I suppose, though, that it might be good to take a look at the issue from the other side. Are the people who protest Harry Potter really the self-righteous bigots we think they are, or could it be that they are tryly afraid of the aspect of the books that they term "occult"? If people are truly afraid of something, do we have an obligation to respect that fear, or at least to accommodate it in some way?

I have a fear of my children being exposed to fundamentalist teaching, and I expect the fundamentalists to accommodate my fear and not expose my kids to their teachings in school. How about the opposite? How do we live peacefully in a society where so many people are so sensitive about so many different things?

-Joe Offer-