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Harry Potter and the Muggles of Doom

By Patrick Day and Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

As far as literary creations go, Harry Potter's popularity ranks somewhere between Sherlock Holmes and Huckleberry Finn. Everyone in the whole world, it seems, has fallen under the spell of the J.K. Rowling books or their film adaptations. Everyone, that is, except for a few holdouts, shouting their objections into the void, hoping for some shout or nod from a kindred spirit. These people are muggles through and through -- people, as described in Rowling's world, with no magical ability.

To be fair, we're all muggles -- but these people, who have come to be known as Anti-Potterists, embrace the role and scratch their heads and wonder why anyone would want to embrace Rowling's completely unrealistic magical creation. Their objections are literary or religious in nature, and they are far from lone wackjobs with an axe to grind. Even the Pope himself has some Anti-Potterist leanings.

But just what are these Muggles' specific complaints? That bears a deeper look.