As someone who grew up in a cult, and later evangelical church culture, I deeply relate, and saw a lot of the madness you describe here (though mercifully, post cult which collapsed when I was seven, my own parents were more reasonable than many of those around them).

Post cult, whilst I was allowed to watch Disney movies (and many other things besides), many of those around me weren't. I could never understand why their parents couldn't understand the difference between depicting something and endorsing something (re: the "no witches" rule), or the fact that "magic" in those stories bears no resemblance to real-life witchcraft (I was already 22 when the first Harry Potter novel came out, but I knew lots of younger people who were banned from reading them). I always thought the evangelical Christian objection to Potter was absurd in any case. For one thing, it offers a very clear cut tale of good versus evil, with many biblical overtones and the extolling of cardinal virtues. For another, it presents an ultra-conservative world where everyone marries their first serious boyfriend/girlfriend, and settles down into fairly traditional gender roles. That's before I even get into the blatant Christ allegory in the final novel.

My most popular novel to date - Children of the Folded Valley - was informed by many of my childhood experiences, especially those in the cult. Fiction writing proved a powerfully cathartic tool for me, though my intentions were only ever to entertain.

Anyway, thanks for your article.