A Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee has removed the "Harry Potter" series of books from its library because it includes "actual curses and spells," The Tennessean reports.
Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at St. Edward Catholic School, which is a pre-K through 8th-grade Catholic school in South Nashville, told the newspaper that the books were taken from the school library because the “curses and spells” in the book could actually summon “evil spirits,” saying that he consulted with exorcists in the U.S. and Rome who recommended that the books be removed.
"These 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," Reehil wrote in an email.
The Catholic Diocese of Nashville school superintendent Rebecca Hammel told the Tennessean that the church does not hold an official position on the “Harry Potter” series, but said that the school’s pastor decides what books are acceptable in the library.
"Each pastor has canonical authority to make such decisions for his parish school," she said. "He's well within his authority to act in that manner."
Hammel added that she did not know what, if anything, prompted the decision, or if any other books were being removed.
"I know that in the process they were going through and kind of weeding out some of the content in hopes of sprucing it up and improving the circulation," she said.
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