Chapter 6, Paradigmatic Learning

For Hermione and Harry, the first day of classes did not bring about hopeful prospects. They, joined by Ron, awoke early and proceeded to the great hall for breakfast; prior to this they found Ginny awake in the common room joined by Elliot Ewls. The two were laughing, talking, even… singing. It was unknown to either Harry, Ron, or Hermione that Ginny could sing, nonetheless her voice seemed almost pretty and Elliot gave her friendly tips on making it sound clearer.

Harry's hunger impeded his would-be rage at this, and he simply ignored it and proceeded to the great hall with Hermione and Ron—who walked hand-in-hand as usual. Upon arrival at the entrance hall, Hermione was stopped by Professor McGonagall.

"Ms. Granger, would you join me in private for a moment?"

"Of Course," Hermione Replied.

McGonagall and Hermione walked off. Hermione would not rejoin Ron and Harry for breakfast. In midst of the morning pancakes and eggs, Professor Reginald Lovelace, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and head of the Gryffindor house handed out schedules to those seated at the Gryffindor Table. Ron and Harry took their schedules with dismay.

"What!"

"How could they do this!"

In addition to the eight classes the two of them were already taking; added onto their schedules against their will was Introduction to Religious Studies with the Ravenclaws, which they would have at 9 AM following breakfast, and Introduction to Philosophy with Huffelpuff which they would have at 2 PM. Apparently their discontent was shared by everyone in the room as the burden of having two extra non-magical classes caused groans to emerge from everywhere amongst the students in the great hall.

This news came to Hermione as she visited with Professor McGonagall over a very painful subject, and it was not welcome to her either as she was already taking ten classes.

"How can they make us take Philosophy and Theology!" She demanded.

"The ministry and the school feel that…"

"What sort of magic will we be learning in these classes, what can we possibly do in them that will be of any value at all!" Hermione shouted.

Hermione Granger had interrupted professors before but she had never shouted at them. The subject of the meeting was already frustrating to her, and the knowledge that they were making her take two extra classes absolutely disgusted her. She realized midway through speaking that she was shouting and before she finished her sentence she lowered her volume, this did not stop Professor McGonagall from being quite put off by her protest.

"Ms. Granger you will not interrupt me with shouting while I am speaking," she said. "Five points will be deducted from Gryffindor and you will receive detention."

Detention! Hermione hadn't received detention since her first year. Tears began to weld in her eyes, she wanted to apologize but, in her pride, she could not bring herself to do it.

"It's time for you to go to class," McGonagall told her coldly. "I would have expected much more professional behavior from our finest student."

Hermione was in tears as she walked down the corridors to the classroom at which she would join Harry and Ron. The two of them caught up to her, running.

"Hermione!" shouted Ron.

Hermione turned to him revealing her tears. Ron immediately took her in his arms and gave her a quick peck on the lips. Though this gave some comfort, it did not dispel her tears.

"What's wrong 'Mione?"

"No, the four Ewls brats went to McGonagall about the whole religion issue," Hermione said in anger. "And she sided with them, without even consulting with me or any of the other prefects!"

"Probably got their daddy giving the final word with this one," gloated Harry.

"And when I reacted sort of poorly upon learning that we were being forced to take these ridiculous classes, McGonagall gave me detention."

"You! Detention," Ron said, half amazed, half smiling.

"It's not funny Ron," Hermione protested.

"No, it's hilarious!"

Hermione hit him hard, open palmed in the shoulder, then angrily took his hand in hers; the three walked toward the classroom assigned to Introduction to Religious Studies. The three entered the open classroom which was, by now, be ginning to fill up with students. Noticing that Reverend Ewls, who would be teaching the class was not present, Hermione made her discontent known.

"I don't even know what Ewls is doing here, all to teach a useless subject like theology."

On the other-side of a doorway in the front of the classroom which was opened, leading into an office, stood Reverend Ewls. He was listening attentively to Hermione's complaints. He stood beside the doorway so that he was not visible to the class. His reaction was comical, he rolled his eyes as he listened, even let out a chuckle, though he quickly stifled his attempts to laugh as he did not want the class to hear him.

