Harry Potter Book Burning

Censorship has many forms, from banning books from shelves to advocating against sex, drugs, and other "bad" ideas literature is written about. Book burning, though, has been in existence since the first records of written documentation. Many people burned books because of political, religious, and moral reasons. However, it is not completely gone from our society. In numerous areas across the globe, book burning still occurs. More recently, with the Harry Potter explosion, advocates against sorcery and witchcraft have held public book burning demonstrations to show the evilness of the literature.
The Jesus Non-demoninational Church in Greenville burned numerous Harry Potter books because they felt that it went against the Bible. Pastor Tommy Turner, "I don't want anyone to go to hell, and the bible says if people use sorcery and witchcraft they will go to hell" (HPANA). The group also burned cds from groups such as *NSYNC and rationalized that since the music was not glorifying God, it should not be accepted (HPANA).
Other people act in similar ways. In 1999, when the 3rd Harry Potter book was published, David Williamson of Columbia, South Carolina argued that the books teach "the overall context of the occult -- witches and how Harry is being trained through this school he goes to to be a better wizard" (CBN News). He uses Bible verses to justify his opinion and his group of followers believe that Harry Potter books are a hindrance to the separation of church and state (CBN News).

I have read a few of the Harry Potter books and have never thought of them as trying to corrupt me. I thought they were entertaining and a good read. Never did I think that witchcraft and sorcery, along with rebelliousness, was being condoned. If people approach books like that, then isn't the Bible about death, controlling others, and violence?
I could not believe that people still burn books. How terrible it must be to be a writer of a book that is being burned...what a criticism to the author! How dare people think they are better than the writer and to purposely damage a text that has taken numerous years to create? There is just no justification for such behavior. If the American flag cannot be burned, then why are books any different? Aren't books a reminder of the democratic freedoms we have in this country? Therefore, shouldn't they be held with as high regard as the American flag, another symbol of liberty? Wow...the priorities are not correct here.



Sources: http://www.hpana.com/news.17092.html, http://www.religioustolerance.org/potter2.htm