A woman afflicted with the belief that the Harry Potter books encourage worship of the occult has settled her religious discrimination case against a Missouri library, On Point has learned.

The parties agreed to a settlement last month before a court ever addressed the merits of Deborah Smith's claim that she lost her job as a librarian assistant in Poplar Bluff, Mo., because she refused to attend a “Harry Potter Night” promoting the publication of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” in July 2007.

“Plaintiff has a bona fide religious belief stemming from her Christian identity and membership in a Southern Baptist church that she sincerely believes prohibits her from being involved in promotion of the worship of the occult, especially to children,” Smith, who was represented by the ACLU, said in a complaint filed in May 2008.

Court records show the settlement was reached at a mediation Feb. 17. D. Keith Henson, an attorney for the Poplar Bluff Public Library, declined to provide details, saying, “No resolution of the case has been finalized.”

Hopefully, the library did not cave in and agree to pay Smith any damages since the suit was an abject example of the hijacking of civil rights laws on behalf of those whose views, no matter how absurd, gain “legitimacy” simply because they are inspired by their religious faith.

Librarians were asked to dress up as wizards for the Harry Potter celebration. Smith alleged she was “constructively discharged” from her job in September 2007 after she “vehemently objected to participating Harry Potter Night in any role.”

The library director had offered to let Smith help out behind the scenes “in a way that Plaintiff’s church community would not know she had participated.”

By Matthew Heller
3/6/09