One day, while I perused MuggleNet.com, my favourite Harry Potter website, I came across the following letter addressed to J.K. Rowling:

                   I have a very important question! Now you may not want to hear this ..but
                   I really would like if you would send me an email back with the answers
                   to the question I\'m about to ask you. Now , for the questions , What made
                   you want to write about satanic things? What do you have against the
                   Christians ? Why are you making these books to try to turn everyone away
                   from God?!?! Why\'d you make the Christians the bad people? Why do
                   you want your books to be about evil!?! Thank you for your time .. and
                   please email me back (Emerson "Wall")

Posted on "The Wall of Shame" web page, the passage is one of many random emails sent to the website belittling and accusing both Rowling and the site Webmaster. I had to laugh, not only at the post but also at the MuggleNet response: "I suppose actually reading the books would be out of the question..." I completely agree with the Webmaster and wonder if the author of the defamatory post even read the series. Most Harry Potter bashers hear the word witchcraft and automatically assume the books are about evil and satanic practices. Adversaries never even consider the idea of magic as a setting for a larger plot of good versus evil, with good winning, by the way. If the abovementioned writer and others with similar view read the books, they would realize Harry Potter is not evil or satanic. The books are not trying to turn anyone away from God nor do the novels portray Christians negatively. Even Rowling laughs at the idea. If the writer had read the series, he or she would have also realized the absurdity of the post.

Without trying to criticize Christian beliefs, I determinedly decided to prove the misinformed inquirer wrong. First, while laughing at a post such as the above may seem disrespectful, the gesture becomes habit after reading so many similar letters. I must also emphasize that my attempt to uncover Christian themes and symbolism in Harry Potter is not to pass judgment on Christianity or condemn opinions different from my own. At the risk of sounding cliché, I only want to reveal the truth behind Harry Potter concerning charges of evil intentions on the part of J.K. Rowling so that future readers will not be deterred from the series by inaccurate accusations.

I first examined the last question from the abovementioned post: "Why do you want your books to be about evil!?!" Although the Harry Potter books contain references to witchcraft, the magic is merely a setting for the larger battle of good versus evil. Good witches and wizards never use spells to harm others. However, according to Christine doctrine, God hates magic and witchcraft as illustrated in Revelation 21:8:

                   ⁸But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderous, the sexually
                   immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars – their
                   place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.
                   

The author of the accusatory post is equating those who will be punished for practicing magic arts with the magic employed in Harry Potter. But, in the above biblical passage, people who practice magic arts are included with others who commit more serious crimes such as liars and murderers. Through analogy, I believe the targeted magicians are those who perform magic with evil intentions. Furthermore, I think that the miracles Jesus performed are a type of magic, albeit, a holy and moral type of magic. For example, Jesus turns water into wine as written in John 2:3-9:

                   ³When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more
                   wine." ⁴"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time
                   has not yet come." ⁵His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells
                   you." ⁶Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by Jews for
                   ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus
                   said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the
                   brim. ⁸Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of
                   the banquet." They did so, ⁹and the master of the banquet tasted the water
                   that had been turned to wine. He did not realize where it had come from,
                   though the servants who had drawn the water knew…

Jesus performs miracles all the time throughout the Gospels, miracles that I consider a form of good magic. I believe God hates dark magic, magic with evil or sinful intentions. In the Harry Potter series, only dark wizards use magic with malicious purposes. Hence, Harry Potter is basically a story about good versus evil, with the good witches and wizards battling against the dark witches and wizards. Harry and his friends use magic only for noble purposes and never to harm anyone else. For example, Ron uses magic to save Harry and Hermione from a dangerous mountain troll in The Sorcerer's Stone. On the other hand, Voldemort and his followers use dark magic for evil purposes of power and destruction, often hurting innocent witches, wizards, and Muggles. ("Muggles" is the wizard term for non-magical people.) Aurors are good witches and wizards who track down evil witches and wizards. When Aurors capture dark wizards, the dark wizards are taken to trial and sentenced. Evil wizards are sent to Azkaban, the wizarding world prison, if found guilty of using dark magic.

