Megapopular Harry Potter books fuel debate over the supernatural

 EUGENE STOCKSTILL 
 THE SUN HERALD 

 Age 1. Harry Potter survives an attack by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who kills Harry's parents but leaves only a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on the infant's forehead. 

 Age 10. Harry learns he's a wizard, too. 

 Age 11. He's learning to fly on broomsticks and regrow disappearing bones in a day at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 

 And he never even asked for all this attention. 

 Welcome to the wacky world of mainstream witchcraft, where the way-out adventures of a nerdy, skinny,
 spectacled 14-year-old are driving a debate on the pros, cons and inbetweens of the supernatural realms. The
 fourth Harry Potter book in a planned seven-part series came out last month. 

 "Every fairy tale I read as a child had some form of evil," says Michelle Simpkins, a self-described evangelical
 Christian, wife and mother of three whose 13-year-old daughter is devouring the Harry Potter books. "I think
 (evil) exists, and I think that as long as my child knows that this is entertainment . . . that's where the distinction comes. I felt like it was OK for my children to read it." 

 Wunderkind Harry joins a long list of books that have blended spirituality, fantasy and adventure to spin yarns
 and teach moral lessons:

   Stephen R. Donaldson wrote the six-part "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever" to tell
 the story of an outcast with a terminal illness who discovers a world "where gentle people work magic . . .
 and the very earth and air bring healing." 

   Lewis' Carroll's nonsensical "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass and What
 Alice Found There" made readers consider that there's more to life than what appears. 

   J.R.R. Tolkien created a prehistoric universe, Middle Earth, that he used to tell a massive epic that echoed the biblical themes of his Catholic faith. 

   C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" recast much of the story of Scripture as fantasy literature. 

 Each in its way tapped into interest in what may be beyond the physical universe, and so does Harry. 

 Like magic, his books disappear from bookshelves. 

 The controversy doesn't. 

 "What this is saying is that it's OK to use evil to fight evil if your intent is for self-gain," according to a critique of the books by Family Village USA ministries, a Christian group, which cites witchcraft, reincarnation and
 communication with the dead as some of the Harry Potter series' dangerous themes. "That is a cardinal doctrine of Satanism and will lead you to believe that you can control the use of evil. The truth is that Satan (in the real world) loves to deceive people into thinking that so he can pull them deeper into his world to ultimately destroy them." 

 Scare tactics, wrote popular children's author Judy Blume in a piece published last year in The New York Times. 

 "According to certain adults, these stories teach witchcraft, sorcery and Satanism," Blume wrote. "But hey, if it's not one 'ism,' it's another. I mean, Madeleine L'Engle's 'A Wrinkle in Time' has been targeted for censors for promoting New Ageism, and Mark Twain's 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' for promoting racism. Gee, where does that leave the kids?"