TIL J.K. Rowling is quoted as saying "I have met thousands of children now, and not even one time has a child come up to me and said, 'Ms Rowling, I'm so glad I've read these books because now I want to be a witch" when her books were accused of satanic themes.

I grew up in a fairly conservative baptist home, and my mother was a middle school librarian. Until Harry Potter books came out, she was all for banning "satanic" literature. After she read a few, she changed her mind on fantasy (there was other life stuff going on in the background, but HP was a major contributing factor). So its all well and good NOW, but I grew up in a home with no ghost stories, no witches, nothing remotely resembling "dark magic". Now that im older and wiser, i realize that my mother ABSOLUTELY believed in magic, because thats essentially whats going on in the bible, gods magic, devils magic, moses magic, jesus magic, etc etc. She was protecting me from what she thought were very real forces. And man did i buy in. I had amazing faith and devotion, so much so that i never worried about my education or future, cuz god will just sort it out, right? Wrong. God is bs, magic is bs, and i wish i could go back and reclaim all that time singing and praying for something/anything else. Not only that, but on my way to shedding all that religious baggage, i went through some pretty dark creepy phases as i struggled to be in contact with something real, which just tosses you down a bs rabbit hole. I was just working with the realities id been dealt, which were... Bs. My wife, on the other hand, grew up in a wiccan/new age home, was immersed in fantasy lore from a young age, an has turned out to be an incredibly grounded and practical agnostic with a healthy appreciation for fantasy. The real "satanic" power these books have is helping young minds discern between what is real and what is fantasy, like... The bible. Thats something i missed out on due to my moms intense sheltering. And honestly, The HP story is so much better than the jesus story, and they share a lot of parrallels... Which is a differant rant. Tldr? HP helps kids discern between reality and fantasy, which is a legitimate threat to bs belief structures, which is good imo.

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