Holy Blasphemy

“Harry Potter is NOT Jesus”: New book banned by Polish Church

The Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Poland on Monday banned in its entire member schools a U.S. based publisher for publishing a book that claims both Jesus and Harry Potter are literary characters. According to spokesman Andrzej Malinowski, the Orthodox Bishops’ Conference of Poland (OBCP) has written to all its member schools across the country to ban the new book, “Jesus Potter Harry Christ” and also asked the government to take strict action against the publisher and ban such objectionable publications from all schools.

“The book published by Holy Blasphemy Publishers which claims that Jesus Christ is a fictional figure like Harry Potter shows a total disregard for the religious sentiments of the Christian community,” Malinowski told the sources. “Jesus Christ as a divine person is central to Christian faith and Christian life. The misguided attempt to tarnish the image of Jesus Christ is highly objectionable and even a condemnable act,” he added.

The Polish government has already confiscated all copies of the book from a school where it was being used and also from book shops.

Church-backed pamphlets have been posted around the city, including near cinemas and areas where children play, saying that repeating the spells in the Harry Potter books “is as if you are praying to evil” and that “God hates magic”. One protester shouted “It is not a magic wand that will save you, only adhering to the Christian faith and the 10 commandments.”

The Polish Orthodox Church’s condemnation of Jesus Potter Harry Christ is expected to be shared by other Orthodox churches, as the Roman Catholic Church. According to bishop Madej Podgórny, the book should be read only “by those with very, very strong faith, who will not be tempted by the book’s heavy academic research”.

The publishers, Holy Blasphemy, are not surprised by the ban. “Harry Potter is already a controversial subject with a history of conflict with religion. This book begins with Harry Potter and then deals with religious history, astrological mythology, esoteric symbolism, and Jesus Christ as a literary figure. Conservative reactions against a book of this type are to be expected.”

“I’m not attempting to be controversial,” said author Derek Murphy, who studied theology on the island of Malta and is now in Asia completing his PhD in comparative literature, “or attack anyone’s faith. But I find it fascinating, especially in light of the controversy surrounding the Harry Potter books (that Harry Potter promotes witchcraft and Satanism among children, etc.), that there are so many similarities between Jesus and Harry, and that these similarities mostly come from pre-Christian sources. This is an exciting and relevant subject, I’m just trying to make people more aware of it.”

***This is not a real news article; it’s a hypothetical reaction to the book, Jesus Potter Harry Christ, created for promotional purposes.***