The fact that i have read, and re-read them all many times and didn’t feel that was being preached at is testament to the author’s skill – i didn’t pick up on ANY Christian themes/refs…. so much so that i’d almost argue that they’re not there…. BUT if Rowling says they are, then who am i to argue with HP’s creator?

Clearly, you can read into things as much or as little as you (the reader) likes. I think the phrase ‘strongly christian series’ is actually quite damaging, it might put people off the books. I’d certainly be put off if i hadn’t already read them.

I dont think religion has ANY PLACE in mainstream entertainment. Religion divides people, good media is supposed to unite people.

Plus, theres totally a lesbian subtext going on. The only reason Hermione gets with Ron is that she can’t have Ginny. And lets face it, Harry is pretty gay throughout the series. It’s why Dumbledore likes him so much.

“Blind” belief sounds like something random, picked out of thin air, with no grounds at all for believing.

It’s random in the same way that astrology is random. Any astrologer worth their salt can give a list of justifications as long as your arm for their beliefs. But ultimately they all boil down to:

1) I did it like this and it just felt right; or
2) Someone else did it like this and it just felt right for them.

Skeptics tend to call this sort of belief “blind” because it really doesn’t matter whether astrology is scientifically accurate (it isn’t), predictive (it isn’t) or helpful (your mileage may vary). People will still believe.

Now, any astrologer reading this will probably feel slighted. Obviously there are idiot “astrologers” out there that believe any nonsense, but they’re different! They’ve done the research, they’ve thought things through, they’ve experimented, they’ve analysed.

Unfortunately, if you talk things through with them, it turns out that all they’ve really analysed is:

1) Whether doing it like this feels right to them; or
2) Whether someone else … you get the idea.

That’s roughly the position us atheists are in with Christians. You keep saying that your belief isn’t blind, but when we talk it through with you it all seems to come down to those two points.

Prove me wrong. Lay out a case for belief in terms of concrete evidence or valid logic. Show that belief in God is different from belief in Sagittarius. If you can’t or won’t, but you still want to carry on believing, that’s your prerogative. In that case, though, I’m afraid I’ll be using the phrase “blind faith” for a long time to come.

And let’s face it – it is. You have no proof that God exists. You have never seen him. You have never heard him speak. You have never felt him touch you.

You, and others who share your beliefs (hell, even me, once upon a time), will SAY all of those things have happened. It’s metaphor, allegory, and emotional. Those are not things that can be used in a debate such as this one.

All of this points back to the idea that faith, in its simplest form, is blind belief.

You believe because you feel it, not because you can see it.

As for faith in general, I don’t think people would be willing to die their beliefs if they were truly blind ones. Your perspective may be that they are misguided or wrong, but pretty much everyone I know with any Christian faith (including myself) has been through many periods of doubting and questioning. This is encouraged in most Christian circles, to the extent that it leads people to better understanding of what it is that Jesus came to do.

How can you possibly say that nobody’s pushing blind belief?

The point is not whether or not Rowling was a Christian herself. The point is this passage in particular and what it says about blind belief.

Hermione was unwilling to blindly believe in something just because someone said it was true.

And as you say… “the book goes on to show they do exist…” – this points to evidence, not blind belief.

Which again, is the point being made here.

And no, nobody’s saying that all things ARE true, of course. But that chapter about Hermione’s steps into the scary realm of the unknown is basically exploring the idea that many things MIGHT be true even if they don’t seem, rationally, to be the case.