"I mean what sort of magic is he going to be teaching in this class, it's all theory there is nothing that a Wizard can take from this at all," She continued.

At this Reverend Ewls could not prevent himself from chuckling.

"Well there's nothing that a wizard can really take from history but they make us take that too," complained Ron.

"Yeah and if they really studied their history they'd know about how the Christians persecuted witches and wizards for thousands of years!" Hermione proclaimed angrily.

At this, Reverend Ewls finally decided to make his presence known. Before entering the classroom quietly he said to himself under his breath sarcastically: "Oh Lord here we go."

As he entered unnoticed by Hermione, Hermione continued to verbalize her complaints.

"Sometimes I just think that the whole wizarding world is going crazy!"

I think they've gone crazy Ms. Granger," Reverend Ewls spoke calmly, even comically to Hermione's shock. She sat down slowly, tears again forming in her eyes as she feared yet another detention. At the very least, Gryffindor would suffer greatly for this. "But we agree for different reasons I take it. Perhaps you could enlighten us on why you think the Wizardry has gone ape Shit."

Hermione was frightened to death, surely he was going to start shouting at her any minute. Reverend Ewls maintained a calm composure with a polite smile. She did not know how to respond to him, what was so strange is that she had stood up to oppressive teachers before but there was something about this Christian Minister that made her unwilling to argue with him.

"Er… that's alright sir, I think I'll pass."

"Never shirk from giving your opinion Ms. Granger," Reverend Ewls said coldly, still calm and even smiling. That is a lesson that I thought I would never have to give to you." Ewls turned his gaze off of Hermione and toward the entire class. "In this class we will be dedicated to what is called paradigmatic learning, and in paradigmatic learning, all opinions are valid, and you will never be in trouble for voicing yours no matter how outrageous it is. But you must have to courage to voice it." He turned back to Hermione, staring at her powerfully, dropping his smile but still maintaining his calm composure. "This is your test of courage Ms. Granger, what is your opinion of Wizardry in the United Kingdom, and I promise you that you will not be penalized in anyway, nor will your house for so voicing your opinion."

It was one of the few times in her career at Hogwarts that Hermione was absolutely nerve-racked. Not since her third year when she was overloaded on classes did she ever feel so close to breaking down.

"I'm sorry," she began. "It's just that…"

"Never Apologize for having an opinion," Ewls interrupted. "Please continue!"

"It's just that I think this class is useless," she said, summoning all of her remaining courage. "I mean we're not learning anything of value to Wizards and Witches."

Reverend Ewls nodded in resignation, his smile returned to him.

"Very Good, a point for Gryffindor on the count of Ms. Granger's courage," He said. "Thank you Ms. Granger." He again turned his attention to the entire class. "For those of you who know of the recent altercation between my sons and daughter and Ms. Granger, and think that I just put her on the spot because of that, think again! In this class we shall all be put on the spot. That is what the kind of learning we're after here is.

Reverend Ewls waved his hand at a piece of chalk flew immediately toward the blackboard behind him, and began to write Why Religion. He continued to lecture as it wrote.

"Ms. Granger implicitly asks a very important question, one that your ability to answer will determine your success or failure in this class, and that is 'Why study Religion?' Why is the Study of the phenomenon of Religion so important to the Wizard or the Witch? But first things first, my name is Thomas Ewls, yes I'm a graduate of Salem Witches Institute, and LTS, and yes I have a doctorate of Philosophy, so thus if we were being formal you would call me…" His voice turned almost mystical so as to poke fun at what he said next. "…The Reverend Doctor Thomas T. Ewls, horse shit!"

At the shock of hearing a teacher curse in such a powerful way, half the class laughed, including Harry whose attention was now caught. His feelings of loathing toward this professor replaced with feelings of curiosity. It seemed, somehow, to Harry that what Reverend Ewls had to say was now of the utmost importance. He hung on every word as if his very continued existence depended on it.

