(Update: Below, I have added a link to Paul's post on the topic and inserted the link to the L.A. Times article. Sorry for leaving that out the first time.)I've posted before about The Golden Compass and the trilogy from which it comes. Philip Pullman himself has said that this series is about "killing God" and it is basically the anti-Narnia.
Now, I might just have to borrow the book from the library and find out for myself, but in the meantime, I am getting my information from trusted sources. I've now found that the famed Snopes has a page up about the books and forthcoming movie.
What bothers me is the line that they are "dumbing it down" or "removing the anti-religious parts" for the movie. This makes no difference when children watch it and then get the books from the library or for Christmas. Then they get the full-tilt anti-Christian propaganda.
Don't be snowed on this one. This series of stories, as well-written as they might be, are about killing God. They are about indoctrinating our children with atheism.
Other recent stories in the news:
- Fox News: "Christian Groups Claim Pro-Atheist 'Stealth Campaign' in Nicole Kidman Fantasy Film 'The Golden Compass'" - excerpt:
Pullman has not been shy in the past about verbalizing his beliefs — or, some might say, nonbeliefs — and his intentions in writing the "Dark Materials" novels.
The novelist has said they are in response to C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia," the popular children's fantasy series of which "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is the first book — written by Lewis to teach Christian ideals to kids.
"I loathe the 'Narnia' books," Pullman has said in previous press interviews. "I hate them with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away." He has called the series "one of the most ugly and poisonous things" he's ever read.
- The Catholic League has a video up on the topic. (It was the opening page for the videos this morning, and I'm sure it will remain so for now.) They also have put together a pamphlet on the movie which is available for purchase.
- Regular Guy Paul has his own thoughts on the topic in "Why Homeschool, Part 14"
One amazingly dim piece I read on the movie (and books) was from the L.A. Times. It contained this bit of "logic":
Pullman's refutations aside, Catholic theology in the books is depicted as sinister and the villains are often cardinals and priests. The "Church," or the "Magisterium," answers to the "Vatican Council," and kidnaps children, tortures witches and aims to suppress all natural impulses and control the world. In one book, "Dust" is described as the physical manifestation of Original Sin.In the film, however, there's no mention of the Church or Catholicism. The bad guys are known only as the Magisterium, which in fact is the term the Roman Catholic Church uses to describe its body charged with interpreting "the Word of God." Weitz, who described himself on one fan site as "a lapsed Catholic crypto-Buddhist," explained those changes to fans in 2004 as a way to allay the studio's early concern that the "perceived anti-religiosity" of "His Dark Materials" would make the franchise "an unviable project."
With all this, how can they say that it has no anti-religious (or anti-Catholic) themes? How can Nicole Kidman, who professes to be Catholic and came back to the faith recently, star in a movie that is based on a book so blatantly anti-Catholic??
And why do these Hollywood people not think that the same children whose parents would feel okay about them going because it's supposedly not anti-Christian will later pick up the books and get the full dose? It's like a vaccination!
You make the decisions for your family, but make an informed one. If you're a Christian, check out what Christian organizations are saying about this movie and the trilogy of books on which it is based.
Previous posts at Domestic Vocation on this topic:
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