Outrage?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by SpM

But this is effectively saying that those who do not have faith are incapable of making moral distinctions, which I simply cannot accept. In my view (and in my world) the perception of good and evil exists irrespective of the existence of, or any firm belief in, a God. Provided that the protagonists are using their powers in a way which is I consider to be good (as is the case in both LotR and Harry Potter's world), then it matters not to me whether its source is portrayed as divine or simply an innate ability or aptitude.

Indeed. People can be good without God and can be evil with God - that we believe or not does not make us good or evil. It is our actions which make us good or bad, and I find that reflected in the Harry Potter books. We simply cannot expect all books to have any supporting cosmology behind them as does LotR, and I don't think JK Rowling will supply one for the Harry Potter books. That one does not exist does not make the books wrong in any way, shape or form. The only potentially wrong thing (and this would not necessarily be wrong, depending on the maturity of the child) would be for a parent to use the books as babysitters, much as they do with TV, and not discuss them.

I also do not hold that evil comes from Satan. I do not believe in any such figure. In my opinion Evil comes from people, it is us who do wrong, and we have to accept that before we can deal with those evils. When someone mugs someone else it is not Satan who does it, but their need for drugs or kicks. Yes, we can say that maybe Satan caused someone to choose crime as an option, but that ignores many other concrete things such as deprivation, poor parenting, peer pressure etc etc.

If we start to think that all works which include witches, wizards, elves and suchlike must have a theological structure then where does it stop? Do we ban all fairy tales and nursery rhymes? The world would be so boring and colourless without them.