Thanks to the Sun Journal for publishing the Rev. Douglas E. Taylor’s remarks on the Harry Potter books (May 17). Once I stopped laughing, it struck me that the good reverend has obviously either never read the Harry Potter books or has never done any research on Wicca. Harry Potter’s adventures at Hogwarts are in the grand tradition of fantastical children’s literature, and bear as much relationship to Wicca as do the tales of Cinderella, Snow White or Rapunzel. After all, to follow Rev Taylor’s logic, they introduce magic performed by witches and must therefore be about Wicca. Right?

People are, of course, at liberty to ignore the basic Christian underpinnings of Rowling’s work – the child who consistently overcomes his doubts and fears to defeat evil; the value of selflessness and love; the stark disapproval of the vain, the greedy and the hateful – but the rest of us are at liberty to find this behavior both immediately amusing and ultimately terribly sad.

Karen Abbott,

Monmouth Junction, N.J.

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