The first major argument would be about the "witchcraft" practiced at Hogwarts. Sure, the bible does highly forbids the use of witchcraft and paganism. I understand that, but the thing is, it isn't real. Magic spells, potions; they don't exist. Some of the book were even burned because they contained witchcraft. So what? If your going to burn a book because of the mention of witchcraft, you should just burn Cinderella, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, any books about King Arthur, The Wizard of Oz or even Macbeth. And of course, there's the argument that the characters do things that God himself does. But, in novels, that isn't exactly true. Sure, the witches and wizards do things that normal human beings can't even dream of doing, but the things are mostly used for good. Even the "Unforgivable Curses", that are used to kill, are not meant for wizards to use. They are forbidden and illegal. Sure, characters use them, but all of the characters that do pay for it in the end. As well, in reality, people kill other people. Those people are put in jail and have sinned, much like the characters put in Askaban.
As well, J.K. Rowling, a practising Christian, uses so much symbolism to represent the Christian religion, that's it's almost funny to read. The serpent, used as the symbol for the house of Slytherin, clearly represents the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Now, Rowling is in no way saying the house is good. In fact, she alludes to the exact opposite. Everyone from Slytherin is evil. And everyone from Slytherin who acts upon their evil thoughts, dies in the end. As well, the symbol for the house of Gryffindor, is a lion. Obviously, it is seen that lions are brave and good creatures, so most people from Gryffindor are good. The entire series is clearly a battle between good and evil.
Even in the last book, the Crucifixion is alluded to. Voldemort, who is clearly winning the battle, calls out to Harry from the forest saying if Harry doesn't come and die, he will kill everyone fighting for the good side. Harry realizes that "he [is] not supposed to survive"(Rowling 554), goes into the forest, and is killed by Voldemort. However, after being in a sort of dream-like trance, Harry awakens and eventually, saves the Wizarding world. Now, some might say that comparing a normal human being to Jesus is wrong, but many, many authors have done it before. I mean, C.S. Lewis compared a lion and J.J.R. Tolkin compared Frodo to Jesus . Using a character to represent Jesus is not a terrible thing whatsoever. Obviously the character is not Jesus, but they possess qualities that are the true meaning good, similar to Jesus.
What really baffles me, is the idea of censorship in this whole "anti-christ" argument. Some Christian parents won't even let their children read the books because they are afraid of them becoming "corrupted" or something ridiculous like that. When I was little, I loved Harry Potter. I wanted to go to Hogwarts and live in the world of magic. But in no way did I see the allusions to the Bible. Most children don't understand things like that, and would let alone act upon them. Obviously certain Christians are afraid that people will stop believing in their faith because of a novel. If people are afraid that, after reading a book, they will stop believing in something so important to them, the foundation of the religion probably isn't exactly strong to begin with.
