The Golden Compass

I've seen previews of this movie coming soon, starring Nicole Kidman. I even bought the book for my son, thinking that this was another "Narnia" type movie and book series. He has not read the book yet. Turns out this is a good thing.

I received an email from a friend recently. It reads as such, "This atheistic author's avowed goal is to "kill God in the minds of children". The author hated C.S. Lewis and wanted to UNDO what C.S. Lewis did in the Chronicles of Narnia. His trilogy has sold over fifteen million copies globally. Spread the word and boycott the movie. Read the article below. Its scary."

I'll leave the boycott issue up to you. But the email pointed to the Snopes site, which is a website dedicated to urban myths and legends. you may visit the site which is located here, but I'll quote some of the site.

"The Golden Compass, a fantasy film starring Nicole Kidman that is scheduled to be released into theaters on 7 December 2007, has been drawing fire from concerned Christians. The film is 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.

The series' author, Philip Pullman, is an avowed atheist who 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 point to the strong anti-religion and anti-God themes they incorporate, and although literary works are subject to a variety of interpretations, Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald that "My books are about killing God." (Conservative British columnist Peter Hitchens labeled Pullman "The Most Dangerous Author in Britain" and described him as the writer "the atheists would have been praying for, if atheists prayed.")"

The article quotes several emails that are circulating. The following are quotes from some of those emails:

"The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy where in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please. Nicole Kidman stars in the movie so it will probably be advertised a lot. This is just a friendly warning that you sure won't hear on the regular TV."

"What I thought was important to communicate is what part of the agenda is for making this picture. This movie is a watered down version of the first book, which is the least offensive of the three books. The second book of the trilogy is THE SUBTLE KNIFE and the third book is THE AMBER SPYGLASS. Each book gets worse and worse regarding Pullman's hatred of God. In the trilogy, a young girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle against a nefarious Church known as the Magisterium. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as 'a very powerful and convincing mistake.' As I understand it, in the last book, a boy and girl are depicted representing Adam and Eve and they kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH."

I have the book and plan to read it. I will let you know what I find out, unless the movie comes out before I get it read, which is a distinct possibility.