A Catholic school has banned Harry Potter books over fear of “evil spirits”

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The HARRY POTTER series has conjured billions in revenue and sparked the spirit of imagination in fans around the world – but one pastor at local catholic school fears they will conjure something else: evil spirits. Yes, despite the classic book series’ emphasis on the fight between good and evil (hint: good wins), Rev. Dan Reehil of the St. Edward Catholic School in Nashville, Tennessee has it on good authority that saying the actual spells in the books will have terrifying consequences, and thus has banned the books from the school’s library. I knew I wasn’t in crazy in thinking the room would always get darker whenever I tried to make my sandwich float to me!

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The Tennessean reports that the pastor of the Roman Catholic parish sent out an email informing the parents about his efforts to save the school from spirits wreaking havoc. He cited how he spoke with several exorcists in the U.S. and in Rome who told him he should remove the books – this although the Catholic Church has no official position on the books. Below is a segment from the email Reehil sent out:

"These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception. The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text.”

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While Reehil was not available for comment, the superintendent schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Rebecca Hammel, said that while none of the other schools were following in Reehil’s footsteps he is within his powers to make that call for his school. But the other schools may change their tune when, suddenly, they see students possessed by Potter spirits spray painting the words "School Sux" on the walls. 

Hammel said that the books are being removed from the library as a way of “going through and kind of weeding out some of the content in hopes of sprucing it up and improving the circulation,” for St Edwards’ new library. Luckily for the students, they can simply ignore this one facet of their school leadership's thinking and seek out the books at home, where they will find that the books contain no evil spells harnessing very real powers, but a big, epic story about love, friendship and good beating evil, written with incredible wit and wonder by J.K. Rowling. Oh, and $10 to whoever goes around shouting "Expelliarmus" during lunch.