I have enjoyed the Harry Potter books and movies, despite some well meaning Christians warnings against them. I recall a pastor in a previous church who launched into a five minute aside in his sermon, warning the congregation against the evils of Harry Potter. Had I not known we were soon to be leaving that church, I would have pressed him on why he felt it was important to include that warning in the sermon rather than offering Christ crucified. I don’t think he had ever read any of the books and was just regurgitating things he had read on the Internet. My guess is that he found the warnings he read on the Internet to be interesting, and so he wanted to share them with everyone.

I don’t think the Harry Potter books and movies are Satan’s tools to lure young children into the occult, as I have heard. They are just fun stories, and our family has enjoyed them quite a bit.

But apparently, some people take them a little more seriously than we do.

Headline AFP: Harry Potter fans pay homage at graveside of British soldier in Israel

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Fans of literary boy wizard Harry Potter have been beating a path to the tomb of a 19-year-old British soldier who is buried in a cemetery close to Tel Aviv.

Corporal Harry Potter, a member of the Royal Worcestershire regiment, was killed 66 years ago during fighting in the southern West Bank town of Hebron and was subsequently laid to rest in a cemetery in the town of Ramle.

“Every day tourists and visitors come wanting to see Harry’s grave,” the cemetery’s custodian Ibrahim Huri told the Maariv daily on Tuesday.

Apparently, the cemetery’s custodian isn’t up on pop culture.

“At first I didn’t know why they were interested in this grave, but then I was told there were books and movies about him.”

AFP Photo:

Caption: “The grave site of Corporal Harry Potter in the Israeli city of Ramle, near Tel Aviv. Fans of literary boy wizard Harry Potter have been beating a path to the tomb of a 19-year-old British soldier who is buried in a cemetery close to Tel Aviv.(AFP/Tal Cohen)”

It seems to me that some people take Harry Potter way to seriously. I mean, it’s not like going to see Eleanor Rigby’s grave. Now that would make sense.