The DaVinci Code and the Harry Potter books have stirred up their share of controversy, but which one are Christian fundamentalists more concerned with?
Initial Hypothesis: The DaVinci Code will incite a more intense response among Christians than Harry Potter. Why? Surely it must; I don't even know why we need an experiment.
Materials: Christians, reason, mix and see it explode.
Methods: 1. Randomly bring up the DaVinci Code or Harry Potter at variable instances in conversations with known Christians. Test conversations were preferably not of religious matter prior to mention of either book. Each book was introduced at a separate instance, to ensure equal consideration of each, and so that the reaction to one book was its own, and did not simply build off the previous mention of the other. 2. Gauge intensity and nature of the response, particularly canned or learned reactions to each title.
Conclusions: Amongst the sample population, the answer was a resounding Harry Potter. Somehow, Christians can wrap their brain around the fact that Dan Brown wrote a novel, but not that JK Rowling also writes novels. This result suprised me greatly, as I had hypothesized that The DaVinci Code, the very nature of which directly challenges not just age-old Catholic doctrine, but all of the Christian Church, would elicit a greater response from Christians. For one thing, the reason people tend to want to make The DaVinci Code factual is that it is not completely made up, and is grounded in historical fact, including organizations and people who really existed within the church, and events that really took place. Harry Potter, on the other hand, cannot be so easily mistaken for a true story, even by a child or a Christian, though Rowling did investigate the rituals and beliefs of real Wiccan and witchraft practioners in order to help create the fantasy world of Harry Potter. Given this, if I was trying to protect Christian doctrine and beliefs, I would be more concerned with the book that directly discusses those issues and challenges them with a mix of tale-spinning and historical fact, rather than a work of pure fantasy that never even mentions, let alone challenges, Christianity. But Christians have never been known for logic. Apparently Harry Potter is perceived as the bigger threat because it has to do with witchcraft and magic, despite the fact that common Western morality and good works are consistently promoted, and none of the characters is ever cited as being an atheist or Satanist or anything of the like. It may be that because Harry Potter books are marketed towards children, that Christians think the youth are being manipulated, but children have a greater threshold for fantasy than anybody, and hear enough fairy tales to know when they are being told a fairy tale, and that includes Noah's Ark. And even if they don't make any distinction, then they won't distinguish Christian fairy tales from Harry Potter, and can easily accept both as being equally true or false. The Davinci Code, on the other hand, is marketed toward adults and more specifically, those interested in church history (how many people read Killer Angels for fun who weren't Civil War buffs), and these people should know the difference between fiction and reality, but there are still a lot of Christians in the world. But based on the sample, they themselves refuse to read or watch Harry Potter, not just keep children away from it. Are they afraid of it? Are they afraid they'll turn into a witch or something if they read it, just like they turned into a Christian when they heard somebody read from the Bible. Books don't make people's faith, they can only strengthen what's already there. But in the case of Harry Potter, it's not even about that at all. You read DaVinci Code and knew it was fiction, what's wrong with Harry Potter? Or what's wrong with you? Not being interested in the genre, or the fact that it's a children's series (which it's really not), those are half-way legitimate excuses, but flat-out refusing to even talk about it for the sole reason that it has to do with magic and witchcraft just makes you look like you're ignorant and scared. But I guess if stories out of the Bible were enough to make you a Christian, I could give you the Koran and you'd be a Muslim tomorrow, or the Book of Mormon, or turn you into whatever I wanted if I got the right text. If a little kiddie book scares you enough that you won't even pick it up, let's hope you never run into any preachers, politicians, or salesmen, or you'll never have an opinion of your own.
Are these people insane, and not representative of the whole Christian population? Or insane and representative? But the question remains, why is Harry Potter a bigger perceived threat than The DaVinci Code to anyone, even if it is just this sample?
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