Thanks Theron Bugtussle!
HerenIstarion, you're probably right. Now I think I'll have to drop my original argument.
The main point of my original argument was that the magic in HP comes from the Devil, but yes, it is stated in the HP books that being a wizard is an inate characteristic, not a choice (although the witches and wizards do go to school to enhance their powers). If we look at that statement as we were looking at it previously (that HP is set in our modern day world in which God exists) we hit a discrepancy. Why would God create a being who had no free will to choose against a sin which He clearly condemns (for the Bible would certainly exist in HP if it was set in our modern day world in which God exists)? God could not do such a thing since it is completely against his character. Therefore it would be logical to conclude that God and the Devil do not exist in HP's world, so HP characters could not draw their powers from either of them. HP would have its own world, with its own rules created by Rowling. If looked at from this perspective, the only problem Christians might possibly have with the books themselves is that they come from an Atheistic world view.
My origianal argument is one easily made, and commonly held by Christians. Perhaps it is not a good argument. But I still think that Christians' rejection of HP (while accepting LotR) is perfectly justified by other reasons.
LotR has an obviosly Christian world view and there isn't really anything we disagree with. The Professor himself said
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With regard to the Lord of the Rings... I actually intended it to be consonant with Christian thought and belief, which is asserted elsewhere.
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As I said above, HP could be considered to take place in its own world with different rules from ours, but its magic does have a strong resemblance to occultic practices (though it may not mirror them exactly). There's astrology, divination, spell-casting, and a whole lot more occultic resemblances that are similar to our world's witchcraft (which Christians believe to be evil, as I have said before). These occultic resemblances are made to look fun and appealing, and the books are geared toward young children who don't know any better. Check out these real-life quotes taken out of Richard Abanes' book "Harry Potter and the Bible" (yup, I've started researching about this.)
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I like what they learned there and I want to be a witch (Gioia Bishop, 10 years old)
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This book is amazing and contains magic spells I wish I can do in the real world. (Wang Wen, 12 years old)
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This book made me want to go to Hogwarts. Hogwarts is a school for teaching magic. I would like to learn magic, but I haven't got my letter of invitation yet. (amazon.co.uk post, age unknown)
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Where do you think these kids might turn when they find out Hogwarts doesn't exist? Where will they go to satisfy their desire to perform magic like Harry and co.? HP has a dangerous potential to draw kids into real-life occultic practices. Christians are against that.
But remember, not all Christians see a problem with Harry, and not all Christians agree with me either.
So there's my revised edition, folks.
The 'Shroom