There is a small segment of the American population which, after observing that there is magic used by the protagonists of the Harry Potter series, has arrived at the conclusion that the Harry Potter series promotes Satanism. In the interest of building bridges where possible, I will presume this group has only good intentions and has merely committed an honest mistake. Consequently my efforts in this essay will be directed towards persuading the reader that the Harry Potter series most certainly does not promote Satanism.
Do the Harry Potter novels encourage Satanism?
The answer to this question depends on what is meant by the phrase Satanism. To this end, I'll rephrase the question according to each possible meaning of the term Satanism:
Do the Harry Potter novels encourage the overt worship of Satan?
Satan is not mentioned. Nothing is worshipped. There are neither prayers nor offerings to any higher power.
Do the Harry Potter novels encourage Wicca?
Nothing of the modern-day Wiccan movement is depicted in the series. Of self-styled Wiccans in the real world—whose religion bears almost no resemblance at all to the religions that enjoyed European allegiance in pre-Christian times—one sees only a bunch of people who are trying to be religious without accepting Christ.
Furthermore, the magic in the Harry Potter novels is starkly different in nature from the magic that some Wiccans profess to employ. The primary difference is that the Harry Potter magic has, within the fictional setting, an immediate and objective effect: Objects levitate, change shape, catch fire, etc., and there is never any doubt whether magic has been in use. Wiccan magic owes its occasional appearances of efficacy to coincidence: It is sheer chance when a Tarot reading corresponds with future events, and dumb luck that a supplication to the wind spirits frees the becalmed sailing boat as soon as the Wiccan is done talking.
Do the Harry Potter novels encourage an immoral lifestyle?
Only if one considers courage, friendship, loyalty, defiance of oppression, and the occasional bottle of butterbeer to constitute an immoral lifestyle.
Nowhere is a single offense against the God of Abraham portrayed in a positive light. Harry is not applauded for the sins he commits (fits of anger and a propensity to lie to avoid trouble). Hagrid's drinking binges are not held forth as worthy examples for our youth to emulate. Ludo Bagman's gambling is not accounted to his credit.
Sexual immorality cannot be found on any page of the Harry Potter novels, unless one considers it immoral for unmarried young people to kiss, hold hands, or dance at the annual ball—and whoever holds those opinions has gone beyond the Bible's teachings. There is no nudity, fornication, adultery, prostitution, wife-swapping, or pornography. There is exactly one divorce in the series, and as that divorce is at the root of the moral downfall of the series' main antogonist, not even this is deemed proper behavior.
Furthermore, the novels enshrine the importance of fatherhood. In the families of which we know much, the children reflect their fathers. The Weasley children—raised by a traditional couple—are essentially good kids. Hagrid, raised by a single father, has his problems but is a good man. Hermione, whose parents we may assume to be married, is an example to everyone. On the other hand, Voldemort grew up in an orphange because his father abandoned his mother, Barty Crouch Sr. neglected the upbringing of Barty Jr. (and suffered patricide for it), and both Draco and Dudley are bad apples found very near to the trees from which they have fallen. Since an attack on the importance of fatherhood is in the vanguard of modern anti-Christian thinking, any work which upholds the value of fatherhood is far removed from that body of thought, and therefore so is Harry Potter.
Do the Harry Potter novels encourage witchcraft?
The only area in which the series can conceivably be construed to violate Scripture concerns the Mosaic prohibition against witchcraft. The law of Moses not only prohibited witchcraft, it also required any practicing witch among the Israeli people to be put to death.
To compare the witchcraft in the Bible with the magic in the Harry Potter series is really an apples-and-oranges comparison. The witches seen in the Bible gain their powers by trafficking with spirits that are opposed to God, and employ these powers in emnity to God's people. The people in the Harry Potter series who have magical powers are born with them, and use them for ends that are either good or evil, depending on the temperament of the magician. To fail to draw a clear distinction between an inborn ability, and one gained from disobedience to the Supreme Being, is a failure in moral reasoning.
In any event, what magic is a Harry Potter fan encouraged to engage in? The fraudulent clap-trap that is peddled on the New Age shelves is as disdained in the novels as it is anywhere in real life. The magic employed by the characters in the series is fictional without any pretensions to fact; any reader who thinks he or she can wave a magic wand and turn a rat into a cup has problems that are rooted in psychology, not literature.
In Summary
Reading Harry Potter will not persuade your child to join a witches' coven. If your child embraces Wicca against your wishes, it is because you have failed as a parent.