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So is the Liberty Council trying to force a feel-good issue with their conservative constituents or are they so out of touch with the actual circumstances of the event that they went on a “witch hunt”? Other alternatives are welcome.
MR
I think they’re just doing their jobs.
What is liberty, after all, than threatening the use of government intervention to restrict and control the right and power to act in a manner of one’s own choosing?
Oh, man. I’m gonna get killed for that.
Seperation of church and state. Mwa ha ha ha.
Marc
I see it more of a matter of anal semantics. The “Liberty Council” seems to hold fast to the notion that “witchcraft” can describe one and only one institution. In the case of these Harry Potter certificates, it’s a reference to the stories, not any organized religion.
The intent of the Harry Potter series of books is to encourage children’s imagination, to make reading a more acceptable mainstream activity for a generation with a lot of other options and to re-introduce that sense of wonderment that childhood used to have. There is not one negative aspect to this phenomenon, IMHO.
Quite where religion enters the picture I don’t know. This certificate is surely (in its true context) simply a reward and acknowledgement of a considerable reading achievement. If this is acceptable what’s next: The Lion, The Bitch and The Wardrobe, Bedknobs and Vacuuming, cancelling Bewitched re-runs ?
The intent of this guy and his ‘Liberty Council’ can only be guessed at but as he / they are primarily political animals it might be reasonable to suppose furthering his / their own political agenda and raising the profile might not be too far from reality. Great timing – when’s the election and how’s George W doing ?
The guy has found a nice angle on the kids flavour of the month just weeks before the election.- who gives a damn about rewarding and encouraging kids when personal ambition can be furthered with one highly publicised letter ?
But heck, what do I know. I’m only an impartial observer from the land of Harry Potter, witchcraft and “The Land of tea-drinking nancy-boy wankers”
What is organized religion aside from a series of stories? I’m depressed to admit it, but I probably don’t disagree with their decision. Wicca is an actual religion, after all. Imagine if they were handing out “Certificates of Scientology” to whatever unfortunate schmucks finished reading Dianetics.
Just change it to “Certificate of Sorcery” and everyone goes home happy 
Wrong. Organized religion is a series of stories that’s also officially recognized by the gov’t as an “organized religion”. 
If you’ll read the Harry Potter web page at http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_pott.htm, you’ll find the following quote:
It’s ridiculous to claim that Harry Potter is promoting the Wiccan religion just because it includes the theme of “witchcraft.” Ask any Wiccan and they’ll tell you that their idea of magic is NOTHING like Harry Potter’s. Harry Potter is purely a FICTIONAL creation with no connection to any real world belief system. This would be like claiming that Dungeons and Dragons promotes the Catholic religion because D&D clerics use holy water.
Newsflash! Elementary schools ban the production of the play “The Wizard of Oz”, since it clearly endorses witchcraft through the characters of The Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North!
Shakespear also banned because it contains thees and thous like in the bible… organized religion!!!
Thought I’d provide a link to the Liberty Counsel web site; it ought to be good for a chuckle or two.
Here we have another case of wooly thinking in public office.
Ahem. Witchcraft is the practice of manipulating physical things in the hope or belief of causing effects through the use of a supposed power which the practitioner does not rationally understand. As such, it is NOT a religion, but rather a style of practice which may or may not have any basis in the practitioner’s religious beliefs.
Wicca, however, is a religion, as are many other animisitic belief systems. But believing as a Wiccan does would not make a person a witch, any more than knowing that shorter strings produce higher tones makes a person Andres Segovia.
As such there is no merit in the protest of the Liberty Counsel, as their protest is based upon witchcraft being a religion, which it is not. Their issuance of the witchcraft certificates, however ill-advised, would not change a single one of those children into witches.
I am sorry to read that the library knuckled under to the pressure of another under-informed religious zealot with a political agenda.
I’m assuming Ravendriver is talking about the Liberty Council in the above quote. However, on their web site (on the ‘About Us’ page), the first paragraph begins:
“Liberty Counsel is a nonprofit religious civil liberties education and legal defense organization dedicated to preserve religious freedom.”
I’m a little confused. Could someone please clarify the American definition of “public office” as I’d be interested to know if we have a different understanding of the term ?
(In the UK "public office would mean elected and funded by public money)
Yup; that’s what it’s s’posed to mean in the States, too.
What do you think of this?
http://www.foxnews.com/xml/juno/juno.htm?content=/national/082900/biblestory.sml
Kid want to tell a story. So what if he is a Bible thumper? The Bible contains a lot of good stories, covering all bases possible. I see no problem of him telling his. If he is prohibited to do so then the excision of religion and spirituality from schools has gone too far.
Exactly,
Is the separation of church and state really supposed to remove all literature, ideas and individual expression related to deity? Give me a break, that’s damn freekn loopy.
For some good readin, this letter written to someone affiliated with the Liberty Council who complained about the “ministry for ex-gays” being treated as a joke on Will & Grace.
Cite?
