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A school has removed all of the Harry Potter books from its library because, according to a priest, the curses and spells are real.

J.K Rowling’s tales of drama and hijinks at an élite boarding school for wizards were a huge hit with children and adults alike, spawning a series of blockbuster films as well as a hit West End play and a theme park.

But there has always been a degree of uneasiness at the franchise’s occult content, especially among the US religious right.

And as of this week, the students at St Edward Catholic School in Nashville will no longer be able to check out the popular Harry Potter book series from their school's library.

The decision was taken by the school’s pastor, the Rev. Dan Reehil, after consulting with several exorcists in the US and in Rome.

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

The decision was confirmed to the Tennesseean newspaper by Rebecca Hammel, the superintendent of schools for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville.

She said that in general, the Catholic Church viewed parents as their children's primary teachers.

"Should parents deem that this or any other media to be appropriate we would hope that they would just guide their sons and daughters to understand the content through the lens of our faith," she said.

"We really don't get into censorship in such selections other than making sure that what we put in our school libraries is age appropriate materials for our classrooms."