HOUSTON, TX -- 07/25/07 --
ChristiaNet.com (
http://www.christianet.com),
the world's largest Christian portal with twelve million monthly page
loads, conducted a new poll by asking the question, "Is reading Harry
Potter books a sin?" The participants were given three choices; "Yes," "No"
and "Unsure." Bill Cooper, President of ChristiaNet, says, "Christians need
to be prepared to protect their children from evil being passed off as an
acceptable form of entertainment."
Out of 3,126 participants, 41% responded "No" to the poll question. Most in
this group felt the Harry Potter books were merely fictional stories about
good versus evil read only for entertainment. As one reader stated, "It's
no more a sin than reading other fantasy literatures." Many compared the
books to stories such as "Lord of the Rings" or "The Chronicles of Narnia"
where the use of magic and sorcery exists. Others acknowledged that
witchcraft is a sin, but as long as the reader was not reading for the
purpose of acting out the principles of witchcraft then reading the books
would not be considered sinful.
Because the books encourage witchcraft and expose the occult to its young
readers, thirty-five percent of those polled felt reading Harry Potter
books is a sin. Many Believers expressed their concerns with comments like
"The Bible says that witchcraft is a sin." While others quoted Scriptures
like 1 Thessalonians 5:22 that states, "Abstain from all appearance of
evil." Some in this group were extremely animated in their responses such
as "Harry Potter is one of the vilest pieces of literature unleashed on our
children today."
The remaining 24% of the Christians polled were "Unsure" if reading such
books is a sin. The majority of them were not familiar with the Harry
Potter books; either had never heard of the series or just had no
motivation to read them. The rest of the "Unsure" group leaned toward it
not being a sin with comments like "It's just entertainment" and "If God
convicts you, then it's a sin for you." With almost two-thirds of the
Christians polled believing it's okay to participate in entertainment that
does not glorify God, ChristiaNet asks the question: "Are Christians really
any different than non-Believers?"
To expose different types of sinful entertainment, ChristiaNet has just
released a series of Free Entertainment Tracts
(http://www.christianet.com/christianecards/entertainmenttracts/index.htm).
Contact:
ChristiaNet, Inc.
281-465-9533
