Let's think a spell

Do some Brunswick County school board members seriously believe that housing Harry Potter in the library is the same as letting a Christian group pass out Bibles at school? If so, it's time for some remedial constitutional reading.

The question came up as a committee was discussing a new procedure for parents to use when challenging material in school libraries - wondrous places where students may select books on a wide array of topics, religion included.

Shirley Babson, who has spent much of her tenure on the board contemplating ways to get around that pesky First Amendment ban on government-sponsored indoctrination, heard from a parent who questioned whether J.K. Rowling's young wizard is promoting religion. Fellow board member Jimmy Hobbs wondered aloud whether these books constitute the school system's endorsement of Wiccan practices. That would be bad, of course.

These board members weren't so cautious last year when they tried to permit the Gideons to distribute Bibles on school grounds. Babson even made it clear she wanted only Bibles to be handed out. The board majority reversed the policy after its lawyer said schools would have to offer the same access to all religious groups.

Of course, the Harry Potter series doesn't promote any religious beliefs. It's a childhood fantasy, like the fairy tales on which generations of good Christians have grown up. It's unlikely that many little Lutherans have become witches because they wanted to live in a gingerbread house, like that child-cooking witch in Hansel and Gretel.

Whether Harry Potter and his friends are practicing some form of religion at Hogwarts is immaterial - provided that the graduates aren't roaming the halls of Leland Middle School in search of converts.