"One thing that I hope you'll take away from this class is that I am neither Reverent, nor near as intelligent as I am made out to be. Socrates once described himself as a pursuer of 'Philio Sophius,' the Love of Wisdom, and he said that the first step in that pursuit is the admittance that you know nothing. I fancy myself, like Socrates as a pursuer of Wisdom, and thus I admit before you and almighty God that I—am—an—Idiot!"

At this, the entire class laughed, a even Hermione found a smirk grazing her lips.

"You laugh… you all are too. For some of you…" His gaze fell upon Hermione who looked down at her parchment so as to avoid his stare. "…that might be difficult to take in." His attention returned to the entirety of the class as he continued. "The sooner you do take it in though, the sooner you can truly begin to learn. In fact, I change my mind, you are not idiots, you are students, as am I. I am your fellow student, joint with you in the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge and as such I hope to learn as much from you as you from me, and as such I prefer to keep as informal an atmosphere as humanly possible. You may call me Thomas if you are so courageous, Rev. Ewls is fine; Dr. Ewls, or Professor are out of the question, and you may call me Ass Hole before you call me sir!"

At this, even Hermione and Harry chuckled, as the rest of the class burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

"If it's all the same to you, I would prefer to call you by your first names, any objections? Anyone? Very well then, let's start our relationship off on the right note, Good Morning." He waited for a second, there was no response from his class. "Oh dear, I said good morning…"

A very gentle, half-hearted "Good morning" came from the class, similar to how students greeted Professor Umbridge when she taught Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Ewls's response was one of mock frustration. It was plainly seen among the students that he was having fun, but his expression was one of forced aggression and anger, in midst of a smirk that he seemed to be trying to fight off.

"Oh come on, that won't do. Alright this is one of my pet peeves ladies and gentlemen." With his hands he motioned to chalk to write, what he was saying as he continued to lecture. "Write this down in your notes, this is gold, this is the one of the most important things you will ever learn in life, are you ready?" His powerful gaze fixed on Ron. "Are you ready to write this down Mr. Weasley!" He shouted.

"Er… Y-Yes Sir."

"Very good answer!" He said, his words were becoming more quick-paced, excited. "Now we're ready to learn aren't we Mr. Longbottom!"

"Er… sure."

"Er… sure," Ewls replied in a mocking voice. He was speaking quickly, excitedly. So much so that Harry had forgotten completely his loathing and was now staring intently at him as he continued his lecture. "don't give me that, you don't fall asleep just because it's morning, come to this class with a smile on your face, ready to dive into knowledge, ready to walk out with a better understanding of the world around you than that with which you came, now are we ready to learn?" He paused his lecture, no one responded, he continued on as excitedly and sarcastically as ever. "Jeeze, when I ask the whole class a question the response is, loud and clear, YES! Or NO! never NOTHING! Are we ready to learn?"

"Yes" Came a half-excited class.

"Not good enough! Are we ready to learn?"
"YES!" Came back the class excitedly.

"There we go," Ewls responded. "Alright, now write this down, this is one of the most important things you will learn in this class, and I will test you on it every morning, when someone, especially Reverend Ewls takes the time to acknowledge your presence in a greeting you respond excitedly, with a smile on your face, as if you're pretending to care that he exists, Good Morning Reverend Ewls, how are you today? God almighty it's so good to see you! Or something to the like, in a class room setting a simple Good Morning will do; so Good Morning!"

Some of the class, including Harry responded quite energetically, while most responded with the same, half-hearted good-morning as before. This time, Reverend Ewls slammed his hand down upon the desk and shouted, still maintaining the half-smirk upon his face, it was obvious he was quite enjoying what he was doing.

"Damn it! Not good enough, I said Good Morning!"

"Good Morning!" Came back the class, excitedly.

"That's much better! Three points for all houses," Reverend Ewls responded. "So the first lesson we've learned in this class is that when someone—especially Reverend Ewls—takes the time, out of courtesy, to greet you, you take the time to return their greeting. The second lesson goes back to the question at hand, why is it important for Wizards and Witches to study Religion? This question was of course asked implicitly by Hermione, and a very good question indeed, so I pose it to you, why do you think that Religion is important for us to study? Of course before we can answer that question what do we need to have?" He turns his attention to Lavender Brown, "Lavender?"

