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  • 2007-10-22 (xsd:date)
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  • Is 'The Golden Compass' Anti-Religious? (en)
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  • The Golden Compass, a fantasy film starring Nicole Kidman that was released into theaters in December 2007, drew fire from concerned Christians: The film was based on Northern Lights (released in the U.S. as The Golden Compass), the first offering in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy of children's books, a series that follows the adventures of a streetwise girl who travels through multiple worlds populated by witches, armor-plated bears, and sinister ecclesiastical assassins to defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Books of the trilogy have sold more than 15 million copies around the world, with Northern Lights winning the Carnegie Medal for Children's Literature in 1995 and in 2007 being awarded the 'Carnegie of Carnegies' for the best children's book of the past 70 years. The Amber Spyglass, the final book of the series, won The Whitbread Prize in 2001, making it the first children's book to do so. The series' author, Philip Pullman (who has described himself as both an agnostic and an atheist), has averred that I don't profess any religion; I don't think it's possible that there is a God; I have the greatest difficulty in understanding what is meant by the words 'spiritual' or 'spirituality.' Critics of Pullman's books (conservative British columnist Peter Hitchens in 2002 labeled Pullman The Most Dangerous Author in Britain and described him as the writer the atheists would have been praying for, if atheists prayed) point to the strong anti-religion and anti-God themes they incorporate, and although literary works are subject to a variety of interpretations, Pullman has left little doubt about his books' intended thrust in discussions of his works, such as noting in a 2003 interview that My books are about killing God and in a 2001 interview that he was trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief. A Los Angeles Times article on the Golden Compass controversy noted that: Bill Donohue, president of The Catholic League, has condemned The Golden Compass as a pernicious effort to indoctrinate children into anti-Christian beliefs and has produced a 23-page pamphlet titled The Golden Compass: Unmasked in which he maintains that Pullman sells atheism for kids. Donohue told interviewer John Gibson on 9 October 2007 why he believes Christians should stay away from the film: Other reviewers, however, described Pullman's works as being more generally anti-religion rather than specifically anti-Christian or anti-Catholic: (en)
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