Christianity Vrs. Fictional/Fantasy Characters.

Isn't that kind if the same logic as saying going to a gay bar will "make" you gay?
I understand the importance of shielding ones self against "evil," but a cartoon or a movie? That's ridiculous!

L.,

I'm a Christian. I believe in God. I believe in Heaven. I believe in Angels. I believe in the Power of Prayer.

My boys have read the Harry Potter books and watched the movies. That's what they are MOVIES. Fiction. Why do I allow my kids to watch and read? Because I believe in giving them opportunity to learn and experience new things....it helps them understand the world around them...

IMAGINATION is a wonderful thing!!! Don't hold your unborn baby back before she's even born!! Age appropriate things....Harry Potter is NOT for babies...it's for people 7+ and up...and yes...people have allowed younger to watch...

Tell your "friend" to pound sand!! you are NOT encouraging your daughter to worship false gods or anything else..come on...get over it!!

I think whoever told you that fairy tales and Harry Potter are going to ruin your kid for God needs to kindly *butt out*.

I grew up enjoying fairy tales, Disney movies about witches, etc etc. That is not the reason I am no longer a Christian, I can assure you.

Maybe the true thing to fear isn't an active imagination, but a lack of critical thinking skills on the part of the person who is imposing their (unsupported, undocumented as doing anything of the sort) fear about these things onto your unborn child. THAT sort of ill logic, to me, is far more concerning than any 'magic' messages. Furthermore, want to be 'concerned' about some aspect of media for the future child? Try the blatant commercialism and HOW they market stuff to kids. That is actually, real and documented. Can't say that backsliding due to Grimm's Fairy Tales *ever* was......

ETA: Wow... I did not walk out of the Lego movie thinking it was about giving the proverbial finger to God... I did, however, get tired of hearing the "Everything is Awesome" song sung repeatedly at the top of my son's lungs. Are you saying that was the devil at work?

oh my. I hope that you do instill imagination into your child. Imagaination is a wonderful thing.
I am catholic, my children go to catholic school and Harry Potter is not frowned upon but encouraged because it talks of true friendship, the power of good and so forth.
I think you friend is nuts, sorry.

Many blessings to you

ETA: about the Lego movie, I am wondering if the poster actually saw the movie because at the end it was about a father and son connecting again where they had lost touch with each other. About how the son viewed the world one way and his father another. It was actually a good message.
Just a thought.

Personally, I think the Bible is the biggest work of fiction I have ever read!
And that religion, as a whole, is just one big contest over whose imaginary friend is the coolest.

But, that's just me.

I wonder why your friend's beliefs possibly trump your beliefs? Is she sort of a female goddess to you and you believe her without doubt or question?

Isn't that the exact predicament she is warning you against? That you should not listen and expose yourself to bad influences in this world, but oh, you should indeed listen and adhere to her every word?

Is she a trained spiritual mentor, whom you have placed on a pedestal? Whose understanding far exceeds yours? I would recommend you be very leary of this kind of mentoring in your life, and especially role modeling that to your unborn child.

Everyone has a right to believe what they believe and act accordingly.

I do not believe anyone has the right to tell me what I should be doing... I would kindly tell them to butt out of my decisions.

My feelings are that some people are wound up so tightly they don't see reality. I am Christian, I do not go to church regularly because of all the hypocrisy I see there. I grew up enjoying all types of movies, Santa, etc and never idolized them. My daughter loves the Harry Potter series as well as other series that some may deem as bad.

You have to have a balance in life and not be wound up so tightly that you can't live life.

I consider gods (including Jahweh) to be just as fictional as Harry Potter or Tinkerbell.
When it comes to religion, children generally believe what you tell them until they are old enough to think critically about such things, then they reach their own conclusions and either continue to believe in your god, discover another religion that makes more sense to them, or find that no religion makes sense to them. When they reach the point of being able to decide for themselves, you can't do anything to change that.
My parents raised us Christian. We saw all the Disney movies growing up and our choices of reading material and music were never censored.
I am now atheist, my sister is still Christian. Same parents, same upbringing, same media, different outcomes.

I'm not a christian so I view fairy tales and the stories in the Bible as one and the same.

I think most people are able to distinguish between a tale of fantasy and true life. Not much risk that your child is going to be an adult who thinks Tinkerbell is alive and fliting around some real place called Neverland.

My thoughts are ignore this person.

When I was a kid, Star Wars was the big hit, and there were similar concerns echoed about kids worshiping "The Force" rather than God. Unfounded. I am a HUGE Star Wars fan, but I know that it's all allegory, as is "The Lord of the Rings" (written by a VERY Christian author--Tolkien).

The bottom line for all of these tales is the struggle between Good and Evil, which, when you think about it, is the crux of what the Bible is all about too. I do know a few people who wouldn't let their kids read/watch "Harry Potter," and accuse its author of being a witch, but I haven't seen any evidence of kids embracing the occult due to it.

