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The Rev. Dan Reehil informed St. Edward Catholic School parents that the seven-tome fantasy series would be banned from the Nashville school's library after he consulted with several exorcists in the US and Italy who suggested they be removed.
"These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception," Reehil told parents in an undated email, the Tennessean reported Saturday.
"The curses and spells used in the books are actual curses and spells; which when read by a human being risk conjuring evil spirits into the presence of the person reading the text," he continued.
The fictional novels, penned by British author J.K. Rowling and published between 1997 and 2007, are the bestselling book series in history and have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, according to Fortune.
But many religious groups claim the books are based on Satanic teachings and are a blatant celebration of the occult.
As recently as this past April, a group of Catholic priests in Poland torched the books, claiming they were sacrilegious.
Reehil was out of the office until Wednesday, but Rebecca Hammel, a superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, said the pastor was "well within his authority" to cast out the bestselling series.
"Each pastor has canonical authority to make such decisions for his parish school," Hammel told the Tennessean, confirming that Reehil sent an email about removing the books.
Hammel said the Catholic Church did not have a position on the books and that the series remained in other schools throughout the diocese.
Rowling, an outspoken and prolific user of Twitter with 14 million followers, has yet to comment on the ban.
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