Wizards and Muggles
by Rachel Marvin-Borger
Human beings interpret the world around them by categorizing and taxonomizing. We divide, we separate, we differentiate, we label.
This is necessary for our survival-- to recognize safe and unsafe, harmless and poisonous, beneficial or hazardous.
There is a dark side of this impulse-- that humans categorize and label one another. We are often caught othering people whom we think of as different from ourselves. We minimize our similarities and focus on the differences that threaten or disgust us. We define people who are different from us as inferior.
The wizarding world of the Harry Potter novels is beset by all sorts of problems revolving around the relations of various groups to other groups, especially to wizards. Magic users are pit against or contrasted with muggles, squibs, centaurs, house elves, werewolves, etc.
Two examples from this world that typify the tendency to unnecessarily and unhelpfully other people who are different are Vernon Dursley and Lucious Malfoy.
Vernon Dursely is a muggle (a non-maigic user). He is aware of the wizarding world through his wife's family. He has nothing but contempt for magic users. It is clear that he feels not only disgust, but also fear toward a people whose world he is not privy to.
Lucious Malfoy is a wizard. He views muggles, and also wizards of muggle-descent, as inferior. He looks down on any unions between wizards and muggles as a pollution. He believes pure blood wizards are superior and ought to rule over the muggles.
This world also includes a n example of genuine curiosity in and interest for people who are different. Arthur Weasley is a wizard who is fascinated by the world of muggles. He is especially interested in muggle technology and how they solve problems without magic. Arthur is not a muggle but has appreciation and respect for them. He recognizes their humanity.
The world is in desperate need of more Arthur Weasleys. We don't need more fear of people unlike us, or more disgust or contempt for those who believe differently. We don't need to fret more about being contaminated by others. Instead we should be curious about and appreciative of one another.
We ought to recognize the humanity of others as holding more primacy than the details of our differences. Ultimately, we are called to see our primary identities as children of God-- made in God's image-- as more important than our various other identities and characterizations.
“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 3:6 NIV
“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 NIV
Paul called the early church to be united and to be one in spite of their differences. These are not only surface level differences; these are substantial distinctions such as those between gender and culture. These differences are not bigger than the unity that exists between God's people.
