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| Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash |
I became a fan of the Harry Potter series as an adult. I read the first book when I was around 34 years old, but quickly became a fan. In fact, I would go so far as to call myself a Potter-Head. I took the official quiz to know my house (Hufflepuff), I own a ridiculous amount of merchandise, own multiple copies of the books (illustrated editions included), own all the movies, and even make my kids have Harry Potter themed birthday parties when they turn 11. I fell in love with the stories and the characters. But there is a reason why I was 34 before I ever touched a Harry Potter book.
I was raised in a small town in North Carolina by two loving parents who loved Jesus. My family was always involved in church, and if the doors were open, odds were good that we were there. Church life was a huge part of my upbringing. Over the years, my parents dove deeper into their faith and the outpouring of that took some different turns.
My mom worked part time at a Christian bookstore for a period of time and became very good friends with some of the other employees. A few of these people were heavy into spiritual warfare - they annoited people and objects with oil as protection and there were even stories of them casting out demons. There was a time when my parents were very involved in this as well. The fear of a demon getting a hold on someone in our home became so great that my parents made us get rid of books and CDs. In middle school I loved R.L. Stine and juvenile horror stories - bought them at every book fair or ordered them every time the Scholastic flyer came home with me. But when my parents became deeply involved in spiritual warfare, all those books had to go. Anything deemed demonic or evil was thrown out.
The first Harry Potter book was released the year I turned 15 and my parents were definitely in the camp that it was evil and demonic and taught little kids how to do witchcraft. They believed what someone told them and so I was not allowed to read the books. At the time it didn't really bother me because I thought it was a book for little kids any way and I was rebelling in other ways, so this just wasn't a battle I wanted to fight.
Over the years, I too believed what I had been raised to believe, Harry Potter was evil and taught kids about witchcraft and not something a Christian should read. It wasn't until my senior year of college that I really began to unpack this falsehood and realized that my view of the series was most likely wrong. But even with this shift in thinking, I still wasn't sure how I felt about the series or how to reconcile it with my faith.
Fast forward many years and we are friends with an amazing family who have a son the same age as our son. This is the family we have been doing life with and I felt comfortable being vulnerable and asking tough questions with them. We were hanging out with them one weekend and Harry Potter came up because her son was starting the series. So I frankly asked her how they handled Harry Potter being Christians. We had a long conversation and I walked away finally realizing that this is truly a fiction series, there is nothing demonic or evil about it, and Christians can absolutely read and enjoy the series.
That night on the way home, Aaron and I talked for a while about the books and I brought up the fact that E would want to read the books since his best friend was reading them, and I should probably read them so we can discuss the books with our son as he reads them. So I went to the library and checked out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I probably read the whole book over the course of a weekend and I enjoyed it for what it was, a well written children's book with an intriguing story and a twist I didn't see coming. Then I read the next book and the next book and so on. I fell in love with the series after reading book four, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I became a Potter-head after finishing the series. I was hooked and have since read the series a few times and watched the movies oh so many times.
The first time my love for Harry Potter became an issue within the church was after E's 11th birthday party. We had a Harry Potter themed party complete with sorting hat cupcakes, games themed after Hogwart's classes and even a "divination" magic trick. E wanted to invite a new friend from church, but having spent some time with the family, I had a feeling they may not approve of Harry Potter. Because I wanted to honor their family rules, I sent the mom a message detailing everything that would be at the party, and ultimately the mom decided that her son would not attend the party. I understood, said as much to the mom, and walked away from the conversation thinking all was well.
It wasn't until a week or two later that this mom asked to speak with Aaron and I in his office after the Sunday service. During the conversation, this mom repented and asked our forgiveness because she had been judging our parenting style and looking down on us because we let our kids read Harry Potter. We offered forgiveness and had a long conversation with her about personal convictions and Christian liberty and how we as a family did not feel there was anything wrong with reading Harry Potter. The conversation ended well enough, but the mom made it clear that she still believed we were wrong and that we just needed to learn what she had learned and we would come to realize it too.
