Rachel Curry

Unit 3
Ms. Kent
3 March 2016
I.

Working Title: Harry Potter and the Fundamentalist Christian

A. I liked this title because all of the Harry Potter books and movies
are Harry Potter and the something, something. Therefore, I
want the title of my paper to be similar. I dont think that I want
to keep it as Fundamentalist Christian because I want to prove
that the books are okay for Christians to read, even with the
magic involved and that is not the definition of a fundamentalist
Christian.

II.

Working Introduction: Quote or Question

A. I like to use quotes or questions when starting my papers
because they add interest. I am just not sure exactly which one
yet and I am not exactly sure what I want to start off with. Maybe
a quote or question from one of the books. I know Snape and
Dumbledore have a lot of good lines to chose from but this will
probably be the last thing I do before I turn my final paper in.

III.

Working Thesis: All throughout the Harry Potter series magic is

being performed, but why is this the reason Christian children are
banned from experiencing the books themselves.
A. My thesis is no where near complete. It definitely needs some
work. Im not even sure that a thesis can be a question.
However, this is the main point to my paper. It is my entire
argument and for now it is the best I could come up with.

IV.

Entry 1: Advise Column

A. I chose to do an advice column because they are very
opinionated, like in my opinion this is my advice to you. I think
this would be a good idea to use because I could start out by
giving my views and my opinions of my side of the argument.
Also I could advise Christian parents to give Harry Potter a
chance and back my reasons up with some of the sources I found
on why it is a good thing to read the books.

V.

Entry 2: Invitation

A. In this group, I think an invitation would be best because I could

create a fancy invitation with a catchy slogan inviting people to
give Harry Potter a chance. I could possibly create the invitation
as if I were showing the movies at my house and on the
invitation I could invite men and women of all ages. Also on the
invitation I would provide information for why I invited all age
groups.
VI.

Entry 3: Picture
A. I have not found an exact picture I want to use but I am thinking I
could create my own meme of Snape or Dumbledore. The meme
could be a picture of their heads with a funny look on their face
saying something to the effect of, you say you dont watch Harry
Potter because youre religious? Then have some other sarcastic
reply to the question on the bottom of the picture.

VII.

Entry 4: Survey
A. For this entry I want to create a survey on Facebook and ask my
friends to take it then share it. The more people that take the
survey, the more results I will have, and the better the data will
be. Then I will print out the survey itself and use this as my
source of data. Questions on this survey will range from, are you
a Christian, to do you believe in magic. Hopefully I will not get
bad feedback because I know this can be a touchy subject
sometimes, but maybe for class purposes, people will be kind.

VIII.

Entry 5: Biography
A. I chose this entry because I have a friend who is nineteen years
old and has never watched or read Harry Potter because his dad
is a pastor and forbade him to. Therefore, I plan on using his
story and contradict it with sources I have found researching this
topic.

IX.

Entry 6: Poem
A. I chose this source because I think it would be easy to come up
with a poem that persuades you to watch or read Harry Potter.
We use to have to make up poems in high school and it would
take me a few minutes to come up with something but I enjoyed
doing it. Hopefully this wont be much harder with a little thought
and effort put into it.

X.

Entry 7: Ad

A. Finally, I chose to end with an ad in order to try and sell you my

view point on the situation. Advertisement is the fundamentals of
the world we live in now. Every restaurant in the United States
has an ad about something they sell. Therefore, if I really want to
encourage adolescents to read Harry Potter, I should create an
ad that appeals to children. In the ad I would include the
characters and one scene or story to provoke the interest of the
child.

Andersen, Kara Lynn. Harry Potter and the Susceptible Child Audience.
Comparative Literature and Culture. 7.2 (2005): Web. 21 March 2016.
This source is from a student at Perdue University who wrote a paper on how
children react to books they read. The author believes that children can not
only understand the books but also engage in meaningful interaction with
the text. Proof of this would be how children draw pictures of the characters
they read about in stories. Another example would be how they can retell the
story to their friends at school. The assumption that children listen passively
and do not participate in the text is brought into question in this article. With
a few examples like I mentioned above the article quickly turns from opinion
to fact.
Espinoza, Javier. Religious Parents Want Harry Potter Banned from the
Classroom because it 'Glorifies Witchcraft'. Telegraph. Web. 24 February
2016.
I found this source by googling, religious parents opinion of harry potter.
As soon as I read the title I knew it would be perfect for my topic. It talks
about how some parents complain about the magic in the books because
they claim it is satanic. Then the teachers just have to tell them there is a
complete other story without all of the magic. Also the article talks a little
about how there are just as many Bible references as there are satanic
actions. The entire article talks about my argument of why parents do not
want their children read/watching Harry Potter.
Halford, Macy. Harry Potter and Religion. The New Yorker. 4 November
2010. Web. 28
February 2016.
This article is about the religion in Harry Potter. It says that the series may
have some satanic viewpoints such as magic, but it also has several religious
points. It also talks about how J.K. Rowling had to keep her personal religious
beliefs hidden for a while because people would have known, or guessed,
how Harry Potter ended. This source is a newspaper article from The New
Yorker. The publication is relevant because the content of the article is

