Potter Prayers

I would like to invite you to pray with me.

Our Headmaster in heaven

Hallowed be thy beard.

Your army come,

your will be done,

in Hogwarts as in Godric's Hollow.

Give us today our daily spell.

Forgive us our trespasses

because we really wanted to go to Hogsmeade.

Save us from dementors,

and deliver us from He-Who-Must-Not-be-Named.

For Hogwarts, the magic, and the horcruxes be yours

Now and forever.

Amen.

Please be seated.

I should probably explain why I wrote that. It's not just because my lecture was cancelled and I'm quite bored, but I was having a conversation with another atheist on youtube and we were talking about the notion of the Bible being a fictional text written 6000 years ago, in Dara O'Briain's words, "to get the kids to go to sleep on a long donkey ride to Jerusalem".

So if this is true and a large portion of the world prays to a fictional character in a book, what will it be like in 6000 years time or so? What will happen when idiots from the future dig up Harry Potter? How easy would it be to start a religion?

Very, I say. There is already a university course in Durham about philosophy in the Harry Potter books. Fandom can be likened to religion in some aspects, as I can relate to having been heavily involved in the Death Note fandom for a few years.

J.K. Rowling can be likened to Moses, the scribe of God's will and commandments. The God in question would be Dumbledore, watching us from heaven. If you have read the seventh book, you may remember Harry having an out-of-body experience where he meets Dumbledore on a bench (correct me if I'm wrong). In this way, Harry is akin to Jesus, doing the bidding of his "father" Dumbledore.

We can be sure that Albus Dumbledore was like a father figure to everyone at Hogwarts, who were his "army". He advised people, he instructed people to do his work and he was seen as a loving figure who cares about all of his children.

In this analogy, I'd like to say that Lord Voldemort is Lucifer himself. Once an angel, Tom Riddle (student at Hogwarts under Albus Dumbledore), he rebelled and decided to dabble in dark magic. He was therefore condemned by Dumbledore and cast out. Voldemort then set out to turn people to his side, hence we can bring in Adam and Eve. While I don't know who the very first followers of the Dark Lord were, but we can be sure that with the help of his snake Nagini he convinced people to eat the forbidden fruit, and cast unforgivable spells which Dumbledore had instructed them to not do.

This is where Harry Potter differs from the Bible. Instead of punishing all of the students of Hogwarts for what Tom Riddle convinced people like Wormtail to do, he built up his students into what the Daily Prophet was calling his army of students, ready to ride up. In this scenario we can liken the students at Hogwarts to God's followers.

So you've probably already guessed what all of this makes Harry. Grew up with his aunt and uncle in Little Whinging until he set out into the world and devoted his life to doing what Dumbledore wanted. Dumbledore was no doubt a good father figure for Harry, therefore reinforcing the idea that Dumbledore is the Lord your God. He endured many hardships in his life, being tempted by Lord Voldemort to surrender himself to see his parents again. Harry resists this temptation, much like Jesus does in the Bible when he is in the desert.

In the seventh book, Harry is "killed" by Lord Voldemort. He is "dead" for while, carried around by Hagrid. Suddenly, he rises from the dead and defeats Voldemort with the help of his disciples, the Order of the Phoenix (and Neville).

Not only do the teachings of Harry Potter mirror the Bible, but they also provide a good moral grounding. Love thy neighbour (Harry ends up not hating Draco so much), be the good Samaritan (Chamber of Secrets, Harry saves Ginny whereas Lockhart ignores her suffering) and believe in Dumbledore and you will be saved.

Of course my analogy so far hasn't taken muggles into consideration. However as the Bible says that while we should love our neighbour, it contradicts itself a bit and also says "a fool says in his heart there is no God" and so I can't come to a conclusion on whether or not muggles are non-believers. I'll leave you with that to think about, not leaving out the fact that the Dursley's scorned the idea of magic and are seen in a very negative light in the books.

Well, I think I've wasted enough time now. Might actually write an informative blog soon when I can decide what to write it on. For now, Dumbledore bless your souls.