Friday, July 01, 2005

Nice to know first impressions can be right!

As I said in a previous post, I didn't like Ratzinger and his selection as Pope. Could have just been me. There was some evidence in my favor by his minimizing of the sexual abuse scandal (which basically means he feels that sexual abuse isn't THAT big a deal) and his shutting down of Reason's editor (all mentioned on previous posts from andrewsullivan.com).

But now he's hit the bullseye. Again, from a link from Andrew Sullivan:

As the sixth issue of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - is about to be released, the news that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prior to his elevation to the Pontificate, had denounced the wildly popular series has resurfaced.

...

"It is good that you shed light and inform us on the Harry Potter matter, for these are subtle seductions that are barely noticeable and precisely because of that deeply affect (children) and corrupt the Christian faith in souls even before it (the Faith) could properly grow and mature," said Cardinal Ratzinger.

...

Regarding the harm to children from the Potter books, Kuby again quotes Cardinal Ratzinger's letter saying, "That they (children) are being cut off from God, the source of Love and Hope , so that they in sorrowful life conditions are without a foundation that supports them -that they lose the spirit of discernment between good and evil and that they will not have the necessary strength and knowledge to withstand the temptations to evil."

Harry Potter, ladies and gentlemen! Corruptor of souls and leader of children away from God. How can anyone believe this stuff? And by the way, exactly what the Hell is the difference between Rowling's books and Tolkein's Lord of the Rings?

No mention of God? Check.

Wizards and spells? Alohomora!

Fantasy creatures? Hell, Tolkein made up a whole language for his elves from scratch - hard to get more fictional than that!

I await Pope Benedict's channeling of Pope Paul IV, and the new Index Librorum Prohibitum. Maybe he should check out Human Event's starter list.

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