Harry Potter books burned: Beware! Sorcery!
The future will sneer at some of our beliefs, just as we struggle to comprehend why our forefathers invested faith in things we can hardly imagine much less embrace.
Many ideas, once unquestionable, are now embarrassing if not laughable. In our world, suicide bombers are probably the most violent expression of personal beliefs. Anti-vaccination campaigners and those who still deny climate change are so out of step with today’s science that they stir something close enough to contempt — such is the power of belief.
It is a contemporary belief that everyone should be free — and secure — to believe anything they wish as long as it does not harm others. Therefore, Irish parents may be surprised to learn that, according to a Polish Catholic evangelical foundation they have exposed their children to sorcery.
Catholic priests in Poland have burned books including Harry Potter novels because “they promote sorcery”. Even if you accept that Polish Catholicism is far more conservative than Irish Catholicism this seems bizarre but it does underline how varied and incendiary religious belief can be.
