Why is the Lord of the rings and the Chronicles of Narnia OK for Christians to read but Harry Potter isn’t?

Well on the surface this seems both easy and hard, and it is, just not in the way it looks. I once helped to teach a Sunday school class for third graders. That question came out right after the LOTR trilogy was released (which also happened to be when A Narnia movie came out as well as a Harry Potter. And it raised some real questions for “our” kids. A friend of mine tried saying that it was because Gandalf and the characters in lord of the rings were true to their form. In other words Gandalf was MADE to be a wizard as Legolas was MADE to be an elf and Frodo was made to be a hobbit. But the thing is that really the same could be said of Harry Potter. The ones who were wizards were ones who were BORN to it. You do not ever see in those books Uncle Vernon trying to pick up a wand and wave it to make magic. Aunt Petunia never puts a cauldron in the kitchen and start adding eye of newt or toe of frog. And Dudley never tries to fight dementors… EVEN WHEN THEY ARE ATTACKING HIM. Harry, ( and Hermione and Draco and Ron etc…) were BORN Or created the way they were, the same as Gandalf and others. So that doesn’t hold up. It isn’t about magic per se. obviously look at the comparison. It isn’t about the monsters. There are trolls, goblins, Wargs and other nasties in LOTR the same as in Potter. And there are even more of those kinds of things in Narnia then there are in HP. So where is the problem? Could it be that it is simply because J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis use initials instead of a full name? Oh wait J.K. Rowling… nope guess that wasn’t it. Maybe it is because Lewis and Tolkien wrote from a Christian Perspective and Rowling did not. Ah yes… and no. Tolkien’s books were not meant to take the place of any thing Christian, neither were they supposed to be allegorical (though Lewis’ works clearly were.) Tolkien was simply writing about good verses evil period. Some would say here that that is the same thing Rowling does. Of course Rowling's characters were children placed in harm’s way while Tolkien went to great pains to point out that his Characters were all grown up. “AH” you say “but Lewis’ characters were children too!” But here we come to the real crux of the problem. See the real difference (and it is really a simple one). Tolkien's good guys never lied. Lewis’ good guys didn’t lie either at least not after they were redeemed. See the real problem with Harry Potter is one of simple morality. Whatever Harry chooses to do is OK either simply because it’s Harry, or because everything worked out ok in the end. Harry, Ron and Hermione accuse, lie, cheat, disobey, steal and basically sin their way through it all and in the end it’s ok because the ends justify the means. Yeah they put themselves and others in danger when they disobeyed and went up against the troll but they beat it so it’s ok. Yeah Harry cheated and snuck out to go to town when He shouldn’t have but he is ok so no harm done give him a treat. Yeah they flaunted authority but the authority was in the wrong and so it is ok that they did that. They get to make (or break) the rules as they go. However they want to do it. They never are brought to justice. They just “follow their heart/s” and it is all ok. No need for adult supervision, they all just get in the way or make things difficult. No need for obedience to the law never mind that those laws are there to protect them. CLEARLY they must know better then whoever made up that law. After all they ARE ok aren’t they? See in Narnia we see what harm can come from telling a lie. In HP telling a lie can be a good thing. In Narnia we see that we need to find forgiveness when we hurt others. In HP however not only do we not have to try to get along but we can be rude and spiteful at the same time. In Middle earth we see a huge struggle between good and evil. In hp we see a struggle between evil and… the not so bad maybe after all when you realize how well it all worked out in the end right? Now maybe HP seems more like the way the world works in reality where we have to compromise (not that Harry is ever willing to compromise where Snape is concerned) and things aren’t always picture perfect. But Christians are supposed to think on “whatever is GOOD whatever is HOLY” and that AIN’T Harry Potter. Sometimes we need to be aware of what message we are sending to our kids. And while sometimes the world requires compromise, we, ALL OF US, should be trying to pursue loftier realms. Watch a movie Like Seabiscuit, Rudy, The Rookie. The Sound of Music (all based on real life events) or Chariots of fire (again…). Here are people REAL LIFE PEOPLE who did not compromise their faith or beliefs and the world was made a better place for it.