"Er… well… er…"

"Say it!" Demanded Reverend Ewls.

"er…"

"Say it!"

"er…"

"Say it damn it! Three words, the Greek translation of which, Socrates probably valued above all, beginning with an 'I,' and ending with a 'don't know,' say it."

"Er… I don't know?" Said Lavender confused.

Reverend Ewls slammed his hand hard on Lavender's desk. "Wonderful, I don't know! I guess we'll backtrack a little, this will be your second lesson, write this down in your notes, this is gold, one of the most important things you will ever learn in life!" Harry was sitting, eyes peeled on Reverend Ewls, quill at the ready shaking with excitement, waiting to write down what Reverend Ewls was about to say. "If you don't know," Reverend Ewls began, suddenly turning to Hermione, "Are you writing this down Hermione? If you don't know, you don't know, and there's no shame in not knowing. That's how we learn. If we know the answer to everything then we are what they call show-offs."

Hermione looked taken back by this suggestion, it seemed to her as though everything he said was directed against her, adding to the fact that she had already received a detention from McGonagall on her first day back. Her face was red, almost matching Ron's hair. Ron, along with Harry, was excited, he seemed to be taking in everything Reverend Ewls said. Reverend Ewls continued his lecture as excitedly and quick-paced as ever.

"This class is above all a test of courage," Reverend Ewls said. "A test of character." He then turned to Harry, who was staring wide-eyed at him. "Do you have the balls, Harry, to say 'I don't' know' if I ask you a question that you don't know the answer to?"

"Yes Reverend," Replied Harry without reservation or hesitation.

"Good, you're a better man that I was at your age." He next fixed his powerful gaze onto Lavender. "Lavender Brown say it!"

"I don't know," Came Lavender nervously.

"Louder! Say it like you mean it!"

"I don't know!"

Reverend Ewls slammed his opened palm hard again on Lavender's desk and to her surprise extended his hand to her in an offer for her to shake it. Before she had the time to respond nervously he began to speak to her, still extending his hand.

"Excellent!" He began. "Shake my hand you brave soul!"

Lavender shook his hand with a odd, combined look of curiosity, confusion, and nervousness. Reverend Ewls turned his gaze back to the class.

"Everyone repeat after me, I—don't—know! Say it!"

"I don't know!" Came back the class excitedly.

"Excellent, so our second lesson is, if someone asks you a question the answer to which you have no idea, your response is to bravely look them in the eye, summon all of your courage and pride and tell them, I am an idiot! I don't know! That is the beginning of all wisdom according to Socrates, if you know wisdom, or rather if you think you know wisdom, how in the hell can you justly claim to seek after it. In reality I believe that no one is wise we all just think we are, and that impedes our ability to seek after true wisdom.

"Now on to the question pending, why is it important for Wizards and Witches to study Religion? Now I asked Lavender a question to which she did not know the answer, and that was in order to answer this pending question something is missing, and does anyone know what we need here, what is missing?" He then looked to Harry, who still stared back up at him excitedly. Somehow, Harry knew that he was going to call on him, and somehow he knew exactly how to respond.. "Harry do you know?"

"A definition of Religion."

Reverend Ewls took a step back, his gaze became genuinely impressed, clearly he did not expect anyone get it the first time.

"Wow, brilliant Mr. Potter, God almighty," He turned back to the class as a whole. "Do you feel the brilliance radiating from that answer, from the implied question attached to that answer, by the way lesson number three, to every answer there is an implied question, our duty is to answer the questions as best as we can, but anyways, what we need is a definition of Religion, who would like to try their hands at this bad boy? The Implied Question is… what is religion? Anyone?"

A Ravenclaw girl raised her hand. He looked over at her and gave a smirk which gave away his feelings of disbelief. Apparently he didn't expect her to get this one right. Though she seemed quite confident as her hand was held high, her eyes wide and her constitution giving off and air of readiness.

"Jackie," He said to the girl. "I admire your courage, go ahead."

