The Gwinnett County (northeast suburb of Atlanta) mom who can’t stomach that children in America are being subjected to the devilment of Harry Potter has been foiled again. From the AJC:
Since she launched her anti-Potter crusade in 2005, Mallory has taken her case to administrators at the Loganville elementary school her children attend; to a school appeals committee; to the Gwinnett County Board of Education; and to the Georgia Board of Education. She’s lost at each level.
This time out she lost in the Gwinnett Superior Court. And of course, she “acknowledges she hasn’t read any of the six books in the “Harry Potter” series.” Naturally. She’s vowing to get a lawyer and take her case to a Federal Court. I guess she finally heard that old chestnut “people who represent themselves in court have a fool for a client.” See if you can follow this line of reasoning:
Mallory said the school board’s decision to offer the books in taxpayer-funded libraries violates the U.S. Constitution because, she claims, they promote the Wiccan religion. [yet]…”I have a dream that God will be welcomed back into our schools,” Mallory said.
Just not your heathen god.
May 31st, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Your title says it all.
Can she not at least read the damn books?? She’d come across as (slightly) less idiotic.
We’ve pre-ordered our copy of the latest in the series. Such wicked heathens we are…
May 31st, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I don’t know, those books are powerful.
Just this year, after reading all 6 books, my sister received an ‘Outstanding Achievement in Reading’ award from her school — just filling her mind with delusions of accomplishment.
May 31st, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I’ve never read a Harry Potter book, either, and yet I’m still bedeviled.
Can’t stand people who complain and shake their firsts over something they’ve never read or experienced.
May 31st, 2007 at 2:28 pm
I’ve read all six, which I’m sure explains my current state of bedevilment.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I assume that this means she won’t be visiting the new Harry Potter theme park in Florida that the AP is reporting about today. I assume she also hates Stevie Nicks.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
books do lead to evil:
raw shark texts=shedding the blood of innocent kittens.
i think this woman may be on to something. between books themselves and those scurvy-laden book bloggers…
May 31st, 2007 at 4:40 pm
@ Beth - the “damn books” indeed
@ DJ - it is a widely held misunderstanding that the US constitution is in fact a “Christian” document. The fact that it was drawn up by a bunch of freemasons is not widely known in the US church, but this fact alone is enough to put paid to that urban myth.
As a Christian myself, the contradiction in your last quote brings tears of shame to my eyes. To insist that one form of belief is constitutional while another is not is surely bunk. It places your nation no further up the scale of freedom than, say, Saudi Arabia.
The woman is deluded. Unfortunately she’s deluded in the name of Christ and that brings Him great discredit. But to tar all Christians who might speak out against HP with the same brush is to make the same mistake surely.
Please allow this Christian at least to present a very brief reason why Christians have reservations about the content of HP. No Bible-believing person is going to accept any form of magic. There is a simple reason for that: it’s an issue of control; Christianity puts Christ in charge, magic puts you yourself there. Anyone with even a modicum of understanding about how beliefs work will understand and respect that explanation.
Having said that, it is obvious from reading the novels (I have at least read one and found the prose odious) that Rowling’s agenda is not to promote magic. It’s purely mercantile.
The worst irony of this situation is that there are far more dangerous books out there as far as anti-Christian ideologies go. Atlas Shrugged has done more damage to the cause of Christ than HP ever will. I just wish the church would wake up, smell the coffee, read the books that matter and engage with the world about them. The crusades finished a long, long time ago.
May 31st, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I consider myself Christian, but I chuckle at those who get caught up in the idea of “magic.” Didn’t you watch those shows on Fox where they explain how the tricks work?
May 31st, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Well, I certainly didn’t want to get into a big theological discussion (nor denigrate anyone’s country or Constitution). I think that reasonable people of any faith can distinguish between a children’s fantasy and reality. I think that children that are exposed to books (without some being the works of Satan) can also distinguish reasonably well between fantasy and reality. I spent a great dinner talking with a Catholic priest about the last harry Potter book and whether or not Dumbledore could truly be dead. Then again, another priest was so threatened by the DaVinci Code that he thought that it was appropriate to use some time during a friend’s wedding to advise the assembled to just not read it. My thinking is that if your faith is so precarious that Harry Potter or The DaVinci Code are going to bring it crumbling down, then you’ve got much bigger issues. That’s just my two cents.
Of course, Ayn Rand just sucks all the way around.
May 31st, 2007 at 11:52 pm
Sorry, but anyone who reads the Bible as literal truth believes in magic and superstition. By definition.
You may now tell me what an intolerant hypocrite I am.
June 1st, 2007 at 4:04 am
@ DJ - good to hear you’ve found men of the cloth who can discuss the books and you’re absolutely right about that faith thing to a point. What about those whose faith is young or shaky for some personal reason.
!!! yeah Rand sucks yeah!!!
@ Dr J - I don’t know about you being a hypocrite but you’re certainly brave. The New Testament, for example, is the most historically verified ancient text the world has. If you throw it out, you can throw out any and all of classical literature. That makes Tacitus as mythical in your book as the Bible and leaves you standing alone against the whole of classical scholarship.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:04 am
I wish she’d read the books, too. At least everyone would have some peace for a while as she’s stumbling through, her stubby finger pointing out each wicked word.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:31 am
Like I said, I really didn’t want this to turn into a theological discussion. But, I also said if your faith is derailed by a work of fiction then you’ve got bigger issues. Back to the case at hand, I don’t think that it the library has the responsibility to protect anyone’s fragile faith. Rather than ban these books as evil, why not read them with the tender of faith and use them as learning tools if you are concerned. I know of at least one church that had an adult reading group working through the DaVinci Code to work through it together and talk about the sticky issues. That, to me, is a far more intelligent way of dealing with the problem than to tell people to “stay away” from the most popular books of their lifetimes. Just a thought.
June 4th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
The real problem is that the fantasy/magic/mythical reality that is Harry Potter hits a little too close to home for the Bible thumpers. Who wouldn’t rather go to the Harry Potter theme park on Sunday morning instead of church ? At least you don’t have to tithe 10% and it will have a much better gift shop.