The popular Harry Potter books are again the center of controversy as parents in Florida complain about a library promotion. Is this a veiled attempt at censorship, or a legitimate state-church separation issue?

library in Jacksonville, Florida is being accused of promoting witchcraft and violating the separation of church and state when it handed out certificates to youngsters reading the popular Harry Potter series of books. The charge is coming from parents represented by the Liberty Counsel legal defense in Orlando, and stems in part from a July incident where a branch library hosted a party for the release of the latest Potter book by author J.K. Rowling.

   An estimated 20 million copies of the series books are now in print, published in 25 languages and 130 countries. The fourth title, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (Scholastic) was unveiled this summer amidst live media coverage, parties and other promotional hoopla. It enjoyed a record printing of 3.8 million copies for the first edition, well ahead of the closest contender, a John Grisham novel which had an initial press run of only 2.5 million.

    The series began in 1997, and chronicles the adventures of a young orphan who escapes his abusive families and treks off to a wizard school. The plots have captivated a new generation of readers, much to the pleasure of parents, educators, librarians and booksellers. There are critics, though, who charge that the Potter books manifest an antiauthoritarian overtone, and promote everything from witchcraft and new age pseudoscience to Satanism. In many communities, churches and activist religious parents have charged that the colorful novels are a training ground for witchcraft, and indoctrinate vulnerable kids in the occult. In Columbia, South Carolina, for instance, parents objected when Potter books found their way into the local classrooms. Concerned fundamentalists point to a passage from Deuteronomy 18:10-12 which warns, "There shall not be anyone found among you who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter of a witch. Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord..."

    The influenctial Focus on the Family group headed by James Dobson denounces the Potter series, insisting that they promote interest in the occult, violence and "worldly values." The rage over the popular juvenile wizard, though, is seen as an opportunity to discuss why the books have found such a wide audience, and present Christian themes like salvation and spirituality.

   Others say that the books help to develop children's' imagination, and note that most works of the juvenile genre touch upon themes rooted in fantasy, myth and inventive story telling. New York Times writer Richard Bernstein notes that the Potter books discuss important issues in the lives of youngsters who find assurances in the struggle of young wizard Harry in overcoming obstacles.

    For angry parents in Jacksonville, though, the Potter books and library promotion are simply a ruse to indoctrinate young readers in the occult. After librarians handed out certificates to young readers for completing "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Liberty Counsel swung into action with its threat of a lawsuit.

    "Witchcraft is a religion," said Matthew Staver, the group's president, "and that certificate of witchcraft endorsed a particular religion in violation of the First Amendment establishment clause."

   Staver founded Liberty Counsel in 1989 to "help preserve religious freedom." A graduate of ministerial school, he has served as a contributing columnist to Jerry Falwell's "National Liberty Journal," and often appears on Falwell's nationally television program. The group has been active in cases opposing the Vermont same-sex marriage statute, and the ban on pre-game prayer at high school athletic contests.

   Staver told the Jacksonville Times-Union newspaper that witchcraft is part of the Wiccan religion, and that the library should not have been issuing witchcraft certificates. Liberty Counsel first heard about the controversy when pastor Paul Zink of the Jacksonville New Life Christian Fellowship church began raising the issue during Sunday sermons.

   Library Director Ken Sivulich told the Times-Union that the certificates were a gimmick to encourage youngsters to read, and that he was surprised by the furor that has emerged. One person raising a commotion has been Jacksonville resident John Miesburg, who complained about what described as evil, occult themes before meetings of the library board and the Jacksonville City Council.

   "It's a travesty that the city of Jacksonville and our library would be promoting the evil of witchcraft to our children," said Miesburg, who home-schools his six children. He criticized the books for containing themes of death and promoting disrespect for parents.

   "If the library system wants to do this, then ... they should also encourage children to read the Bible and pass out certificates of righteousness," he added.

   Mr. Sivulich announced that as of July 19, the library had stopped issuing the witchcraft certificates. He said that between 200 and 300 of the certificates had been distributed, and told reporters that the decision was made before being contacted late last month by Liberty Counsel.

    The flap over Harry Potter touches on many issues, running the gamut from concerns over the content of books in libraries and stores to control of youngsters and generational authority. Last year, the Harry Potter series had the dubious distinction of topping a list of books that parents and organizations had attempted to have censored from libraries, says the American Library Association. Although they have been in print for only four years, the ALA says that young Harry's tales have already risen to the number 48 slot on the group's list of the 100 most challenged books of the decade.

    That has not put a dent in the popularity of the series, though. The Jacksonville library system reportedly has about 1,000 copies of Potter books circulating out of its main library and 14 branches. About 80% of them are checked out at any time, according to the Freedom Forum.

    Many groups hostile to the Potter books, though, have had more classic works of literature in their target sights as well. In the last decade, authors of the most challenged books have included J.D. Salinger -- his "Catcher in the Rye" is a perennial object of protest -- Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Maya Angelou, Michael Willhoite and Judy Blume. The American Library Association compiled 5,718 challenges to library books during the 1990-1999 period.

    Concerns about occult or new age themes in books lag behind the more prosaic calls for censorship. ALA estimates that 1,446 challenges in the decade of the 1990s concerned objections to explicit sex, thus making Judy Blume's book such as "Forever" a tempting target. Homosexual topics accounted for 497 challenges, with Michael Willhoite's book "Daddy's Roommate" topping the category.

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