"A belief in God?" The Ravenclaw girl asked confidently.

"Good guess, but not quite, anyone else?"

Parvati Patil raised her hand, more cautiously than had the Ravenclaw Girl.

"Parvati?"

"A belief in the supernatural?" said Parvati Cautiously.

"Another good guess, but again not quite, there are secular religions out there

that have nothing spiritual or supernatural to them, but good guess." He replied. He turned yet again back to the entire class. "Anyone else?" No one raised their hands "Anyone? Very Well, I admire the courage of those who guessed, three points for both houses."

"Write this down, I will now tell you what the definition of religion is. Religion is—write this down now—Religion is Human Transformation in response to Perceived Ultimacy (SEE below). Any Questions?" A look of confusion emanated from the class as no one seemed to know what to ask about this definition. Reverend Ewls gave off a look of utter frustration, implying that the question they should have asked was obvious from the beginning. "Come Now! Don't tell me you all think you understand that definition, I don't believe you at all, now that we've defined religion we need to understand the definition." Reverend Ewls turned to Seamus Finnegan, "Seamus, what does Human Transformation in Response to Perceived Ultimacy mean?"

"I don't know sir," Seamus responded quickly.

"Good Answer, but I'd bet you really do know," he looked back at the class. "See I didn't say that you all didn't know what the definition meant, I simply said that you all didn't think you knew. But you really do." At this statement, the class gave a look of utter confusion, even Harry was perplexed. Ignoring this, Reverend Ewls continued. "Let's break down the definition, I'm still with you Seamus, what is a Human?"

In response to this utterly ridiculous question, a few chuckles were heard in the class.

"Well, we're all humans sir."

"Good, Homo-Sapien-Sapiens, we are all humans, and don't call me sir. What does it mean to transform?"

"To change?"

"Good, to change," At this time, Reverend Ewls' presentation was beginning to slow down, he kept the smile on his face but his overall expression began to become more serious. "So thus far we have that Human Transformation is Human Change. But what does it mean to change in response to something?" He looked down at Hermione. "Hermione?"

"To change as a result of," Hermione stated.

"Very Good; so far we have that Religion is Human change as a result of, or better yet, because of… What does change imply?" He then looked at Neville. "Neville?"

"That there is a state before the change, during the change, and after the change," Neville proclaimed.

Reverend Ewls gave off a look of astonishment, he slammed his hand open-palmed on Neville's desk and extended to Neville his hand.

"Shake my hand Neville that was brilliant!" He said as Neville nervously shook Reverend Ewls' hand. "You'll especially want to write this down in your notes, transformation implies the employment of what we call rites of passage. What is a rite of passage, anyone?"

Harry spoke out, without raising his hand, "It's like something you go through to earn something."

"Very good, and thank you for not raising your hand," Reverend Ewls proclaimed. "Enough of this raising your hand bull-shit, if you have something to say, jump in. Harry's definition of a rite of passage is pretty good, but a better way to put it is that a rite of passage is a means by which you grow, you transform into a better person. Coming to Hogwarts is a rite of passage through which you transform from children into Wizards and Witches right? There are three stages to a rite of passage, write this down, this is gold, this is what you come to class for, this is why I'm a teacher.

"The three stages of a rite of passage are the Severance stage, the Threshold stage, and the reincorporation stage. Take Hogwarts for instance, the transformation we're aiming for is for you all to become fully-trained wizards and Witches right? So we sever you, or separate you, from the world in which you grew up, we bring you to the school where you experience the threshold of full-fledged Wizardry, in the threshold stage your not quite a professional wizard, but you not quite a Squib or Muggle either, right? And after you complete the rite of passage of attending the school you graduate and are reincorporated into the world as a full-fledged witch or wizard, does everyone understand rites of passage?"

"Yes!" The class responded excitedly.

"Ah, thank you so much for responding together and excitedly I am

so proud of all of you, three points for both houses. All religions employ rites of passage in order to facilitate; do you know what the word facilitate means, it means to allow, write that down that's a word you need in your vocabulary, write it down, facilitate means to allow.

