Speaking of Potter, what of Flamel?

Whilst Harry Potter is a fictional character it is clear that creator JK Rowling researched her subject. There was a Philosopher's Stone, or at least a belief in it; and there certainly was a 14th Century French alchemist called Nicholas Flamel. Cerberus, centaurs, gryphons... you name it, they are "real" enough in that mythical way we so love to read about. Don't stop with reading the Potter books, do some further research yourself.

Burning Harry Potter

Forbes mag reports here on book-burnings, especially of Harry Potter novels. Now these fundamentalist views are right - author J K Rowling is indeed influencing your people in the direction of mystical, magical realms that probably have little foundation in truth. They are built on faith and belief, not testable fact. Sure, some of it is "fact", in the sense that it's been researched and is citing previous work. In the Harry Potter series we read about the Philosopher's stone and Nicholas Flamel, to pick just 2. And sure enough there was a real enough belief in such a stone and its power in Alchemy, as indeed there was a Nicholas Flamel. We can look all of this up in other books, check it out and see how "real" it all is for ourselves. Now some of us - especially the young and impressionable - may fall for it in a big way and just "believe" without questioning. Others will know instinctively that it's a modern fable. So do we burn it because it's a fable, and probably burn Grimm and Aesop as well? Do we do this because it's wrong, or because it threatens our own beliefs?

If we burn Potter should we not burn all myth and legend, or any belief we don't, umm, believe in ourselves? And ban it from our minds, just to be sure?