Demons for Child Literacy

To my horror, I discovered yesterday that zealous fundamentalism is alive and well right here in my own law school. Eavesdropping on a conversation in the library, I overheard a woman in my very own class say, of churches that try to ban Harry Potter books, "I agree with that. Those books are wrong." When pressed for an explanation, she said, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There's something in those books--they're doing something, to get these kids reading them! I mean, they've got kids reading them who never read. They've got kids reading them who CAN'T read, who were illiterate before! There's DEMONS in those books!"

So I'm thinking, "Way to go, demons! Good work fighting childhood illiteracy! Looks like you beat God to the punch (where is God these days?!)." But I remained silent. My primary form of entertainment as a teenager was arguing with streetcorner Bible-beaters, so I long ago realized that rational argument is futile against irrational people. You might as well try to explain quantum mechanics to a dog.

But I still might make myself a t-shirt that says "Demons For Child Literacy."