Does Harry Potter promote belief in magic? The American Religious Right believes those books can interest children in the occult. American Christian fundamentalists fear that Harry Potter can encourage children to think magic is benign. Well naturally Christian fundamentalists think all non-Christian supernatural beliefs are evil. People who really believe in magic sometimes see it as good and other times as bad. There is for example a tradition of black magic (bad) grey magic, (neither good nor bad) white magic (good). Harry Potter follows that tradition rather than the Christian fundamentalist tradition and naturally Christian fundamentalists don’t like it. Incidentally Harry Potter is more likely to encourage moral behaviour than for example Abraham’ willingness to sacrifice Isaac in the Bible.
To sensible rational adults Harry Potter looks like harmless fantasy but children are more credulous. When children read stories about magic in a context of trains and schools and teachers and other concepts that are part of their own lives it can be harder for them to separate fact from fiction.
So what should parents do if their children want to read Harry Potter books or watch Harry Potter films? Christian fundamentalists are likely to ban all Harry Potter material imagining its Satanic. Then resentment over the ban can be a factor in getting them to reject Christian fundamentalism as they get older. In any case Harry Potter has some good influence when it encourages children to read. The best probably is if atheist parents let their children read Harry Potter. But especially if the children are young it's good to spend some time making sure they understand the magic is no more real than magic in traditional fairy stories like “Cinderella“ or “Hansel and Gretel“. If teens reading this have younger brothers or sisters who like Harry Potter it’s as well to make sure they understand it’s as unreal as for example “The Wizard of Oz“.