Next she'll try to ban schools from teaching Latin

Via Michael Ralston in the comments over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars, we get this story about a mother in Georgia trying to get the Harry Potter books banned from the county schools. Nothing unusual there--as the article notes, "They have been challenged numerous times since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st century, according to the American Library Association." But her legal approach is one I hadn't seen before:

At Tuesday's hearing, Mallory argued in part that witchcraft is a religion practiced by some people and, therefore, the books should be banned because reading them in school violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

Well, that's not at all how the separation of church and state works, but okay. Almost semi-reasonable.

Until she continues to speak:

"I have a dream that God will be welcomed back in our schools again," Mallory said. "I think we need him."

Wait, what? You want to get rid of the separation of church and state, but you want to use it to get Harry Potter books out of the schools? I have to wonder whether these people even consider that if they let religion in the schools, it won't be theirs. That's how my step-father got a bill to allow prayer in schools defeated: he called up his state legislator one night, pretending to be a supporter. After a while of talking, he brought up "But I've been wondering, what should I do if my kid's teacher is Catholic? I've also heard there are some teachers that are Jews, and -- God forbid -- Muslims." The bill was withdrawn the next day.

Anyways. This next part was what really got me:

Mallory said she has testimony from children who have read the Harry Potter books and have thought about acting out spells described in the books.

"They don't want the Easter Bunny's power," Mallory said. "The children in our generation want Harry's power, and they're getting it."

"And they're getting it?" Damn. School must be a lot more interesting these days.