Religion and Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has many religious parallels if one looks at the events that occur through out the movie with intent on comparing it to religious themes. After reading Peter Ciacco’s, Harry Potter and Christian Theology, I understood how religious themes and events could be seen as relevant to the magical world J.K. Rowling created. The beginning of this film reminded me of how Jesus had to convince people that he was a divine figure that had a special relationship with God. Not everyone believed him and the same is true when Harry Potter tries to convince the ministry of magic that Lord Voldemort has returned. I’m not comparing Harry Potter to Jesus as the role of the Messiah. Instead I am saying that Harry Potter is a believer, like a pastor or religious leader. Harry takes on the responsibility to make people believe that Lord Voldemort is back, which resembles the religious communities act of convincing people that the Devil exists. These two comparisons are very evident. Lord Voldemort is evil and he wants to destroy the world of magic and all that is good.

Harry takes the initiative like Jesus did to educate everyone about the gospel and the evils that exist. This can be seen when Harry becomes the leader of Dumbledore’s Army. Like the army of religious people they start off small, like a cult. Like Christianity, Harry’s cult becomes bigger when more students and faculty become believers that Lord Voldemort is back and they join forces to take him down. For some reason Harry is the master of these tricks and as he says, “I survived because I was lucky most of the time”, but we all know that it was not always luck. Like Jesus and his battle against evil there is some divine way that Harry manages to conjure up the complex spells to combat evil.

What makes Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix even more religious is the concept of everlasting love. In the Christian tradition, faith and the love of God are very important as a believer. Harry Potter is a very strong believer in good and just like any human he has his faults. When talking to Sirius Black we understand that he feels anger taking over him, also interpreted as Lord Voldemort accessing his mind. However, Sirius reassures him that everyone is good however we have some bad urges. These bad urges are okay, but we have to fight that with our faith in good. This is the same message of temptation in sin that the devil uses to capture good people. In the end Harry beats the Devil or Voldemort with his faith and love, which ultimately is the same way that Christians win over evil and access the kingdom of heaven. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has many possible religious parallels between Harry as a divine religious leader focused on defeating evil.