{"id":888,"date":"2019-09-04T15:39:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T15:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/utccismcc.utk.edu\/?p=888"},"modified":"2019-09-04T15:39:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T15:39:55","slug":"harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The popular book series is frequently surrounded by controversy amongst the religious community for its depiction of spells and curses. Photo from CNN.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Posted by Monique Freemon<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee has removed the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d book series from their library, according to The Tennessean<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at St. Edward Catholic School, was concerned over the depictions of magic in the books. After consulting with exorcists in the U.S. and Rome, he decided to remove them.<\/p>\n

The Tennessean published part of Reehil\u2019s email further detailing his decision, \u201cThese 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news publication stated Rebecca Hammel, the superintendent of the schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, confirmed Reehil\u2019s email since he was unavailable for comment. The decision has received negative and positive support via social media.<\/p>\n

The post volume following the article\u2019s publication was 45,000 with most posts coming from Twitter by 97 percent. The top four countries with the most mentions were the U.S. (58.4 percent), Unknown (29.2 percent), Canada (3.9 percent), the U.K. (3.3 percent) and Australia (1.3 percent).<\/p>\n

\"\"
After The Tennessean published the article, many took to Twitter and other social media platforms to discuss the controversy. Photos from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Past Controversy<\/strong>
\nSince 1997, the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d series has been frequently scrutinized by religious groups. According to The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library blog<\/a>, many arguments asserted, \u201cHarry Potter<\/em>\u00a0glorified magic and the occult, confusing children and leading them to attempt to emulate the spells and curses they read about.\u201d The sentiment score for the current controversy was 60.7 percent negative and 15.2 percent positive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
There were a mixture of reactions for and against the parish school\u2019s removal of the beloved series. Photo from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Many Twitter responses were against the banning of the series at St. Edward Catholic School, but a few supported the Reehil\u2019s decision. Some even brought up the U.S. should focus more on banning assault weapons than books. Photo from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to Bloomsbury Publishing<\/a>, J.K. Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter universe, thought of the idea in 1990 while travelling London King\u2019s Cross. The first book, \u201cHarry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone\u201d (U.K. version) or \u201cHarry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone\u201d (U.S. version), was published in 1997. It quickly rose on the bestsellers list and was published in numerous languages. Vox<\/a> cited its influence as an \u201call-encompassing,\u201d \u201cbonafide,\u201d pop culture phenomenon.<\/p>\n

A History of Magic
\n<\/strong>The seven-book series chronicled the magical and dangerous adventures of a 11-year-old wizard, Harry Potter, and his two friends, Ronald Weasley (a.k.a., \u201cRon\u201d) and Hermione Granger. The first part of the series illustrated the trio\u2019s experience with magic for the first time. During their first years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizard, the trio fought a three headed dog named Fluffy, defeated a 50-foot snake and battled the soul sucking Dementors. As the series progressed, the characters matured and the content became darker. The characters dealt with love, loss, secrets and friendship. Towards the middle and later books, Harry competed in a deadly Triwizard Tournament with the help of his friends, a dark wizard returned, discovered a prophecy and solved the mystery of the half-blood prince. The series concluded with an epic battle for the wizarding and Muggle world.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Most of the reactions involving the parish school\u2019s removal of the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d series were negative, but this is not the first time there has been controversy surrounding the popular books. Photo from Adam Brown Social Media Command Center Social Media Studio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, the ultimate goal was to defeat Lord Voldemort, a dark and powerful wizard who was bent on creating a world for pure-blood magical lines and ridding the world of Muggles (non-magical people).<\/p>\n

Mischief Managed<\/strong>
\nRowling\u2019s creation was adapted into a billion dollar movie franchise<\/a> (including expansion stories such as \u201cFantastic Beast and Where to Find Them\u201d<\/a>), theme parks in the U.S. and Japan<\/a>, inspired charity organizations such as Lumos<\/a> and global online communities such as Pottermore<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Millions are fascinated with the books\u2019 sense of escapism, how to conquer one\u2019s fears, the meaning of true friendship<\/a>, embracing hope and taking action against the evils of the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted by Monique Freemon A Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee has removed the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d book series from their library, according to The Tennessean. Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at St. Edward Catholic School, was concerned over the depictions of magic in the books. After consulting with exorcists in the U.S. and Rome, he decided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-absmcc"],"yoast_head":"\nHarry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School - CCI Research & Innovation Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School - CCI Research & Innovation Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Posted by Monique Freemon A Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee has removed the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d book series from their library, according to The Tennessean. Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at St. Edward Catholic School, was concerned over the depictions of magic in the books. After consulting with exorcists in the U.S. and Rome, he decided […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CCI Research & Innovation Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-04T15:39:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/harry-potter-books.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"974\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"547\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hillary Tune\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hillary Tune\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Hillary Tune\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e\"},\"headline\":\"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-04T15:39:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":818,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/harry-potter-books.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Adam Brown Social Media Command Center\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/\",\"name\":\"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School - CCI Research & Innovation Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/harry-potter-books.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-04T15:39:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/harry-potter-books.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/harry-potter-books.jpg\",\"width\":974,\"height\":547},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/\",\"name\":\"CCI Research & Innovation Center\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e\",\"name\":\"Hillary Tune\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cci.utk.edu\\\/ric\\\/author\\\/htune1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School - CCI Research & Innovation Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School - CCI Research & Innovation Center","og_description":"Posted by Monique Freemon A Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee has removed the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d book series from their library, according to The Tennessean. Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at St. Edward Catholic School, was concerned over the depictions of magic in the books. After consulting with exorcists in the U.S. and Rome, he decided […]","og_url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/","og_site_name":"CCI Research & Innovation Center","article_published_time":"2019-09-04T15:39:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":974,"height":547,"url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/harry-potter-books.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hillary Tune","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hillary Tune","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/"},"author":{"name":"Hillary Tune","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/#\/schema\/person\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e"},"headline":"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School","datePublished":"2019-09-04T15:39:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/"},"wordCount":818,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/harry-potter-books.jpg","articleSection":["Adam Brown Social Media Command Center"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/","name":"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School - CCI Research & Innovation Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/harry-potter-books.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-04T15:39:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/#\/schema\/person\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/harry-potter-books.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/harry-potter-books.jpg","width":974,"height":547},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/2019\/09\/04\/harry-potter-books-banned-from-tennessee-school\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Harry Potter Books Banned from Tennessee School"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/","name":"CCI Research & Innovation Center","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/#\/schema\/person\/569f000aca9fa12bba5f8ab96c17d08e","name":"Hillary Tune","url":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/author\/htune1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/ric\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}