Furthermore, I think the Harry Potter books are not simply about magic. Love is the most obvious theme. As the story begins, Voldemort sets out to kill one-year-old Harry with the killing curse after hearing part of a prophecy. The dark wizard murders both James and Lily Potter but is unable to destroy the baby because Harry's mother sacrifices herself to save her infant son. Voldemort is reduced to a shadow when the Avada Kedavra curse with which he tries to kill Harry backfires. Lily's selfless act provides Harry with an invisible protection of love against evil, which flows through his veins. Demonstrated in The Sorcerer's Stone, Professor Quirrell, while possessed by Voldemort, cannot bear to touch Harry because evil cannot harm good. Harry is given additional protection from Voldemort and the dark arts so long as he can call his Aunt and Uncle Dursley's house home. Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, is aware of the ancient magical power of love, a detail Voldemort obviously overlooked. After baby Harry is rescued from the crumbled remains of his parent's house, Dumbledore leaves the child with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Petunia and Lily share a sacred familial blood bond as sisters just as Petunia and Harry share the same bond as aunt and nephew. When Aunt Petunia agrees to take in and care for Harry, she seals the protection of love her sister created. Harry is sheltered from evil magic as long his aunt allows him to call her home his. If the Harry Potter series were a satanic plot to turn Christians against God, the power of love would not be such a constant presence in the main character's battle against evil wizards.

Love is also a major theme in Christianity. As recorded in Mark 12:31, love is an important Christian doctrine: "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Just as his mother died to save Harry from the killing curse, Jesus died to save humankind from sin. His love for man lead Jesus to sacrifice himself for their redemption, illustrated in John 3:16-17:

                   ¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
                   whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God
                   did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the
                   world through him.

I perceive Lily Potter as a Jesus as sacrifice character. In a sense, Jesus jumped in front of the curse of eternal damnation for humankind like Lily jumped in front of the curse of death for Harry. Additionally, Harry is left with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead where the Avada Kedavra curse touched him, which compares to the scars Jesus received from his crown of thorns. Both marks are evidence of powerful sacrifices of love.

Light versus dark is another apparent theme I find in Christian theology that is also widespread throughout the Harry Potter series. After creating the heavens and the earth, God realized the earth was dark and empty. According to Genesis 1:3-4, God then produced light and divided it from the dark: "³And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. ⁴God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness." After His coming, Jesus also declared in John 9:5: "⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." According to these passages, light is equated with morality and goodness.

Delving further into the idea of light versus dark, I discovered that God uses darkness as a punishment for miscreants. For example, God sends a plague of darkness over Egypt as Moses strives to free the Hebrews as written in Exodus 10:21-23:

                   ²¹Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the sky so
                   that darkness will spread over Egypt - darkness that can be felt." ²²So
                   Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered
                   all Egypt for three days. ²³No one could see anyone else or leave his place
                   for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they
                   lived.

I also believe Christianity equates light with good and darkness with evil. As aforementioned, God created the world and distinguished light from dark. Later, in the Gospel of John 3:19-21, Jesus says that people who perform evil hate the light because of fear of exposure while those people who live morally love the light God created:

                   ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved
                   darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who
                   does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his
                   deeds will be exposed. ²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the
                   light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done
                   through God.

Like Christian doctrine, Rowling also compares good to light and evil to darkness. First, magic with the purpose of harming others is known as the dark arts. Harry and his classmates attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that has a curriculum of good magic. Students are never taught the dark arts but rather take Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class designed to teach young witches and wizards to defend themselves against dark magic. During his third year at Hogwarts, Harry learns the Patronus Charm, which is a shield of light produced from happy feelings. In The Prisoner of Azkaban, Hermione exclaims, "Harry, I can't believe it….You conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those dementors! That's very, very advanced magic…." (Prisoner 412)

Harry uses the Patronus Charm against dementors. Dementors are the foulest creatures in the wizarding world. Dressed in tattered black robes, dementors prey on happiness and leave only pain and suffering. Their hands are bones covered in decaying flesh. Only a few wizards know what their faces look like because dementors only lower their hoods to administer the dementor's kiss or to suck through the mouth their victims' souls. After receiving a kiss, the victim is left a soulless shell or hollow body.

