Harry Potter and the Crazy Religious Nuts

Well with the release of the new Harry Potter film just a day away, the media is again stirring with skeptics of the film who say that it promotes witchcraft and the occult. The religious ideologues are back with more attacks on the brainchild of J.K Rowlings. I just saw a man on one of the talking head shows on cable news television saying that children are being lured into darkness and that these films and books are destroying the youth. Ok, this is just getting plain fuckin’ stupid.
Let me start by saying, I am an atheist, and I understand that about 80% of the American population consider themselves “Christian.” Its not a fact that makes me happy, in fact it is a bit disappointing, but I can deal with it. Now the degree to which people say they are Christians, is irrelevant. Whether they go to church everyday, once a week, once a year, or not at all, it doesn’t matter. But even I understand that the lunatic religious wackos that are spouting of at the mouth about the moral decay that these books have brought about; are so far out of the mainstream, that most Christians can’t stand them. But the scary thing is many how many people agree with these morons.
But what I have realized, is that the reason they attack these books, is because they really believe in demons. We live in a world in which we can split the atom. We created aeronautics and space travel. We have done all of these advanced things, and yet we still have people that believe in demons. Listen, if you are over the age of 12 and still believe in angels, devils, and demons; I think you need to talk to someone. And I know some of you out there saw me throw angels in there, and you may believe in them yourself, and that may piss you off a bit. But to you angel lovers out there, I ask you this, what is the difference between you and the person who believes in demons and devils? There is no difference, if you believe in one, you might as well believe in the other.
And all of the talk about these devils and demons all come up as a way to justify the bad things that happen in the world. The concept of evil. The idea of an evil force that constantly works against the good people of conscience in the world. Well let me tell something, while there is no doubt that the world is full of millions of horrible, disgusting, self-gratifying people; who do horrible things to each other, there is no great evil. Evil is not real, its an idea, like good, or moral, or ethical. See as we learn from Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi got it right. Good and evil are a point of view. What one deems as evil, another will find virtuous, it just depends on what your values are. And I know what many of you are thinking, the 9/11 hijackers, bin Laden, Saddam, Al Qaeda, Hitler, aren’t they the perfect embodiment of evil? Well you have a point, but these are just people with intentions to hurt others. They are not possessed by evil spirits; in fact these people had many followers who were interested in their ideas, no matter how crazy they are. They are simply people who will do nothing but try to satisfy their own fucked up values. Not everyone values the lives of people. Some people value ideology more than life. And if you say that is the very definition of evil, well then take a closer look at any soldier, or general, or President, that has ever gone to war, because war is the very definition or compromising the value of human life. Great deeds come at great costs, they say.
It seems like everyday we are pushing ourselves away from reasonable thinking. There is no evolution to our values. Our progress is stuck because of the values of men who thought the world was flat. People are urging children to stop reading books that are imaginative because of imagery that contradicts with dogma. But I guess if there is one funny thing about all of this, its that most kids see this stuff as fantasy, creatures that are part of the fantasy world. But to many bible thumping adults, its real. And that makes me smile.