Pro-Potter Protesters Picket as Minister Destroys BookNov 20, 2002The
release of the new film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has again
sparked protests from those who claim that the writing of best-selling author
J.K. Rowling promotes witchcraft and pagan religion. The movie adaptation of
Rowling's second title in the series opened nationwide on November 15 and grossed
an estimated $87.7 million in its first three days.
However, at the Ramada Inn in Lewiston, Maine, on November 14, the eve of the
release of the new film, the Reverend Douglas Taylor of Lewiston's Jesus Party
Church, a Pentecostal congregation, cheerfully took a pair of scissors and cut
up a copy of Chamber of Secrets for the benefit of his supporters and
the assembled media. Taylor told reporters that he wanted to burn the Potter books in protest, as
he did last year at the release of the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone, but could not convince the city of Lewiston to issue him the necessary
permit, as reported by the Associated Press. "I wanted to burn the
books because the Bible gives me the authority to burn magic books," Taylor
said, as reported by the Lewiston Sun Journal. "It's no secret that I enjoy what I'm doing right now," Taylor was
quoted as saying as he tore apart the best-selling book by J.K. Rowling. "Hallelujah,"
replied one of his supporters. Taylor has decried the Potter series and movies
as fonts of witchcraft and pagan religion. He argues that bringing the books
inside schools violates the division between church and state. This division,
he claims, prohibits him from bringing a Bible into a school.
Taylor's stance did not go unopposed. Eric Robbins and Rita Moran, co-owners
of eight-year-old Apple Valley Books in nearby Winthrop, Maine, participated
in a counterprotest of 30 people. Robbins and Moran spoke to BTW about
the demonstration: "He [Rev. Taylor] states that witchcraft is a religion
and therefore shouldn't be in schools. I feel that the books are fiction. If
we applied his standard to most of the fiction in school libraries, they advocate
religion -- usually Christianity. I'm not familiar with his church, and I don't
think he is involved politically. He uses this [Potter protest] as a way to
get publicity. We felt that the press couldn't present a balanced story about
his group if there was no one around who was against his views."
Moran said that, despite Taylor's position, "Not everyone agrees that
you need to destroy books just because you disagree with what they say."
This sentiment was echoed on the signs held up by the counterdemonstrators
outside of the Ramada, some of which read "Freedom of Fiction" and
"Who's Next?" According to Robbins, "Taylor feels that the books are evil and a very bad influence on children, but he was careful to say this year that he was not entitled to destroy anyone else's copy." Taylor told the press that his actions were appropriate: "You can burn literature. It's not censorship.… If this nation goes to hell, it deserves to go to hell." -- Nomi Schwartz
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