As aforesaid in the Gospel of John, evil despises light. I also found in John 1:5 the following passage concerning light and darkness: "⁵The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." Dementors despise light and cannot overcome it. Conjuring a Patronus, Harry drives off the dementors with a shield of light like the good of God is shown through light in Psalm 4:6: "⁶Many are asking, 'Who can show us any good?' Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord." Thus, just as Christianity equates light with good and darkness with evil, so does Rowling throughout the Harry Potter series.

Along with light representing the good of God in Christian theology, Jesus is recognized as a healer of the sick and injured. I find examples of his healing power throughout the Gospels as written by his disciples. Of the numerous instances, I present three separate accounts. First, Jesus alleviated a woman of a fever as written in Mark 1:30-31:

                   ³⁰Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about
                   her. ³¹So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left
                   her and she began to wait on them.

Jesus also cured a man of leprosy in Mark 1:41-42:

                   ⁴¹A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, "If you
                   are willing, you can make me clean." ⁴²Filled with compassion, Jesus
                   reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be
                   clean!" Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

Finally, as recorded in John 9:1-7, Jesus healed a blind man:

                   ¹As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked
                   him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
                   ³"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened
                   so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ⁴As long as it is
                   day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no
                   one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."
                   ⁶Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva,
                   and put it on the man's eyes. ⁷"Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of
                   Soloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came
                   home seeing.

I perceive Madam Pomfrey as a Jesus healer character in the Harry Potter series. Madam Pomfrey is the school nurse at Hogwarts who is able to cure students of almost all maladies, magical or not. For example, Madam Pomfrey quickly heals Ginny Weasley when she breaks her ankle in The Order of the Phoenix while battling for her life against Death Eaters: "Ginny, whose ankle had been mended in a trice by Madam Pomfrey, was curled up at the foot of Hermione's bed…" (Order 846)

Madam Pomfrey cares for the four school champions after the first Triwizard Tournament in The Goblet of Fire. Harry sustains an injury on his shoulder from a dragon but is instantaneously restore to health by the school healer:

                   "She cleaned the cut with a dab of some purple liquid that
                   smoked and stung, but then poked his shoulder with her
                   wand, and he felt it heal instantly." (Goblet 356)

She even miraculously restores the bones in his arm after Harry is attacked by a rogue bludger and breaks his arm in The Chamber of Secrets:

                        "I can mend bones in a second - but growing them back -"
                        "You will be able to, won't you?" said Harry desperately.
                        "I'll be able to, certainly, but it will be painful," said Madam Pomfrey
                   grimly… (Chamber 174)

Like Jesus, she is able to cure the students of any magical or nonmagical malady. Therefore, just as healing is a theme throughout Christian doctrine, as is healing throughout the Harry Potter series.

Just as the good aspect of good versus evil is present throughout Christian doctrine and the Harry Potter series, evil is also evident. In Genesis 2:21-23, God creates woman from man, Eve from Adam's rib:

                   ²¹So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he
                   was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with
                   flesh. ²²Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out
                   of the man, and he brought her to the man. ²³The man said, "This is now
                   bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for
                   she was taken out of man."

God tells both Adam and Eve to eat any tree in the Garden of Eden except from the tree of life in the middle. However, Eve is eventually tempted by the serpent and tastes the forbidden fruit. She also tempts Adam to eat the apple, and both become aware of good and evil. God punishes and forbids the couple from the garden thereafter. In a sense, the serpent uses Eve as a vessel to bring evil, or the knowledge of evil, to humankind.