"So all religions employ rites of passage in order to facilitate your transformation from one type of human into another, we usually refer to the stage of humanity after the transformation as salvation, write that down that's gold. These rites of passage can be ritual, mythology, prayer, belief, good works, chants, anything, and they vary with different religions. But now onto the really hard part of the definition; so far we have human change because of… What is Perceived Ultimacy? We know it is the reason for the change or the transformation, but what is it? can we be more specific than that? What does it mean to perceive something?

"To become aware of something," Seamus blurted out.

"Excellent! To become aware of something, so this Ultimacy is Ultimacy that we have become aware of through something, and the means by which we become aware of this Ultimacy varies with different religions, but what is Ultimacy? Better question, what does it mean to be Ultimate?"

After a few moments of silence, no one in the class raised their hands.

"I didn't expect anyone to answer that one, because ultimate is one of those words that we use commonly but we really don't know what it means, it has two meanings really: the first is finality, when something is ultimate it is final, the last straw; the second is fundamentality, when something is ultimate it is basic, it is fundamental, we cannot be without it, and it cannot be broken down further or analyzed beyond what we already know of it. Thus we have our definition of Perceived Ultimacy as that which we come to know as the final basic focus of our lives. So what is Human Transformation in Response to Perceived Ultimacy, and write this down this is gold!"

"Human Change, through rites of passage that occurs because of that which said humans come to know as the final basic focus of their lives," Seamus said.

Reverend Ewls gave a look of deep impression, he stepped back in genuine awe.

"Wow, brilliant Seamus! This is why I am a teacher, this is why you

come to class, can you feel the brilliance flowing from that response. We have our Paradigm with which we will study religion for the rest of the year. For those of you who don't know, a paradigm is a proposition of reality or a belief that we acquire in order to explain puzzling natural phenomena, or things in nature that puzzle or confuse us. So our puzzling natural phenomenon in this case is religion, which occurs in various forms all over the world, in fact I would argue that according to our definition of religion, the staunchest Atheist is religious, everyone has religion in some form, that Hermione is why it is important for you to study religion, because it is a human phenomenon that occurs in every nation in every ethnicity, in every person in the world, even you, one could even argue that witchcraft itself is a religion.

"So this phenomenon occurs in every nation and in every people on earth so how do we explain all religions? With our definition! With our paradigm which is that all the thousands of religions across the globe are merely the Human change through rites of passage that occurs because of that which humans come to know as the final basic focus of their lives.

"Based upon this paradigm, there are twelve religions we will study broken down into Six subgroups, it would behoove you to memorize this list. The six subgroups are: Ethical Monotheism, Karmatic Religion, Philosophical Religion, Animism, Revitalizationism, and Secular Religion.

This list is broken down into twelve Major religions which are as follows: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism are our Ethical Monotheists; Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism are our Karmatic Religions; Daoism and Confucianism are our Philosophical Religions; and of course we will count the last three subgroups as religions in and of themselves since there are really several more religions in each category that we'll brush over. But briefly beginning with our first subcategory and our first religion, we now come to Christianity. But before we go into that, what does it mean to be an Ethical Monotheist? Anyone?"

"To believe in one God," Proclaimed Hermione.

"Good, that's what Monotheism is, but what is an Ethical Monotheist, what is

ethics? I'm still with you Hermione."

"Morality, right action, so an Ethical Monotheist is someone who believes in one God and that devotion to that one God is moral," Hermione responded.

Reverend Ewls slammed his hand open-palmed on Hermione's desk and extended it to her to shake, she took it reluctantly.

"Shake my hand that was brilliant paradigmatic analysis," Reverend Ewls Proclaimed. "So Ethical Monotheism is the belief in one God and the belief that devotion to that one God is the ultimate morality, or the ultimate way to act. You'll want to write this down since Morality and Religion are inevitably tied together, Morality or Ethics is that quality which makes the action of an intelligent being right or wrong good or bad, and the perceived Ultimacy or ultimate moral action according to Ethical Monotheists is devotion to their notion of God.

"Now, what is Christianity? To put it better, what is it about Christianity that makes it unique among other Ethical Monotheistic Religions?"

