MONDAY MADNESS #22

The Golden Compass

As a normal rule I do not do movie reviews, but in light of what is going on in our society today, concerning the culture war (and, we are in a culture war) with all of its subtle and not so subtle attacks on all things Christian, I could not remain silent about the movie “The Golden Compass”.

I must be honest and divulge the fact that I have not seen this movie, nor do I intend to, but I have read some of Pullman’s writings from his trilogy Dark Materials which is made up of three books; The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass, and The Golden Compass, and I can assure you that each book gets progressively more anti-religion and anti-Christian.

Phillip Pullman tries to deny that the movie is anti-Christian. He claims that the accusations of the U.S. based Catholic League that the film, along with his books promotes atheism and denigrates Christianity as “absolute rubbish”. He claims that he is a “story teller” and “if I wanted to send a message, I would have written a sermon.”

The movie, The Golden Compass – which stars Nichole Kidman and Daniel Craig (James Bond actor) – is based of the first part of Pullman’s best-selling Dark Materials children’s trilogy is set in an imaginary world where the heroine Lyra does battle against the Magisterium (a thinly disguised reference to the Catholic Church, the teaching body of the Roman Catholic Church) an evil organization. The three-part series ends in an epic battle in which God is slain at the hands of a child.

The movie opened in London, England, last Tuesday and those who have seen it say that the explicit anti-Christian message of the books have been muted, but Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, says that “Parents may be taken in by the toned down film – and if they take their children to see the movie, they may be pressured into buying the overly atheistic and anti-Christian books for their children”.

Donohue went on to state that “Pullman is using the film as a sort of stealth campaign. He likes to play game and claim that he is not atheistic or anti-Catholic. But he is and we have researched it.”

Christian journalist Peter Hitchens said that he opposes any sort of boycott of the film, but he wants parents to be aware of Phillip Pullman’s themes, he said: “If you buy his books for your children, don’t imagine for a moment that you are handing over a neutral story: this author has a purpose.”

Hitchens went on to say: “”Don’t forget, this is a writer who has previously gone on record to say he is trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.”

Isn’t it ironic that even though Pullman claims that his books and the film are not anti-Christian or anti-religion, came under fire from secularist groups who say that there wasn’t enough anti-religion sentiment in the film?

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: “We knew from the beginning that the producers of this film intended to leave out the anti-religious references. We think this is a great shame. The fight against the Magisterium (Pullman’s thinly-disguised version of the Catholic Church) is the whole point of the book. Take that away and the most original and interesting element of the story is lost.”

Here is what Snopes.com has to say about The Golden Compass:

“The Golden Compass is based on a series of books with anti-religious themes.”

Status: True.

Please go to the Snopes website to read what they have posted, then you be the Judge.