very different.
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