Harry Potter and the Secular Humanist

by Bill Creasy

The seven volume series of Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling, is the most popular childrens' series in history, selling over 375 million copies (as of April 2008). This remarkable series has managed to pry millions of children away from videogames and TV to read books. They even stood in line at midnight waiting to buy the last book. Harry Potter appears to have developed a cult following, like Star Trek and Star Wars that has characteristics like a religion and will probably last for decades.

Although it is classified as children's literature because it is about teenage protagonists, the series is actually a very complex mythological world. It is set in the modern day, but it concerns a hidden society of people who can perform magic, e.g. wizards and witches. The magic is not arbitrary, but it requires knowedge and training, as well as in-born talent. Unlike many fantasy stories, the Harry Potter series is not set in the distant past or future, but rather modern times. As a result, the magical society has many obvious parallels and analogies to the real world.

The character Harry Potter is a rather normal teenager in some ways, since he likes sports, has two close friends and lots of classmates, has teachers and mentors, and is average in school work. Like the rest of his magical society, he flies on a broomstick and uses a magic wand to cast spells. But he is unusual by any standard in that he has a mortal enemy who is a most powerful and most evil wizard, named Voldemort. He killed Harry's parents when he was one year old, but in doing so linked himself to Harry in a way that neither he nor Harry understand or control. The entire seven-book series is the detailed development of the conflict between the normal, likeable teenager and his friends and the powerful psychopathic killer.

The fictional world has many humanistic messages. It is less effective to list the messages than it is to see them in the context of the story. But for those WASH members who haven't had time to read the books, or have their children describe them, here are some brief summaries of some of the main themes of the story.

1. There is definite good and evil in the world. There are people who exemplify the best and the worst of humanity. But even the best people are not perfect and make mistakes, sometimes fatal ones. People have fallible, imperfect behavior and problems. Most people fall between the extremes, having some good and some evil.

An interesting feature of the series of books is the back story that is included about a large number of characters. The point of view for almost the entire series is Harry Potter's. But he learns about the background of many of the main characters, sometimes by viewing their memories. Prof. Dumbledor, the good wizard and headmaster, made several mistakes in his youth that Harry learned from. Harry also found out about the past of Voldemort, the villian, who started out as a well-liked and successful student. Harry also found out about the lives and death of his parents and their group of friends. All of these people gave lessons about good and bad behavior.

(Incidentally, most of this background information was edited out of the movie versions of the books, which is probably the biggest reason to read the books rather than just see the movies.)

2. Death is final. With all the magic in the stories, there isn't a permanent, real way to bring a dead person back to life. (There are many ways to see the dead temporarily or get information from them, but these methods aren't more permanent than reading a letter or looking at a photo.) Harry Potter desperately wants to talk to his mother and father. But even though he gets glimpses of them in times of need, they can't come back to life.

3. Good people must cooperate with each other. Professor Dumbledor said this best in the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when he said that evil people can only win if good people argue among themselves and refuse to work together. He said, "We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open."

4. Friends are essential to having a complete life. Harry's friends Ron and Hermione are integral to his story, and he completely trusts them. It is interesting that many adventure stories focus on the main character and his virtues, but Harry's friends are shown to be as talented and dedicated as he is. Ron is brave and steadfast, and Hermione is the smartest student in the class, who is always first to raise her hand to answer questions. Harry is a resourceful leader, but he knows he would achieve less without friends to depend on. Less prominent characters who are Harry's classmates are also given their moments of success.

5. Although the characters use magic, the story emphasizes that being good at magic requires study, practice, and hard work. Magic is almost like technology, in that it takes effort to know how to make it work. The characters have a strong work ethic that makes them good role models for children. There are even examples of skepticism, when Hermione finds certain types of magic, like fortune telling or divination, to be vague and useless.

6. There are many situations that the characters must make large risks and sacrifices, with no assurance that they will succeed. Courage is not discussed as much as it is shown. All through the series, but particularly in the final book, Harry must make difficult choices between doing what he thinks is right or taking a safe alternative.

My biggest irritation was from the story's discussion of souls. Souls are treated as physical material that can be divided up and transferred to objects for storage. Given the use of magic in the stories, this use of souls may seem like just another liberty about physical reality. But since most people already think that souls are supernatural, it seems that this plot idea might actually be taken at face value by some people.

The story is, at heart, a coming of age story of Harry Potter. He begins as a young boy at the mercy of people and events outside his control. He grows into a man who is a leader, who questions his purpose in life, and who finds that his mentors and teachers are fallible human beings.

It is a good myth for children and adults alike about some humanistic ideals, and it is superior in some ways to traditional religious mythology. It is interesting that although virtues and vices can be discussed in great detail in philosophical treatises, fictional stories provide a type of concrete example that can inspire emulation, even if the plot and setting are fantastic.

This article was originally published in the August 2008 issue of WASHline, the newsletter of the Washington Area Secular Humanists.