Monday, July 9: Did you know that Steve Vander Ark, creator of the popular Harry Potter Lexicon, was a Christian? I didn't until I read this:

The family attends Hillside Christian Reformed Church, which leads to the question a lot of people have asked him.

How can you support this Harry Potter stuff? It's evil! … Vander Ark sighs. No, he says. It isn't evil.

"I'm a Christian school librarian," he says. "I've taken books off shelves that I don't think are appropriate for kids. That's what librarians do. That's what parents do.

"There are some things that shouldn't be in kids' hands," he says. "But Harry Potter isn't one of them. Here's a kid who fights against evil at the risk of his own life. That's more Christian than playing Monopoly, where you try to slaughter the other players and leave them destitute.

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Angela Montefinise, a New York Post reporter, Quibbler blogger, and Harry Potter fan, interviewed me for her Potter fan profile series. The pictures I took of myself with my Harry Potter stuff are a little corny, but I had fun posing.

Angela did a great job with the profile, but I want to make a few things clear. Although I'm a bit critical of Christians who condemn the books, I do understand their concerns. I certainly don't want to alienate fellow believers.

I started this blog because I wanted to encourage other Christian HP fans to discuss the books. I was delighted when I found other Christian HP writers and bloggers, like John Granger, Travis Prinzi, and the guys at Muggle Matters. I didn't know such people existed, given the media's coverage of Christians opposed to the books.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the profile. An excerpt:

When Washington DC resident La Shawn Barber first heard about the Harry Potter books, she outright "condemned them out of hand."
Barber - a practicing Christian - doesn't believe in witchcraft, and immediately lumped JK Rowling's books into the evil, occult category.

"I was one of the Christians who condemned the Harry Potter books because of witchcraft and magic," said Barber, 40. "I wasn't really outspoken about it, but if anyone ever asked me about the books, I would quickly tell them that I'm a Christian and I don't believe there's any place for witchcraft."

Now, when Barber looks into her internal pensieve and thinks about her former position, she can't help but shake her head.

"I was coming from a position of ignorance," said Barber, currently a die-hard Potter fan who takes notes on the movies, has read every book and has her own Harry Potter blog specifically meant for Christians called Fantasy Fiction For Christians. "I had never even read them."

She decided to take the plunge into the world of Hogwarts a few years ago, when the movie "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" was on television.
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Once the Potter series ends, Barber - a blog consultant by day who thinks Ravenclaw would be her house if she went to Hogwarts - plans to expand her Potter website for Christians to other fantasy.