Through books about Harry Potter, “the society is again being penetrated by forces that Christianity has already overcome” and which want to destroy “a distance towards magic and occultism” among younger generations, claims the analysis which university student chaplain Damir Stojić offered in response to the question of whether reading such books is a sin. The discussion took place at the bitno.net website, and Stojić quoted some of the thoughts by German sociologist Gabriele Kuby, whose books about contemporary social trends and cultural phenomena have apparently impressed him, reports Telegram.hr on April 25, 2019.
Stojić responded to a reader who was concerned about the adverse consequences of the books about the young wizard. He quoted ten points with which Kuby allegedly proves that Harry Potter is harmful. Stojić mentions “the closed world of violence and horror, of curses and enchanting, of racist ideology, blood victims, abhorrence and obsession.” According to the original author and Stojić, the divine symbols are perverted in these books, and the human world is degraded in favour of witches and wizards. They also quote many other adverse consequences of reading one of the most popular series of books aimed at young readers that emerged in the last several decades.
After supporting his views with Mrs Kuby’s arguments, Stojić admits that there are positive things in the Harry Potter books as well, but he insists that what prevails is “sympathising with the occult, the denial of faith, and the relativisation of morals.” Not all books of this kind are harmful, the student chaplain admits, and praises some other fantasy worlds, such as “Narnia” and “Lord of the Rings”, which are “in line with the Christian worldview.” However, one should be cautious with such books, video games and other media that convey similar messages, claims Stojić, and introducing these books into schools cannot be tolerated. Moreover, parents should refuse to allow their children to be exposed to Harry Potter.
By launching his crusade against Harry Potter, Stojić has temporarily abandoned his struggle against pornography and the immorality, which were lately the main topics of his efforts. For example, in one lecture to students, he told an anecdote about a woman who had permanently lost her period after she caught her father watching pornography. In the second part of the lecture, he shared a lesson with women in the audience, telling them that they should dress more modestly because that is apparently exactly what men want.
Translated from Telegram.hr (reported by Vedran Vrabec).
More news about the Catholic Church in Croatia can be found in the Politics section.