"You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be."

According to Father Gabriele Amorth, Pope Benedict XVI's senior exorcist (didn't know you could do that for a living), the Harry Potter books are downright evil, hiding "the signature of the king of darkness, the devil."

What's more interesting:

Amorth, who is president of the International Association of Exorcists, also said Adolf Hitler and Russian leader Joseph Stalin were possessed by the devil, and that Pope Pius XII once tried to perform a long-distance exorcism on Hitler.

"I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler - and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the devil.

"You can tell by their behavior and their actions, from the horrors they committed and the atrocities that were committed on their orders. That's why we need to defend society from demons."

Does it make him feel better to say that Hitler and Stalin must have been possessed, not wanting to consider how a human being could carry out such horrific acts? Do we have to explain evil away as some type of demon-possessing trance because it's too unsettling to realize that everyone is capable of evil? What makes the Holocaust terrifying is the fact that it was carried out by you and me, not by a robot or monster we'd rather have as a villain -- something not human.

Young U.K. readers just voted Lord Voldemort the No. 1 literary villain in a Bloomsbury poll. Here's part of what J.K. Rowling had to say when thanking readers:

I have always felt that cardboard baddies make weak heroes and that Harry deserved a really deluxe model, so I have done my best to make Lord Voldemort a real person, red eyed and snakelike though he might be. He, of course, is one of the reasons the Harry Potter books are often banned, but I remain of the firm belief that we need our imaginary villains, the better to brace ourselves for the ones we need to fight in reality.

The difference between good and evil is fairly thin and centers on power, coming down to how far one is willing to go to obtain it. As Harry learns repeatedly, it's the choices you make that define you. "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

Amorth is taking choice out of the equation, which is a disservice to everyone he's supposed to be shepherding and, essentially, is a bad choice.