ETA: Wow, if fairies are off limits to some of you, I'd hate to see what you'd do if you watched "Game of Thrones," even without the nudity. Your heads would explode by the gray area and ideas of magic and who is and is not a good person.

My husband and I were both raised Christian. He is now Agnostic, and I believe in everything (Christ, God, Buddha, Paganism, Greek Mythology, etc.) Our 4 year old daughter attends a wonderful Christian Mother's Day Out program. We love all fairy tales in our house from Snow White to Star Wars. My point is, everyone needs something to believe in. Children do outgrow believing in fairy tales, but they never outgrow that sense of wonder and amazement. The same amazement that helps them hold on to their religious faith when life makes it difficult. I say expose your kids to as many amazing, unbelievable things as you can, so they will know how to believe when it matters most.

I believe I have a pretty firm Christian foundation and raise my child the same way. In our case, I think because we know what we believe, we understand that fantasy and fairy tales are just that, and they're entertainment and not a belief system. So we love The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Star Wars because they're entertaining and still show good triumphing over evil. We have only watched the first two Harry Potter movies, and I think they're a little scarier than the LOTR movies, so we may finish them as my son gets older. But like others have said here, I don't see tons of kids turning to the occult because of Harry Potter movies. Overall, I think one's entertainment choices are just like one's religious or political views -- personal, and your friends should keep their noses out of it...

I believe that people need to learn to separate their religion from something that is clearly make believe. People should be able to read a book like Harry Potter or watch a movie about Tinkerbell without thinking that all witchcraft and wizardry and fantasy means they will stray from God. Seriously, to me, that is a ridiculous theory.

Anyone who 100% wholeheartedly believes the Bible and thinks EVERYTHING in it is absolute truth is already living in a fantasy world. If she can believe that Noah REALLY rounded up two of each animal and sailed on a boat for 40 days to make sure all the different species survived, she can believe that a little fairy dust will make people fly. It's one thing to use the Bible as a guide for living a good life; it's another to think that the Bible is 100% real and therefore all other fantasy is anti-Christian.

I grew up Catholic, but I am now an atheist. I minored in Theology in college, so I am well-versed on most aspects of Christianity. My children have read the Harry Potter books (and have seen the movies), and they have read many of the Bible stories (and have seen the movies - we just watched The Ten Commandments last week). To us, neither one is more (or less) valid culturally. There is a long tradition in Ireland of believing in magic; my Irish Catholic grandmother who went to mass daily went to her grave believing fairies are real. Who am I to say which belief system is more real or enduring? And why can't they coexist?

In any event, although we don't actually believe in any of it in our household, we still study all of it, and are open to all of it. I don't see how believing in magic can make you a bad person. In fact, I think most kids benefit from believing there's something bigger than themselves out there, whether that's magic, or god, or Tinkerbell. Some people need that belief their whole lives, and find tremendous comfort in prayer, or reading Harry Potter and losing themselves in the story for a while, and there is nothing wrong with that. I think being too strict about any belief system can be problematic, because it keeps you from being open to new ideas and experiences.

Just as God is a completely separate entity from any other gods, so is the Holy Bible from any other books and movies.

Don't fall for the temptation to shelter your children from the world. Not everything in the world is bad, as full of sin and willfulness as it is. You can't keep your children apart from the world if you want them to be defenders of the faith. They have to know how to defend their faith and in order to do that they have to know what their up against spiritually. What a great lesson to teach them reality (the Bible) vs fantasy (Harry Potter etc etc) and allow them to enjoy great literature in the process.

If you raise your children to know there is no comparison and to know the difference in the ultimate storyline, then they'll recognize fantasy (Harry Potter stories and the like) from the real (the Gospel).

When its all said and done, its people's real relationship with the One True God that proves them Godly or ungodly- not how they live, not what they believe, not what they read and certainly not what they imagine from fairy tales.

I life without imagination is a life not worth living. Without imagination, God is an impossibility, dreaming up ways of changing the world is impossible, there is no music, there is no art, there is no drama or comedy. You have to imagine possibilities before you create realities.

I believe in god. My children attended a catholic grade school thru grade 8 with the exception of the youngest one. The classes were some taught by nuns. The Harry Potter books were in the school library because they were allowed. They were allowed because it was very clear they were fiction. make believe. Not real. My priest went to all the harry potter movies. he loved them. But said they were very clearly make believe. As long as kids have a strong foundation of their faith and it is made clear to them that those thngs are make believe then there is no harm.

I think your friend is nuts. Are they also going to ban all tv? thinkgs like mickey mouse and donald duck? animals don't talk. I just think some people take things to far.

As an aside to the above. I think stories like Harry Potter are wonderful when read to or by the appropriate age group. The first Harry Potter Book came out when my son was in 5th grade. the next one the year after. I think kids in the right age group it is fine. I don't think a 6 year old should be reading and or force read harry potter books or the like. just because a child can read the words doesn't mean they are ready for the content.

