Yeah, what
HerenIstarion and
Lush said.
(How's that for intellectual argument.
)
Just to sum up. If a Christian God exists in HP's world, then HP's magical powers are derived from him and it cannot therefore be sinful to use them in the pursuit of good (just as in Middle-earth). If, on the other hand, a Christian God does not exist in HP's world then neither does Satan and therefore HP's powers cannot be satanic.
And so we come to the question of whether HP can be condemned on the basis that it might seduce children into satanic practices. I am convinced that it holds no such danger, for the reasons that
HerenIstanion has given. Admittedly, it might engender an interest in mysticism and occultism. But these in themselves are not evil, nor will they cause someone who takes an interest in them to become evil. Someone who is predisposed towards wrongful behaviour might try to use them for malicious ends. But then they would have pursued such ends whether they had an interest in the occult or not. This comes back to my point that it is not the knowledge in itself that is good or evil, but the end to which you put it.
In my youth, having read LotR, I subsequently became interested in the RPG Dungeons & Dragons (itself condemned in some quarters as satanic). And thereafter, I became interested in the occult. But I never became a satanist. And I like to think that I have a pretty christian (small 'c') outlook on life. Maybe I would have developed those interests without having read LotR, but it definately sparked these things off for me. Which is why I believe that you cannot condemn HP without also condemning LotR, and indeed any form of art which involves magic (in the loose sense of the word) and mythical creatures. And I firmly believe that there is no call to condemn any of these things.
A few additional comments:
I looked up a few words in my Concise Oxford English Dictionary:
witchcraft n. the use of magic; sorcery.
sorceror n. (
fem sorceress) a person who claims to use magic powers; a magician or wizard.
sorcerous adj. sorcery n.
wizard n. 1 a sorceror; a magician.
2 a person of remarkable powers, a genius.
3 a conjurer.
magician n. 1 a person skilled in or practising magic.
2 a conjuror.
3 a person with exceptional skill.
magic n. 1 the supposed art of influencing the course of events by the occult control of nature or the spirits.
2 conjuring tricks.
3 an inexplicable or remarkable influence producing surprising results.
4 an enchanting quality or phenomenon.
No mention of evil. The definition depends upon the standpoint of the source.
And
Theron, you are right that things are relatively "black and white" in Tolkien's works. Those that act evilly are acting under Morgoth's influence. And, in doing so, they may derive their immediate power from Morgoth, but his power was originally derived from Eru. So all power in Middle-earth is ultimately sourced from Eru. As I have said, it is, in my view, the use to which that power is put that defines whether a character is good or evil (at any given time), not the power itself.