"A belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah," Proclaimed a Ravenclaw Boy.

"Good, a belief that Jesus Christ is the Messiah."

"A belief that Jesus is God," Neville Said.

"Good, Most Christians believe that, not all of them, but I'm still with you,

what is it about Jesus and his relation to God that all Christians can agree on though?"

"Jesus is the Son of God," Neville retorted.

"Very Good, Jesus is the Son of God, and most will agree that he was born of

a Virgin named Mary who gave birth to him without ever having had sex with a man, that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and caused her to conceive and bear Jesus. The fact that the Holy Spirit, and not a human male is responsible for the conception makes Jesus the Son of God. Anyone else?"

"That Jesus died on a cross," Hermione called out

"Very Good, that Jesus died on a Cross, well actually there's a group of Christians called Jehovah's Witnesses who believe that Jesus died on a stake, not a cross but that really doesn't matter, Jesus died for our sins, good. As I'm hearing these responses I'm hearing that you all have a basic understanding of what Christians believe, which is understandable since most of the western world is Christian, but I find that almost no one truly understands the depth of the Christian faith, what it means to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is God in some cases, that he was born of a virgin, that he took upon himself the sins of the world and died, and rose again from the dead.

"Now, I will warn you that as a Christian I am biased toward Christian teachings but I promise you that I will present all of these religions with as much fervency and zeal as I do Christianity."

Reverend Ewls suddenly pointed his wand at the open door way and waved it. From out of the doorway came a huge stack of books flying toward the students slowly. The books were leather-bound, burgundy, reading in Gold 'Holy Bible: New Wizards Standard Translation, with Deuterocanon and Didache.' One of these bibles landed at each student's desk.

"Please turn with me to Luke Chapter 6, that's on Page 1230, Hermione, Please read verses 20 through 26."

The students opened their bibles and flipped through the pages to the specific passage outlined. Once Hermione reached it, she began to read.

"And Jesus lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye

poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets."

As Harry followed along with Hermione's reading aloud, something touched his heart about these words, as if from some unknown source beckoning him to trust them, beckoning him to believe them. A strange, yet comfortable sensation began to burn in his chest, he noticed that he was losing control of his face which was beginning to screw-up as his tear ducts were quickly becoming active.

"Ron, verses 27 through 31 please," Reverend Ewls called out.

"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

It was as if a sword of truth had pierced his heart and mind. He understood now, why Hermione, Ron, and Ginny could no longer stand by him, why Reverend Ewls so adamantly argued with him that night at the bar, why he could not possibly judge Snape, Malfoy, or even Voldemort. He understood, and his newfound knowledge brought a deep sense of peace to his heart, the tear-ducts which had begun to work now let out a drop which ran down his face. Reverend Ewls' as he looked at him noticed this, the Reverend's smile faded, and upon his face came a look of seriousness, not gravity but almost co-understanding.

"Harry, 31 through 38 please."

"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what reward have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what reward have ye?" Several More tears had begun to drip down Harry's cheeks, they were now visibly noticeable to Reverend Ewls, Harry gave a strong, short, sigh which caused Ron and Hermione to turn and behold his tear-stricken face; Hermione with a look of confusion, Ron with a look of understanding. It appeared as though Ron's tear-ducts had begun to work as well, though he had tried quite hard to hide it on the count of Hermione. "for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good to them, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the most high God: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."

It was then that Hermione decided that only she understood Reverend Ewls for what he was. To her, he was a peddler, he was using this supposedly unbiased class to gain converts to his own faith. She thus took it upon herself to expose this perceived breach of academic honesty.

"I'm sorry sir but this is all fine and wonderful and all, but how does Christianity go from this to persecuting and hanging witches and wizards. And how, given the history of Christianity coinciding with the history of witchcraft can anyone, especially a wizard or witch be a Christian?" Hermione asked with an accusatory voice.

Reverend Ewls' expression was much more solemn, he seriously considered the question for a good second before responding, "Hermione asks a good question, How can anyone who is a witch be a Christian, and how is it that Christians have persecuted and still today persecute witches? when Jesus' teachings clearly state that we are to love one another, go to John Chapter 15, on page 1298. Lavender, please read Verses 12 through 14."

