Not a Harry Potter story but many years ago we visited my wife's cousin in Ohio. There were three books in the house, the bible and two books explaining the bible. Cousin suggested that our daughter who was 10 at the time could watch a movie. The movie was ANNIE and we were not to worry because it was the censored version. WTF, what the hell's to censor in ANNIE. Short visit and never communicated with them again.

What is the most atheist state in the US?
If it is true, that 1/10 of the US population is atheistic, then you can occupy a state and claim it to be yours.

I was discussing the books with some colleagues at work and one of them said that under no circumstances would she read the books or let her child read the books because Jesus wouldn’t agree. I just looked at her and told her she was missing out on an incredible series of books. I also let her know that while the books did contain magic, the stories themselves were magical in how many people were actually reading them. I can’t tell you how many people that were self proclaimed “non-readers” started reading the Harry Potter series and then went on to read other series because they enjoyed the process.

To this day I remember getting the fourth book (the first doorstop-heavy one) in the series mailed to me at work. I was so excited, I opened it and kept it out on my desk to bring it home that night. One of my workmates, whom I considered a friend, came up to me and was genuinely appalled that I could read this book. She couldn’t fathom it as she thought I had the same values as she did, i.e. Christian. I just told her they were good books, and she should give them a try. I don’t think she ever reconciled my behavior with her ideas of “goodness”.

I actually think it is the term 'witch' is what sets the Christian right off. Both Harry Potter and Golden Compass have witch characters.

Magic, miracles? "Let's call the whole thing off."

Golden Compass was another one that stirred up controversy. The worst thing I can say about the movie is that it strayed woefully from the books, making any sequel impossible.

Remember the fuss about the DiVinci Code? That was also crazy

I had a student last year (sixth grade) who couldn't read Harry Potter or Percy Jackson and the Olympians. They were 7th Day Adventists, and the poor kid was distraught because she'd come to school and we'd give her all this freedom with books, the Internet, and SCIENCE, and then she'd go home and her parents were against everything she wanted to learn about and they wouldn't talk to her about school. Smart kid though, she'll get out of it as soon as she can. Not trying to undermine someone's religion, but I DID let her read some pretty heavy books in school (not my job to police her reading in a class where everyone has a choice!) and then she would just take home something else for reading homework, ha........

One can only hope the Magic School Bus will help them determine their own reading material.

I was a Sunday School teacher when the Harry Potter books came out. I called a meeting of interested parents to show them this was an opportunity to read to your child and discuss the difference between fiction and real stories. I did not point out that if you watch Wizard of Oz with your kids you should be ok with HP. They looked at me like I was the corrupter of children.

This is more about control than anything else. Limiting freedom of choice of the individual is paramount to keeping control over them. With children this is even more important, before they can start to question and think independently their individuality and curiosity has to be curtailed.

As much as we all may hate this, as long as they are not (breaking) the law, their kids their rules.

Because it's not their fiction. Anybody else's fiction might lure you away from the "TRUTH".

My niece and nephew were not allowed to watch or read Harry Potter for the same Christian reasoning.