Nashville school bans 'Harry Potter' books in *checks notes* 2019

According to my trusty calendar it's 2019, but a Catholic school in Nashville, Tennessee, is over here banning Harry Potter books like it's 2002 or something.

On Saturday, the Tennessean reported that the students of St. Edward Catholic School will no longer be allowed to check out books in the Harry Potter series from their school library on account of the "curses and spells" present within the J.K. Rowling texts.

The local publication states that Rev. Dan Reehil, a pastor at the school, explained the decision in an email to parents.

"These books present magic as both good and evil, which is not true, but in fact a clever deception," he wrote. "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."

In the email, Reehil reportedly said that he consulted several exorcists in the U.S. and Rome who recommended removing the books — which, OK sir. Seems a bit extensive, no?

Rebecca Hammel, the superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, confirmed Reehil's email to a reporter at the Tennessean, and said that the pastor has the final say on whether or not students may read and access the books in school.

"Each pastor has canonical authority to make such decisions for his parish school," Hammel told the publication. "He's well within his authority to act in that manner."

This certainly isn't the first time the seven books in the original Harry Potter series about magic and wizardry have caused controversy — especially in relation to religion.

Several schools have banned the books in the past, and as CBS News notes, Harry Potter books topped the American Library Association's list of Top Ten Most Challenged Books in 2001 and 2002, and were present on the 2003 list. The lists outline books that are most highly requested to be removed from school libraries.

Many Harry Potter fans and Twitter users familiar with the decade-old controversy surrounding the series found the 2019 ban quite preposterous.

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How incredibly sad it is that we officially live in a world where more action is taken to protect children from Harry Potter books than to protect them from assault rifles.