The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #42464   Message #617279
Posted By: GUEST
27-Dec-01 - 05:55 PM
Thread Name: BS: Religious conserv. prefer Frodo to Harry
Subject: RE: BS: Religious conserv. prefer Frodo to Harry
I don't think the current fundamentalist backlash against Harry Potter has anything to do with transubstantiation or the Real Presence/consubstantiation or any other Reformation-era doctrines (which aren't facts, BTW, they are just doctrines).

I think it has much more to do, in the case of the Protestant fundamentalists who seem to be leading the charge this time, with religious doctrine related to superstition.

The battle launched by the protestant reformers against 'superstition' indicated much of what was central to their preoccupations. Following St Augustine (and medieval theologians) they defined superstition as not merely the credulous notions of the unlearned but the dangerous worship of false gods. The latter extended to idolatry, divination, sorcery and magic.

Now, that isn't the same doctrine used by the Catholics to flush out heretics during the Inquisition, but the effect was pretty much the same, if you were one of those who stood accused. Both Protestant and Catholic countries persecuted with equal zealotry, after all.