relevant to my topic. One strength this article has is that talks about religion
based on what happened in the series and based on Rowlings thoughts.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Dir. David Yates. Perf. Daniel
Radcliffe, Emma
Watson, and Rupert Grint. Warner Brothers, 2011. DVD.
I chose this movie as a source because it has many Bible related analogies,
but it also has some satanic analogies. This movie is all about destroying
Voldemort and the obstacles Harry has to go through to accomplish his goals.
Ultimately, sacrificing himself in order to kill Voldemort or overcome evil.
Although, as the movie goes on, Harry comes back to life; which goes with
the good verses evil theme that is also featured in the Bible. One of the
ending scenes of Harry talking to Dumbledore is also related to the Bible
because it would be like that was Harrys Heaven.
Hill, Nathan. Harry Potter and Other Evils, or How to Read from the Right.
The Personalist Forum 15.2 (1999): 413423. Web. 21 March 2016.
This is a journal that I found on Jstor. At the beginning of the article the
author had never read any Harry Potter books and had hardly ever even
heard of them. After an experience in a book store he started to recognize
them more and gave the books a chance. Before reading he checked to
make sure it was right. He watched 700 Club and he looked at a sign on
the side of a road, both pointed him to scripture. The scripture he read did
not exactly say anything about witchcraft or wizardry. He agrees that there
are good and bad elements that make up the entire book but the overall
article never says that people should not read the books because of the
magic performed. We do still have to keep in mind that these are make
believe stories.
Jacobs, Cindy. Whats Wrong with Harry Potter. Charisma. Sept. 2015. Web.
24 February
2016.
This article is examples of why the series is bad to experience. The whole
article talks about how the magic featured in the story could effect your
everyday life. The article as a whole has some view convincing points, as it
should, but my argument is aside from the magic, the story within itself is a
reason to read the books or watch the movies. The article tells of how people
in this world chose to believe that the things they watch are real. For
example, the article tells of how Rowling gets mail from fans, with the letters
addressed to Hogwarts, explain why they should be able to attend school
there. Although it is a make believe story, people trick themselves into
thinking that the school is real and that they actually have a chance to get
in. Then after these examples it tells of certain people who actually had bad

things happen to them in which they chalk it up to believe it is because of

the books they read or the movies they watched.
Ostwalt, Conrad E. "The Bible, Religion, And Film In The Twenty-First Century."
Currents In
Biblical Research 12.1 (2013): 39-57. Academic Search Premier. Web.
22 Mar. 2016.
This is an academic journal that I found on the AUM Library website. They
entire article is a study done between the relationship of religion, the bible,
and movies. To keep the article more current, they are only including movies
in their study that were filmed in the year 2000 at the latest. The author is
trying to research the advancement of religion within movies to see if it
should be a subject on its own. Also the article provides some examples of
movies that relate to religion and the Bible along with some reviews of the
basic concept of the discussion itself.

Simmons, Leanne. "The Perils Of Shape Shifting: Harry Potter And Christian
Fundamentalism.
"Pastoral Psychology 62.1 (2013): 53-68. Academic Search Premier.
Web. 23 Mar.
2016.
I found this journal on AUMs Library Website by searching religion and
Harry Potter. I liked this one because it weighs the differences of the
influence witchcraft has on religion. I mostly got from the article that the
author thinks that religion parents blaming Harry Potter for their childs
witch-like behavior is projection. The child could have gotten these behaviors
from anywhere and the fact that they have to blame it on their children
reading a book or watching a movie is crazy, but she also believes there
needs to be regulations on the books. She believes that parents need to find
the thin line between what Harry Potter brings on and what is actually just
their personality.
Stetka, Bret. Why Everyone Should Read Harry Potter. Scientific American.
22 March 2016.
Web.
This article I found by googling similar key words as my topic. The title is self
explanatory as to why I should use this source, but I like it because it is not
opinion, but actual researched proof. This article does not really focus on the
religion aspect of Harry Potter, although it briefly mentions it, religion is not

the authors main point. This article mostly focuses on the research of how
different children who read are verses children who do not read. Studys
show that children who read fiction stories are smarter and are more well
behaved than children who do not. The author believes it is because of the
influence the book has on the child. When children are young they do not
have many friends so make believe stories are very influential. The author
thinks that reading Harry Potter is beneficial to children because the story
has a good moral concept.
Versnel, H.S.. Some Reflections on the Relationship Magic-Religion. Numen.
38.2 (1991): 177197. Web. 24 February 2016.
This source is a journal about the relationship between religion and magic.
There are all different kinds of religion and some are not as accepting to
magic as others. For example, Christians do not look kindly towards magic on
any level. However, paganism is all about witchcraft. This article basically
tells that neither magic or religion exist. It is what we make of it that exists.
There can be all different type of proven facts but if we chose not to believe
it then it does not exist in our day to day lives. It discusses the relationship
between magic and religion and not just the opinions of one person from
whatever side of the argument they chose, whether it is good or bad. It also
gives an understanding of magic outside of this one story and religion apart
from the one I chose.