Those who have spoken out against the books on the grounds that they are about the magic arts fail to get the picture. Rowling is not teaching young people to be witches — after all, there are no such people. Of course, there are those, especially from the '60s generation, who like to claim Wiccan connections. This ancient Celtic religion, however, has nothing whatsoever to do with the cult of the 'satanic' arts, which are supposed to make use of the dark arts. Magic is slight of hand and is not a belief system. If the 'Satanists', who follow a cult of sorts, like to live in a negative world, there is nothing one can do about it. True, they are not one's favorite people and one best avoids them. Life, however, consists of negative and positive forces of nature that are and always will be in conflict. Yet, we also know that without negative, there is no positive: just think of electricity.

At no time does Rowling mentions anything in the books that implies that she is anti-Christian, anti-God. If she makes fun of muggles (what she calls people who do not have the gifts that Harry has) she is simply making fun of those who live lives full of lies, who are hypocrites, who are self-satisfied, who are intolerant of those who are different from themselves. There are obviously good muggles in her stories because Hermione, one of Harry's best friends at Hogwarts School, is from a muggle family that has no objections to her attendance at this unusual school. The Harry Potter books are lessons about how we all have to struggle within ourselves to strive toward being good, that we all must learn tolerance of that which is different from what we see as the norm. They are also a lesson about those who seek power at any cost and what happens to them and those who associate with them. If, in the process, these books turn out to be also highly entertaining, all the better.

We all have to say 'Thank you' to Rowling and her Harry for fascinating children so much that they actually want to wade through 766 pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to come to the end of the story without cheating by looking at the back of the book to find out how it ends. They will have learned by now from reading the first four books that her tales have twists and turns that make it imperative that the whole story is read from start to finish. Having developed thus a lust for reading, many youngsters will now want to find other books to read, and to continue to read as they grow into adulthood. So, maybe it is high time that educators begin to realize that they must once more bring back those dead white males they have slowly eliminated from the curricula of high schools and even universities if they want the written word to continue to stimulate the minds of upcoming generations. Without the classics — and some day Harry Potter will fit into that category — there is no modern literature. Harry Potter books are as modern as can be, yet their sources are from the classics. And here is a reference back to something that appears in Lancette's original review of the first four books, namely the title of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. It has religious origins. The man who gave us this phrase would today not only be called a theologian, but also a scientist. In his age, people saw him as a magician because he experimented — they called men like him alchemists — with metals and other materials in the hope of finding answers to how elements reacted upon each other. Surely, no one today would called a scientist an alchemist or magician? Or would they?

Finally, as for those who seem to fear the supposed ungodliness of these books, they should perhaps look within themselves and see what they lack that makes them so afraid. Are they afraid of the darker side within themselves? They should remember their history. Virtually all theocracies, past and present, have been or are anything but benign. Theocracies are mostly about power, and usually about corrupt power, enforced through creating fear among the population. They certainly do not preach Christian charity, openness and goodwill to all mankind.