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The excerpt quoted above about the Harry Potter series of books drawing impressionable young children under Satan's spell is the opening to a fictional article taken directly from The Onion, a satirical publication. Unfortunately, hysterical religious groups determined to demonstrate that any children's book dealing with wizards and magic must be a pernicious, evil influence upon young minds have not only failed to realize this article is satire, they've actually cited it as proof that the ghastly phenomenon of satan-worshipping youngsters is real: Web publications such as WND ran a 26 November article by Ellen Makkai (ironically described as someone who began writing columns 16 years ago in response to what she perceived as the moral and intellectual laxity among many feminist commentators), about how the Harry Potter phenomenon is definitely draw[ing] kids to witchcraft which included (without intended irony) the following quote straight out of The Onion's parody: Apparently the obvious humor of a High Priest of the First Church of Satan's calling the arrival of the Harry Potter phenomenon a godsend went right over more than a few people's heads. (The Onion's quote has since been excised from the WND version of this article, but it still appears in the original from Creators Syndicate). Those determined to demonstrate that the Harry Potter's popularity is an evil influence on children incredibly maintain that even if The Onion piece is parody, it nonetheless accurately reflects author J.K. Rowling's attitudes and a real-life phenomenon of a massive recruitment of children by satanic cults. Everything here is bogus, from the phony quotes attributed to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling (from The Onion) to the ludicrous statistics about open applicants to Satan worship having increased from around 100,000 to now . . . 20 MILLION (from whoever penned the e-mail rant). As the Associated Press reported: As to the issue of hordes of children willingly flocking to join satanic cults, this concept is ably debunked at length in Jeffrey S. Victor's 1993 book, Satanic Panic: The Making of a Contemporary Legend. We can't summarize his lengthy analysis in a single paragraph, but the introduction offers a good overview of his thesis: If The Onion's parody has demonstrated anything, it's that we should be worrying about adults not being able to distinguish between fiction and reality. The kids themselves seem to have a pretty good grasp of it.
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