While I admired this woman's willingness to seek repentance for what could have been left a "secret sin", I never felt fully comfortable around her again. We were a part of the same circle of friends through the end of our time at our old church and I felt like I always had to guard my words or justify my parenting choices when around her. I felt like I was always under a microscope and every choice I made was being scrutinized. This woman and her family would go on to bring "concerns" about my husband and I to the church leadership and played a big role in our decision to leave the church.
The next time my love (or "obsession") of Harry Potter was called into question came in 2020. In a future blog I will go into more detail of what happened that year, but short form, we were brought before church leadership to account for and defend some social media posts and beliefs and were ultimately told that while we were not wrong in our convictions, we would not be allowed to talk about our convictions publicly moving forward. We came to the hard decision to step down from ministry and leave our church. It was after we made the public announcement that we were leaving that a woman, whom I loved very much, came to Aaron with concerns about our family's Harry Potter obsession.
An older female member approached Aaron at the church one weekday after the announcement was made. She told Aaron that she was concerned about our family's obsession with Harry Potter and the spiritual warfare that follows it. Aaron talked to her at length about our theology on films and how our kids absolutely understand these books and movies are make-believe. He also went on to explain how the church is okay with sorcery and witchcraft, just look at the Lord of the Rings series or Chronicles of Narnia. He also made the point that liking Harry Potter is no different than liking Star Wars. But in the end, she believed that our "obsession" was wrong and was allowing a foothold for spiritual warfare for the devil. She also implied that all the things that were happening to us and our having to leave was brought about because of my love of a children's fiction series.
I need to make it known that I adored this woman. She was like a grandmother to my children. I loved her, thought the world of her, and when I found out about the conversation she had with Aaron, I was taken by great surprise. Then I was hurt and then I was just angry. I felt like she blamed my love of Harry Potter for the bad things happening to us. Nevermind the actual facts of what was happening and the mistreatment of us- it was the Harry Potter.
The few months leading up to this conversation were some of the hardest of our lives, and most definitely the hardest of our ministry. We were mistreated, misrepresented, and had our understanding of the gospel and God's word called into question. We were called names, had charges for church discipline brought against us, and we felt so alone and hurt. I no longer felt welcome in my church and my heart was broken over my husband losing his ministry. It was a horrible time in which many wrongs were done to us and to have someone minimize that and put the blame for sins being done against me and my family on my love of a book series was infuriating.
I spent so much of my time at our old church hiding parts of myself and this was just one more example. I felt like I always had to justify my choices and work so hard to prove that I really did love Jesus. Through this time of healing I have come to see just how unfair this was. I am thankful that I have come to a place where I realize that I can love Harry Potter and love Jesus, I don't have to have choose. God gave me a love of literature and critically speaking the Harry Potter books are incredibly well written and really good stories, and there is nothing wrong with me acknowledging and appreciating that.
There is a false dichotomy at play here - this idea that loving Harry Potter automatically means I'm letting Satan have a foothold in my life. And false dichotomies played a part in our leaving. Life is full of nuance and very rarely do we actually need to draw a hard line in the sand on issues that are not central to the gospel. We serve a big God who extends much grace to us and as long as we believe the core of the gospel, "that we enter God's kingdom through God's cross by God's grace" (Northstar Catechism (c) 2013 Sojourn Community Church), then so many other things we fight about are tertiary and up to personal liberty and conviction. When we make secondary things the big things, we place an unnecessary weight on people to fit into a certain mold and of people who prescribe their preferences to others.
I share my story to give hope to others who are feeling the weight of false dichotomies - that to love Jesus means you have to give up everything in your life that doesn't involve reading the Bible, listening to Christian music, or going to church. We serve a creative God who gave us the ability to create and enjoy the good things in his creation. Loving a part of creation does not mean you don't love Jesus - you can love both. And Harry Potter doesn't open the door to Satan and his minions, it just doesn't.
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