We have Faith, we believe in God. My husband and I have been raised in faith and we are raising our kids with the same beliefs. We do read Harry Potter , Lord of the Ring and Star Wars series; we do read many fiction books . Our kids love dressing up for Halloween and get treats. The little one still believes there is a Santa (a God's friend who gives presents to kids for Christmas) and the Bunny Easter. They do know how to separate Faith from mythology, fantasy and fictional characters. We just enjoy the magic of it all together. We enjoy fantasy and fiction books and we teach our children how all these are different things from God. This is, in my opinion, a matter of common sense.

I have a whole slew of fundamentalist Christian relatives who don't do Harry Potter or Magic or Santa or Easter Bunny or Halloween etc. It's against their beliefs. I think among many reasons is that they don't want their kids to idolize such things and devote time and mental energy to things that are not Godly, and a certain amount of fiction may provoke doubts and questions that could set the kids off course. They do allow C.S Lewis and J.R Tolkien though since they were Christians, which surprises me with all the wizards and stuff... They don't teach about or validate the beliefs of other religions either because learning the myths and stories embedded in other cultures may cast doubt on all the bible stories...I'm guessing, I don't really know. You may want to ask this on a Christian site to get more answers from Christians who hold the beliefs you are talking about. Meanwhile, don't sweat the relatives/friends who don't agree with what you read and do. I have them too. Just lovingly ignore the advice to censor what you don't believe needs to be censored. But don't expect to convince them why all our fiction is so valuable. The two sides must agree to disagree in order to accept each other on this. I've learned. Our cousins who never read those books and watch those movies are still extremely creative and imaginative. More so than some kids who have read everything and seen everything popular. External material does not the interior creative soul make.

I think there needs to be a balance, stressing your family's beliefs. Also stressing that fairytales, harry potter, etc are fanasty. Kids need to use their imagionations and understand the difference between reality and fiction.

Fairy tales are older than Disney. In truth, fairy tales are older than Christ (although they were written down more recently). They are lessons, just like the bible is filled with parables for us to learn from (Jonah and the Whale for example). I don't really see what some Christians object to in Harry Potter. It is a wonderful series of books. The Chronicles of Narnia is also a wonderful series and it was written by CS Lewis, a very serious scholar of Christianity. Since your child is not yet born, you have quite a while before you need to think about this.

Now - there are some other issues with fairy tales that may be worth considering. They are (generally) graphically violent and full of gender stereotypes. They are products of their times. The Disney versions - they are filled with gender stereotypes (although some of the more recent ones are a little better) and extremely large headed anorexic heroines (way worse than Barbie). Plus there is the commercial, advertising aspect. But god - don't see that as a problem.

no problem with any of it. as liberal catholics, we believe in God, and pray to God (usually when we are in a need). I also believe (and so does my husband) that bible was written by men, so who knows what's true and what's not. universally, we take the bible with a grain of salt. i dealt with this very topic at the beginning of the year when my kids were studying for religion test. The first story was about adam and eve, and their question to me was:
so if adam wasn't hurt, God would have not taken a rib from him to make eve so she can take care of him?
i thought they misunderstood the story, read the 'kid' version, and was shocked. closed the 'religion' book and told them, that book was written by a man, and that we don't know who was created first and why. and that they can read and study the stories but to look at them as fairy tales.
as to harry potter, fairies, disney etc. part of childhood. no problem with them at all, and love that my kids have huge imagination.

The life of imagination is the very stuff of creation.

I believe in God and believe you can read and learn about other things and still hold your belief [insert belief].

However, I am afraid of messing with a weegie board (sp) and I don't watch ghost encounters of a second kind.

I remember in high school, we had a teacher who provided a reading book for the class. I brought the book home and never got to read it. My mother called the school and I was told by the teacher I had to do "other" work because my mother doesn't want me reading the material the rest of the class was reading. My mother was offended by the material that was put out and the teacher was offended by whatever my mother said.

However, I did have visits from Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. Later, my mother decided Halloween was out of the question and out of her house. To this day, she turns off her lights and doesn't distribute treats.

As well, I have an Atheist friend who did not allow her daughter to watch any of the Disney fairy/princess movies. This was a single parent who said there is no such thing as Prince Charming, so why teach them that.

It is your (parents) choice and decision to teach your child what you want. When someone teaches my child something I don't believe in, I just tell her my views later.

Imagination is what makes the world go round. Without imagination nothing would ever be invented, medical research would stagnate and stop, buildings would never be designed then built. Nothing would be going on in our world.

Fairy tales and Harry Potter teach us morals, morays, traditions, and more by using a media we can relate to and accept more easily.

Really, Star Wars vs Harry Potter. Both about friendship overcoming evil, caring about others, making the right choice even if it costs us dearly, and standing by our family and friends even when everyone else is taken a different side.

It's all about good choices and not so good choices, chose the right path and the end game will come about and you'll be a winner.