The Harry Potter books are a gateway to the practice of witchcraft, an audience was told last night.

And Bermuda will end up "another third world country" if it is allowed to take hold on our shores, according to Reverend Goodwin Smith.

About 60 people turned up for what was billed as a discussion forum on "the Harry Potter phenomenon" at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium.

Controversy erupted this week when it was reported that CedarBridge principal Kalmar Richards had refused to allow the popular books to be used in the classroom.

A feature-length documentary was shown to start off the evening. Central to that film was a dissection of the books as not being written from within the context of a biblical world view but instead promoting the practice of witchcraft.

Experts on the occult announced in the documentary that witchcraft is a real religion which was gaining more and more adherents every day.

"Every year thousands of teens are turning their backs on Christianity," said one. The books "are a true representation of the black arts", said another. And "it teaches children that witchcraft is for children".

"The reader is vicariously introduced to the tools of the trade that form the basis of the religion of witchcraft."

A panel of half-a-dozen local Christian leaders, including the chairman of the Human Rights Commission, Goodwin Smith, then took to the stage to drive the point home.

Carol Lienhart Hill, a Christian activist, told the audience that the Harry Potter website was evil.

"We need to pour the blood of Jesus over ourselves because there is evil there," she said. "And if you think I'm a fool, so be it. But there is evil there."

Rev. Smith lamented the fact that the forum had not drawn a bigger crowd. Witchcraft and other occult practices were real, he said. And those countries, such as Haiti, where occult practices prevail are in "very poor condition".

He said while he hadn't read the Potter books, he had seen a few tapes".

And he informed the audience that he had encountered demon possessed people in his work as a pastor both here and abroad.

"Witchcraft is real, demons are real and they attack persons," he said.

Of the Potter books, he said: "Some could read it and nothing happens but others could read it and a whole lot of things happen."

He impressed upon his audience the need to stand firm against the books in our schools if Bermuda was not to "become another third world country" because "the devil's job is to steal, to kill and to destroy".

Other speakers broadened the crusade to include a host of materials, such as cartoons, movies and other literature, readily available to children.

And Judith James, of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, plugged the Christian Bookstore on Burnaby Street as one of the few places to get wholesome reading material.

The anti-Christian influences were nefarious and subtle and could come cloaked in the guise of goodness, she said.

"When you start to see good, there's often evil a second away," she said. "The challenges are before us. It's not good enough for the Education Ministry to say they don't have censorship."

In answer to a question on how to protect Bermuda's children from the forces of evil, youth minister Darren Lowe said each family must teach their children their values and "show them why you believe what you believe".

Besides Harry Potter he counted the Smurfs and Pokemon as among the subtle forces which undermine Christian values.

"If the devil comes in a cloak with horns, you're going to reject it. But if he comes candy coated. It's time we take a stand."

No-one in the audience challenged the speakers. But Will Smith, 14, told The Royal Gazette "I think it's great that kids are using their imaginations", when asked his thoughts about the Harry Potter books.

He said he had read one of the books owned by his ten year old brother and thought it was "really good".

He denied that his younger brothers thought it was cool to cast spells or drink blood.

Still community activist Dennis Bean took to the mic and exhorted the audience to start a movement which would protect the Island from evil forces.

"We need to control the media," he said. "Let's do what God requires us to do. Let's take authority over our situation." And referring to the experience of "fighting the homosexual thing" he said: "There needs to be a designed strategy."