I was going weeding out some of our movies to remove anything dealing with magic, witches, and so on – including Disney movies like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. I won't have the Harry Potter books in the house. My husband thinks that is going a bit over board. God told His people to "come out and be separate" and "have nothing to do" with the practices of the pagan people around them . Am I making too harsh of a judgement?

I agree with grayce that God calls us to "come out and be separate" ...

Within our North-American mileu the culture of the land is a culture of consumerism, of jingoism and willing use of force against weaker cultures, of ostentatious outward show of religion for political and social gain, of wilful blindness to the hardships suffered by the marginalized. I believe it is *this* culture that God calls us to separate from. I don't believe God cares about Disney videos as long as we continue to practice injustice.

Pagan religion is just that -- a religion; like Bhuddism or Judaism or Islam. As Christians, we may not be *of* the world, but we must be *in* it. The majority of the neighbours with whom we share the global village hold to non-Christian religions. If we were shunning those people, and holding ourselves separate from them, how could we ever be witnesses to them? Effective witness is born from mutual respect; respect begins with knowledge. So, I encourage my children to learn about other religions.

God loves Pagans, you know. At our house worship on Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, a Wiccan neighbour joined us, listened to our bible-readings with great respect, and participated in the prayers for absent and departed friends. Our usual service was very poignant last weekend, in the light of the deaths, within the immediately preceding weekend, of the seven astronauts, seven local school children in an avalanche, and a friend's seventeen-year-old daughter. She may not have known God as we do, but her tears and prayers were no less heartfelt.

I didn't particularly enjoy the tone of the Harry Potter books, but if J. K. Rowling's intent was to expose children to witch craft, she did a rather poor job of it! The "witchcraft" in Harry Potter bears no resemblance to Wiccan religious practice whatsoever. A quick read through any of Scott Cunningham's or Starhawk's books, or even Gardner, will confirm that for you.

In many ways, I'm more leary of things that claim just to entertain. I would far rather my children watch or read stories with a strong positive thematic content, than mindless entertainment. And also, often when we don't see the message, it just means that the message is buried deeply or is so culturally conditioned as to be undetectable -- but not necessarily positive. The inherent violence, classism and sexism of traditional folktales, that Cynthia alludes to in her response, is a good example. Of course, the Disneyfied versions have less violence, but also often have their own hidden message of modern cultural assumptions.

But at the same time, cutting ourselves off from the culture of the past millenia by never reading the Brothers Grimm, and never letting your child watch the Bolshoi Ballet dance Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake or Giselle, risks creating a generation adrift, without roots. We need to find a careful balance between knowing the stories of our culture, and being sufficiently aware of their themes to question and challenge them!

Obviously you are thinking about these things. That's the tightrope-act of parenting, isn't it! We think about the ramifications of every decision we make -- and then we make it anyway, the best we can.

Of course, once you actually know something about neo-paganism and Wicca, it's hard to take seriously claims about the evil of storybook witchcraft. Harry Potter and Sleeping Beauty are fictional stories -- and the witches in them are *fictional* witches. They bear no resemblance to and have no foundation in the real Wiccan religion whatsoever. I *do*disapprove of those depictions of witches, and discuss them seriously with my children -- but because they are disrespectful negative stereotypes of someone else's religion. My DD's roll their eyes and say "Ma-ma! They're *storybook* witches, it's not real!!! We KNOW the difference!!"

That is the crux: to have children who can distinguish between reality and fiction, and who choose kindness and justice to their neighbours over false witness and rejection.