Harry Potter is kicked out of school!

Harry has not been expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


Fox News reports that a Catholic pastor at a Massachusetts parochial school has made all the Harry Potter books there disappear, saying they are spiritually dangerous for children and could encourage them to engage in witchcraft.

The Rev. Ron Barker of St. Joseph's School in Wakefield, Mass., said he stripped the library there of the fantasy series by British author J.K. Rowling in the last month after discovering the novels were among the 10,000 volumes on the shelves.

"This is a parochial school and I have the moral authority to do this," he said in an interview with FOXNews.com. "For some people, reading those books is a vehicle to become involved in the occult. ... My basic premise is for the spiritual protection of the children."

A group of about a dozen parents complained about Barker's decision to yank the books and wrote a letter petitioning him to put Potter back in the school library.


"We must allow our children the space to discover how to make correct moral choices on their own," the parents wrote. "While we recognize that some fear that Harry Potter books may lead to the practice of Wicca and Satanism, we respectfully disagree that such fears warrant the removal of reading material from the school library."

Barker contends that parents and children have every right to read the Potter series, of which the seventh and final installment "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows" came out last summer. He suggested they check them out of the public library or get them at the bookstore but maintained they have no place in a Catholic school.

"I’m not preventing people from buying the books," Barker said. "I’m not marching down to the public library demanding that they burn the books. I'm protecting from what could be a danger to some people. Evil is very seductive."

Barker said. But a few might — and that's what he fears.


I would prefer our children to choose a book from the vast number of classics that have been written. Since I have not read any of the Potter books, I am not inclined to give an opinion. I would love to hear from those of you have read them and tell us what you think.