Harry Potter and His Censors

By Jonathan Zimmerman

On July 8, 2000, at 12:01 a.m., my local bookstore hosted a "Midnight Moonlight Sale" in honor of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That was too late for my 7-year-old daughter, who had already plowed through the previous three Harry Potter volumes and couldn't wait to get her hands on the fourth. So we went to sleep early, got plenty of rest, and arose in time for the bookstore's "Harry Potter Breakfast" at 8 o'clock the next morning. We munched on "Magic Muffins," watched magic tricks by the "Amazing Vindini," and competed in a "Harry Potter Trivia Contest."

Then, of course, we bought the book.

All across Potterland, formerly known as the United States, parents and children enacted similar rituals. But one important group of Americans, we are told, did not participate: evangelical Christians. Although some evangelicals defend the Harry Potter series, large numbers have condemned the books for allegedly promoting witchcraft and the occult. Some critics even contend that the novels are the work...