A memoir by George W Bush‘s former speechwriter claims that Bush administration officials objected to giving JK Rowling a presidential medal of freedom on the grounds that her Harry Potter books “encouraged witchcraft”.

Latimer, whose memoir Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor was published last week by Crown in the US, says that the “narrow thinking” of “people in the White House” led them “to actually object to giving the author JK Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft“.

See also: Harry Potter is converting Christian critics, Christian themes abound in Potter and How the boy wizard won over religious critics — and the deeper meaning theologians now see in his tale

Well, it’s official. Albus Dumbledore, a hero of the phenomenally popular Harry Potter series and headmaster of the wizarding school Hogwarts, is gay.

Harry Potter fans, the rumors are true: Albus Dumbledore, master wizard and Headmaster of Hogwarts, is gay.

Instead of focusing on how things like witchcraft and paganism are anti-Christian themes, they should have been criticizing Rowling’s interpretation of life after death.

Where are the pictures of angry, book-burning Christians? Where are the denouncements of the books as pagan incitements to the occult, drawing the nation’s children down the path of witchcraft? It has all been strangely quiet on the theological front.

(Spoiler alert: If you want to avoid learning anything significant, finish the book before you read this column.)

The Church of England is publishing a guide advising youth workers how to use Harry Potter to spread the Christian message.

Christmas came early for fans of the Harry Potter series this year, with the revelation of the title of the long-awaited seventh book.

And you thought Harry Potter was kids' stuff ? Try telling that to the delegates who packed into a conference in Las Vegas last week discussing moral alignment and metanarrative in the works of JK Rowling. But one question: why were the mostly female delegates dressed up as witches and schoolgirls and talking feverishly about Potter porn?

J.K. Rowling has dropped the hint - the wizard may expire. How will this affect those who live in Potterland? John Elder finds out.

The Vatican's chief exorcist has claimed the Harry Potter stories could lead children into Satanism.

Course focuses on boy wizard books

The opening of the new Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," today will bring both avid fans and staunch critics to the forefront. Some will even decry the series as one that teaches children the art of witchcraft, while others will compare the characters and their practices with real people who practice Wicca.

Harry Potter nuts are gathering for the first academic conference focusing on the world of their teenage wizard hero.

A word of caution to all those hard-core fans about to dive into the latest adventures of Harry Potter: There will be tears.