Country Has Been Experiencing a Religious \"War

¶ … country has been experiencing a religious "war of words" for several decades now. Some Democrats were caught completely off guard by it when most of the swing voters voted for Bush instead of Kerry, giving Bush the Presidency. Surveys and polls done afterwards revealed that those voters, the ones who won the election for Bush, were opposed to the Iraq war, but saw Bush as representing the one thing that was more important to them than whether we were at war or not: moral values. Actually the movement to make the Presidential race a moral one has been going on for decades, galvanized by the shift in this country in the late sixties and early seventies regarding both sex and drug use. The Roe V. Wade decision by the Supreme Court became a rallying cry, and that issue has been important in every Presidential election since. This time, the issue of gay marriage was added, and it apparently was enough to tip the election in Bush's favor.

What does that have to do with the film industry? Quite a lot, actually. A significant number of people in this country feel that America's traditional moral values are being assailed on all sides, led by a government that has become too permissive. Those who do not agree with them will point to the Constitution, citing freedom of speech and right to privacy. Some actually view that as hypocritical because the same people who use the Constitution to defend freedom of speech also support gun laws. The belief that our country has lost its moral center reflects deeply held feelings, and those who hold them are unlikely to change their minds.

Parents who are concerned about moral values are often particularly concerned about what the larger society may teach their children in spite of their best efforts to counterbalance those influences. Movies have been of considerable concern. In the middle of all this have come first, the Harry Potter books, and then, the Harry Potter movies.

Parents concerned about what the larger culture may teach their children are sometimes especially concerned about the Harry Potter books and movies, because they glamorize witchcraft. While supporters of the books say this isn't true, the concerned parents have a strong point. Harry Potter can perform magic before he even knows his birth parents were a witch and a wizard. In the movie we see him trap his cousin in the snake exhibit at the London Zoo, and in the books there are several other examples as well. Once Harry finds out he is a wizard, he is immediately trotted out to what is essentially a witchcraft shopping center, where he buys a wand destined to be used only by him, and sees broomsticks for sale in windows. What eleven-year-old boy or wouldn't want to get around on a broomstick instead of a skateboard or bike? Other issues might be noted for their absence. No one in the stories go to church, apparently not even Harry's hated guardians. Christmas is barely mentioned, and Easter not at all.

However, these books also communicate some very good values, and those values translate well into the movies. Harry Potter tries very hard to treat his aunt and uncle with respect, even though he dislikes them intensely. He is always willing to take responsibility for his actions. He is a hard-working student and is even willing to risk his life to protect others. Once he becomes aware that there is a great evil loose in the world, he is willing to face it head-on and in fact can't really consider doing anything else. He stands up to the adults he meets who are trying to promote the take-over by the world of an evil force, and nearly dies several times doing that.

No matter what lessons we want our children to learn, as adults we know that they will learn some things we want them to learn and some things we wish they had never heard about. We know that as adults because it happened to us as children and teenagers. Unless we are going to raise our children in a cloistered community that can completely control everything our children are exposed to, they will be exposed to things of which we don't approve. For some of us that might be illicit drug use, or racism. For others it will be ideas that go contrary to their religious views.