I locate a similar creation story that occurs in the fourth Harry Potter book, The Goblet of Fire, when Voldemort is recreated from the bone of Tom Riddle, the flesh of Peter Pettigrew, and the blood of Harry Potter.

                   "[Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son. Flesh
                   of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master. Blood of the
                   enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe.]" (Goblet 641-642)

Lord Voldemort is the epitome of evil throughout the Harry Potter series. Like the snake to Adam and Eve, he brings pain and suffering to the wizarding world by representing the powerful temptation to use dark magic for personal gain.

As aforementioned, a snake tempted Eve into eating the fruit forbidden by God. According to Genesis 3:1, "¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?'" Snakes are a common symbol of evil in Christianity.

Snakes are also a symbol of evil throughout the Harry Potter books. For example, the Slytherin house mascot is a silver and green serpent. According to current and former students of Hogwarts, Slytherin turned out more bad witches and wizards than the other three houses combined. The beast left in the Chamber of Secrets by Salazar Slytherin, the founder of the Slytherin house, to kill Muggle-borns is a Basilisk, an enormous mythological king of serpents. Voldemort uses the milk of a giant snake to sustain himself while nothing more than a shadow until he obtains a new body in The Goblet of Fire as well as uses the same snake as a spy in The Order of the Phoenix. Finally, both Salazar Slytherin and Lord Voldemort are Parselmouths, wizards with the ability to talk to snakes. Speaking Parseltongue is a power possessed by only a few dark wizards.

Like serpents, birds also frequently appear throughout Christianity and the Harry Potter series. Unlike snakes, however, birds are viewed positively with the first example of a phoenix. Phoenixes are mythological creatures that are reborn from their own ashes upon dying in a burst of flames. Jesus, who also rose after death, is often represented by the symbol of a phoenix. In The Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore and Fawkes battle against Voldemort. Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet phoenix, flies in front of Dumbledore to protect him from the Avada Kedavra curse and is reduced to a pile of ashes. Like Jesus, he sacrifices himself for others.

Fawkes also helps witches and wizards who show Dumbledore great loyalty. When the headmaster is suspended by the school governors in The Chamber of Secrets, his departing sentiment is, "However…you will find that I will only truly have left this school when none here are loyal to me. You will also find that help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." (Chamber 263-264) Harry is puzzled at first but understands when he is fighting with Tom Riddle and the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry shows Dumbledore great loyalty and is able to call Fawkes to his aid. Fawkes blinds the basilisk and brings the young wizard the Sorting Hat, from which Harry pulls Godric Gryffindor's sword and slays the monster. Because Harry is loyal to Dumbledore just as Christianity expects loyalty to God, Harry is given help to triumph over evil when he needed that help most.

In addition to the phoenix, I find other birds appearing as good signs throughout the Bible. In the story of Noah and the flood, Noah sent forth birds to discover if the water had receded from the land. He first sent out a raven and then a dove. Genesis 8:11-12 tells of the last dove bringing back an olive branch and Noah knowing the flood was finally over:

                   ¹¹When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a
                   freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded
                   from the earth. ¹²He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again,
                   but this time it did not return to him.

I have only skimmed the surface of Christian themes and symbols found in the Harry Potter series. Even though Rowling confirms her Christian beliefs, she also states that she did not intend to write a series riddled with Christian doctrine. However, I think familiar ideas and strong beliefs usual appear in creative endeavours, whether deliberately or not, which is obvious in the abundance of Christian themes and symbolism found throughout the Harry Potter books. Rowling may not have intended to compose a series that embraced Christianity, but her Christian background obviously shows by the abundance of themes and symbolism. In response to the above post written to J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter is not a story about witchcraft. Magic is merely a setting for the battle between good and evil.

Emerson. "The Wall of Shame." 2005. MuggleNet. 4 Mar. 2005. <http://www.mugglenet.com/wallofshame.shtml>

Holy Bible. New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Scholastic, 1999.

—. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Scholastic, 2000.

—. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic, 2003.

—. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Scholastic, 1999.

—. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: Scholastic, 1997.