I don't believe this

[Lyra Greenleaf]

Oh blah, blah, blah. The man is obviously one of the sort of people who have existed throughout time, who burn witches and/or books for being heretical, who killed Galileo and Plato (if I'm not confusing myself, of course [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] ) etc. He can say what he wants but that is only ONE opinion. His problem is he wouldn't even accept that there are others.

I read a debate in a magazine in my church about whether HP was evil or not. The woman who argued he wasn't was so good that she (partly) swayed the "it's evil" man. The thing is, no-one could really say that it's SUPPORTING religion, it's just not mentioned at all. It's secular.

As for LOTR, it also does not involve religion (if we're talking about specifically LOTR as opposed to the Sil, UT etc.) Tolkien never says there is religion- he never says there isn't. Is this guy saying that EVERY story has to have people praying and saying they are Christian? I assume he hasn't read it (seeing as he says we are all damned!)- so he's basically giving a report based on hearsay and speculation, presumably from people he doesn't even know. He wouldn't exactly be friends with LOTR freaks!

A few non- LOTR related points why the guy is a nut:

• He says that the fact that the lyrics of songs are repetitive is a sign of the devil.
• He says famine is due to all these things: HP, LOTR, rock music. Why would God punish Africa for the West reading LOTR?
• It might sound petty but he has a list of colours you can see as background to the report. I mean- why? What is the point? "OK, so you're damned to Hell. Would you like the news on a lilac or turquoise background?"
• He appears to have an anti- Roman Catholic fixation. We all worship the same God buddy!

Well, I got out the article about HP and my book A Closer look at the Lord of the Rings, Mark Eddy Smith (it's an amazing book about the Christian values in LOTR- It made me cry buckets) to make a blistering attack on his points, but seriously we know that the man is talking rubbish. We know he has no right to judge us. We know that our points of view are equally important to his. And if the man knew we existed he wouldn't defame himself by listening to our arguments! So what's the point?