Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone explains Harry's hidden past as the wizard son of James and Lily Potter, who were a wizard and witch respectively, and how they were murdered by the most evil and powerful dark wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort, which resulted in the one-year-old Harry being sent to live with his aunt and uncle. The strangest bit of the murder was how Voldemort was unable to kill him, but instead had his own powers removed and blasted away, sparking Harry's immense fame among the magical community. Hagrid introduces Harry to the wizarding world, bringing him to places such as Diagon Alley,
Religious debates over the Harry Potter series hold special liturgies every Thursday to cure those afflicted by spells or possessed by evil spirits. Pamphlets were posted throughout the city, claiming that reciting a "Harry Potter" spell "is as if you are praying to evil", and that "God hates magic." However, the Russian Orthodox apologist deacon Andrei Kuraev argued in his 2003 book "Harry Potter in the Church: Between an Anathema and a Smile" that the Harry Potter books are not dangerous. His arguments include the books' similarity with traditional fairy tales and literary classics such as the "Iliad" which no-one calls "Satanic"; the difference between the books'