A Seventh-day Adventist school's stand on Harry Potter turned into a media event reported across Australia and then internationally, beginning on November 25
A Seventh-day Adventist school’s stand on the well-known Harry Potter books has captured national and international media attention. The Nunawading Adventist Primary School and adjoining college, Melbourne, Australia, do not have Harry Potter books in their library, and children at the primary school are not permitted to bring them to school.
While they are not the only schools to have these restrictions, they were singled out after a parent contacted an Australian Broadcasting Corporation talk-back radio program to complain. He was reacting to a school newsletter he had received that reported on two information meetings with parents about Harry Potter. During the meetings, the schools’ chaplain, Sue Beament, expressed concern about the interest in Harry Potter with the film coming out.
“Our aim was to make parents aware that there were two sides to the story,” says Beament. “We wanted parents to think about what kids watch and read, and work out what they should do in their families.”
On talk-back radio, the school was accused of banning the books because they thought them satanic. Beament defended the schools’ position on air. “Within five minutes of going off air, the ABC’s Midday [radio] program called for an interview,” says Beament. “The phones went mad. Other schools phoned and people rang to congratulate us for speaking out. Then the media circus began.
“They grilled us,” says Beament. “Had we banned Harry Potter? Weren’t we depriving the children? Wasn’t the decision archaic?”
Beament, who has read the Harry Potter books, says that J. K. Rowlings is a brilliant writer. But, she adds that, unlike C. S. Lewis in his Narnia series, Rowlings has no higher power to call on for good. Harry Potter decides what is right and wrong.
“Take the Christian viewpoint away, and there are still other concerns,” she says referring to the increasing darkness of the books and the issue of revenge.
John Hammond, education director for the church in Australia, says, “We haven’t banned students from having the books, but we’ve asked that Harry Potter not be placed in our libraries. We have a literature code for library books and that covers the obscene and occult. Any practice that attracts children toward the occult will not have our support. We encourage creativity and the use of imagination, but if it’s going to attract the use of witchcraft we can’t support it in our system.”
He adds that the Nunawading school took an individual action and was courageous to hold meetings before the launch of the film “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
While the response within the media has tended to be negative, both schools have been surprised by the positive public response they have received.
“We’ve had overwhelming support and messages of support from parents and schools for taking a stand like this,” reports Hammond. “This has not hurt the school system at all.”
(For different perspectives on the Harry Potter series, see the Adventist Review’s special feature at www.adventistreview.org/2001-1547/story5.html.)
