10 Movies That Were Condemned On Religious Grounds

9. Harry Potter (All Of Them)

Few long-running movie franchises have proven to be as enduring and popular as the Harry Potter series, adapted from the novels by J. K. Rowling. A generation of children grew up with Potter and his friends, enduring the trials and tribulations of the young wizard as he honed his skills and confronted the forces of evil, culminating in the final showdown with the Dark Lord Voldemort. Given that the Potter universe is based around witches and wizards and is replete with concepts lifted from mythology and witchcraft, it was perhaps inevitable that it would find condemnation from religious groups who viewed it as countering the message of religion. Sure enough, a number of religious organisations have condemned the books on such grounds: the Greek Orthodox Church among others have described Harry Potter as Satanic, declaring that it "acquaints people with evil, wizardry, the occult and demonology", while Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America, heavily criticized the series on the grounds that it "encouraged homosexuality." To be fair, the movies have have had considerably less stick than J. K. Rowling's original novels. Rowling herself has gone to considerable lengths to demonstrate how the story actively promotes Christian values, and there are a number of large Christian organisations who echo this opinion, with one prominent Cardinal describing them as "a good dose of moral truth". Islamic scholars and rabbis have also spoken positively of the books and films. Perhaps the nature of religious condemnation of the Potter series can be summed up in Rowling's own words: "I don't take any responsibility for the lunatic fringes of my own religion."