It is with great anticipation that I await the Rev. Doug Taylor’s annual rant about the Harry Potter series, and his latest installment did not disappoint.

In addition to his usual factless and baseless assertions that the books and movies cause children the world over to become, en masse, wizards, witches, warlocks and Wiccans, he also now says that “he cannot understand why parents who want to teach their children compassion, tolerance and acceptance would read these books to their children,” and that the books are filled with vengeance.

I wasn’t quite sure whether to laugh or cry at the irony or the complete hypocrisy of those statements.

To sum up, Taylor’s position is that children and young adults should be prevented from reading a work of fiction about a young boy’s quest to defeat evil in the face of almost insurmountable odds; but that children and young adults should be encouraged to worship a book that demands, among other things, the death of homosexuals (Leviticus 20-13), death to anyone who works on Sunday (Exodus 35-2), that disobedient children be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 21-18), and that women be fully submissive, not be allowed to teach and never be put in any position of authority over a man (Timothy 2).

Do any of those things sound compassionate, tolerant or accepting?

I didn’t think so.

To be fair, the Bible is full of lessons and teachings on how to live a good and decent life, just as the Potter series is full of things such as friendship, loyalty, sacrifice, putting the needs of others above your own, and the ultimate theme of the series, which is the triumph of good over evil.

But we will never hear that from the good reverend because praising any aspect of the series wouldn’t further his personal agenda.

I think it’s time for him to stop casting stones from his biblical glass house.

Chad Crosskill, Lisbon