Monday, July 23, 2007

Harry Potter and The Atheist Table

It was a beautiful Saturday perfect for a relaxing afternoon at the atheist table. However Harry Potter prevented that. Yes, I had to stay home and finish reading the final installment which, if you happen to be living under a rock, came out on Saturday at 12:01 AM. Because of my voracious blog and forum reading habits I had to get it done quick before the Internets ruined the ending for me. I was in Web blackout mode for most of the weekend.

I did happen to pass some bookstores on the way home Friday night. (Specifically Saturday morning around 12:30 AM.) I was returning from a gathering of fellow atheists who enjoy drinking alcohol and eating bacon apparently. Anyway, I figured things would have calmed down by 12:30 and I could just waltz in a pick up a copy but there was no chance of that. Lines stretched around the block for both the local Barnes and Noble and the little Mom & Pop bookshop. There were even potter-heads sitting on the sidewalk reading under the street lamps. Forget that!

The next morning I stopped by the bookstore again. No lines! It wasn't even sold out. Sheesh. I'm glad I didn't waste time reserving a copy online or waiting in line all night.

To make this post somewhat atheism and/or religion related I have to comment on all the bizarre Christian protests against these books. Hasn't anyone noticed the yearly Christmas celebrations at the Hogwarts school?! I think we should have an atheist War on Christmas at Hogwarts. Someone has to stand up for all those poor young atheist wizards and witches suffering under all the Christian propaganda that is plastered all over Hogwarts school every December. What about Kwanzaa and Festivus? So much for multiculturalism in the wizarding world. I even heard about a poll showing people would rather vote for a house elf to be the Minister of Magic over an atheist.

For more on Harry Potter from an atheist's view point, check out The Friendly Atheist.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heehee- I was reading the third book today and started thinking of your comment. I think it would have been very funny if they celebrated Darwin day in the books. Maybe Rowling could have come up with a phylogentic tree of all those magical creatures.... I wonder what it would have looked like......

Anonymous said...

The irony of it all is that the guy who PLAYS Harry Potter is an atheist.