Lavender began to read, "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Harry could no longer contain himself, his tears fell freely, his sighs could be heard by the entire class who was trying to ignore him, and he could not, but believe what he read. Reverend Ewls continued with his lecture.

"Jesus' Commandment, his greatest commandment is that we love the lord

our God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as

ourselves, how do Christians go from that to killing witches? There is one truth that I hope you'll take above all from this class, and that is that people are fallible, write it down, people are fallible. Should Christians burn, and hang witches? From what Jesus says here, no, but they do so out of fear, and a misinterpretation of what Jesus taught. People are Fallible.

"But now we have a grasp of Jesus' teachings, love the lord, love your neighbor, love your enemy, turn the other cheek, be at peace with one another, and with God, but there are two important aspects of Christ's ministry his teachings and his atonement. Turn with me to the First Epistle of John, Chapter 4, on page 1480. This is the central focus of Christianity, this is the ultimacy, you are about to learn the most important thing you ever will in your quest to understand Christianity. Seamus, please read verses 7 through 8 in Chapter Four."

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is

born of God, and knoweth God, he that loveth not, knoweth not God, (pauses) for God is Love." Read Seamus.

At this, Harry rested his face in his hands trying to conceal his tears. A powerful revelation came to his heart, God loved, even Voldemort. More so than this, he loved Voldemort with a love that was deeper than his comprehension. "How much," reasoned Harry, "does God therefore love me."

"God is Love," Proclaimed Reverend Ewls. "This is, in deeper theology what makes Christianity stand out. While most other Ethical Monotheistic religions would agree that God loves his creation, none emphasize it as much as Christianity, still with you Seamus, read verse 10."

"Herein is Love, not that we loved God but that God loved us, and sent his only

son to be a propitiation for our sins."

"God loved us, and sent his only son, Jesus to be a propitiation for our sins.

A propitiation is a sacrifice which turns away wrath. Go to Romans Chapter 3 on

page 1361," His stare came to a Ravenclaw male. "Edison, read verses 10 and 23 through 24."

"As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

"Still with you Edison," Said Reverend Ewls. "Go to the next page and read verses 1-6 of Chapter 5."

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

These words added still more clarity to his heart, as Harry continued to sob in his hands. He understood everything, the purpose of his life, his mission, his glory in the trials he had faced as a youth, the necessity of the turbulence of his youth, everything was made clear to him.

"Christ died for sinners. I'm sure you all heard that before; that Christ died to

take away the sins of the world. Why, because God is love. Because the focus of every one of God's actions is his love for his creation, a creation which fell from righteousness, a creation which became wicked, evil, enemies of God; and yet God did not wish to suffer that creation, in spite of their wickedness, to be lost. So he sent his son, who takes upon himself the sins of the world, and dies on the cross, as the Lamb of God, paying the sinful debt which turns away the wrath that God has upon all human sin. Thus Jesus is the ultimate gift and representation of God's love. God is love, and when we understand the nature of love, we can tap into the nature of God, and what is that nature anyone?

"What is the nature of Love?" No one responds, he continues. "It's in the most oft quoted verse of the Christian New Testament, you've probably all heard it, John 3:16 through 17. 'For God So loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whosever would believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him would be saved,' the nature of love is to give, to serve, and all other Ethical Monotheistic religions teach us to earn salvation, to serve God, while Christianity teaches us to serve God, it also presents a God, who serves us, who loves and gives to us. This is Christianity. And as far as Hermione's question is concerned how can I be a Christian and a Wizard? It is a good question but understanding these verses, and the love that God has for me, how can I not be a Christian?

"You may keep the bibles, I'll give you your other textbooks next time. For those of you who are not Christian, don't worry I will try to present the other religions with as much excitement as I did Christianity. We're out of time, thank you, class dismissed."

(Definition of religion comes from) Young, William. The World's Religions: Worldviews and Contemporary Issues: 2nd Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall 2005.