Witch hunt

Church & State, Mar 2002 by Boston, Rob

Why The Religious Right Is Crusading To Exorcise Harry Potter Books From Public Schools And Libraries

Robert Fichthorn had decided to take a stand.

Fichthorn, captain of the Penryn, Pa., "fire police," a volunteer body that provides traffic control services during fires, auto accidents and civic events, declared in late January that his officers would not help cordon off streets during a YMCA-sponsored triathlon scheduled for this September.

Fichthorn's reason surprised many in the community. Despite its Christian roots, Fichthorn asserted, the YMCA is in fact supporting witchcraft by allowing students taking part in an after-school program to read the popular "Harry Potter" books. The fire police would do nothing, he insisted, to aid this nefarious behavior.

"I don't feel right taking our children's minds and teaching them [witchcraft]," Fichthorn hold the Lancaster New Era. "As long as we don't stand up, it won't stop."

Fichthorn's declaration hit the local papers and promptly sparked an uproar in the tiny central Pennsylvania community. But things really got interesting after the story was circulated nationally by the Associated Press and spread worldwide over the Internet. Irate residents squared off in letters to the editor. YMCA officials were swamped with messages from all over the country and even overseas as people offered to stand in for the fire police.

Newspaper columnists blasted Fichthorn and the rest of his department as narrow-minded and silly. Sports Illustrated cited the flap as "This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse." The Denver Post gave Fichthorn its "Doofus of the Month" award.

Many in the community and surrounding area were not pleased with the attention. "Yes, all across the country, people are reading about the Penryn Fire Police decision to spurn the triathlon because Harry Potter goes against their Christian morals," groused Gil Smart, a columnist with the Lancaster Sunday News. "And all across the country, people are thinking: What bumpkins."

But if the Penryn Fire Police are bumpkins for hating Harry Potter, they are not the only ones. All over the country, Religious Right groups and local activists have put the Potter series in their theological crosshairs. The Penryn incident captured national headlines, but it is in no way an aberration.

According to the American Library Association (ALA), the Potter series, authored by Scottish writer J.K. Rowling, now holds the dubious distinction of being the most censored books in America. Public schools and libraries in many communities are under siege as far-right forces demand that the books be removed outright or placed on restricted access.

At first glance, the books look like unlikely candidates for all this fuss. Designed for pre- and early teens, the series recounts the adventures of Harry Potter, an orphan growing up in London. Verbally abused and forced to live in a dingy space at his domineering uncle's house, Potter's fortunes take a dramatic turn for the better when he learns he is descended from a long line of wizards and is invited to attend Hogwarts, a private academy for wizards in training.

The series is phenomenally popular, and the four books so far have sold in the millions worldwide. Late last year, a movie based on the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, opened to long lines and generally favorable reviews.

But not everyone is wild about Harry. Religious Right forces, including TV preacher Pat Robertson's "700 Club," James Dobson's Focus on the Family, the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition and a host of far-right lesser lights are convinced that the books promote evil and the occult - and they are spurring local activists to drive the books from public schools and libraries.

A sampling of recent incidents includes:

York, Pa.: Led by a local pastor who is also an elementary school teacher, a handful of parents demanded that the Harry Potter books be removed from the Eastern York schools, asserting that the tomes promote witchcraft. "It's against my daughter's constitution, it's evil and it promotes witchcraft," parent Deb Eugenio told reporters. "I'm not paying taxes to teach my child witchcraft."

The school board voted 7-2 in January to allow teachers to continue to use the Potter books provided that parents first sign permission slips. Sixth-grade teacher Ed Althouse had been using the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, during a unit on fantasy literature. The parents of four students declined to sign the permission slips, and their children were given an alternate assignment.

* Alamogordo, N.M.: In an incident that captured headlines worldwide, Pastor Jack Brock of the Christ Community Church led a mass burning of Harry Potter books Dec. 30. Brock told reporters that the books "encourage our youth to learn more about witches, warlocks and sorcerers, and those things are an abomination to God and to me." For good measure, Brock also tossed a copy of The Collected Works of William Shakespeare on the bonfire.