Two weeks ago Christians across the United States were abuzz about accusations that British author Philip Pullman allegedly is selling "atheism for kids" (or so says Bill Donohue of the Catholic League) through his multi-award winning, fantasy trilogy "His Dark Materials", which has already sold over 12 million copies worldwide and is coming to the big screen in December in the form of the movie "The Golden Compass."
Last week, during a visit to New York City, Pullman finally got a chance to respond to these accusations and made big headlines once again--this time for not promoting atheism in the trilogy. On Friday he appeared as a guest on the "Today" show, saying that:
What I was mainly doing, I hope, was telling a story, but not a story like Tolkien’s. (To be honest I don’t much care for "The Lord of the Rings.") As for the atheism, it doesn’t matter to me whether people believe in God or not, so I’m not promoting anything of that sort.
It didn't take long for Pullman fansites like Bridgetothestars.net and HisDarkMaterials.org to pick up this side of the controversy.
As I've argued in recent posts, and as a religion scholar who spent the last two years with my co-author and colleague Jason King working on a book about both Philip Pullman's vision of God and God's major significance to the trilogy, the last thing I'd say about Pullman and his stunning story is that his agenda is to sell atheism to kids--or even that he has an agenda at all!
Pullman has been unfairly treated by religious groups that I highly doubt have even read his trilogy.
Unfortunately, Pullman is not out of the woods yet with Christians here in America. Bill Donohue released a statement saying that "Pullman's deceit is appalling" virtually minutes after Pullman's appearance on "Today." MTV.com reports that "the evangelical-activist group Focus on the Family... plans to release a statement about the film early next week, [and] says it's in agreement with Christian leaders and organizations on the issue [of Pullman]." Adam Holz, associate editor of Focus on the Family's Plugged In magazine, told MTV News he fears the movie would "plant seeds" to "ultimately encourage some fans to reject God."
I suspect that many of these alarmists ranting about Pullman and the forthcoming "Golden Compass" movie have read the trilogy in much the same way they read their Bibles: by skimming the stories in order to extract the verses that serve their own agendas, without paying a bit of attention to the larger context or story in which they find the juicy bits.
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First of all to the author:
Pullman has said many other things about his purpose with "His Dark Materials" that counter what is quoted here.
Here is an educated and thorough look at the book:
http://live.hollywoodjesus.com/?p=1156
To the commentator Carey Marshall:
By using the scripture "abstain all appearences of evil you have given the author of this article an example of:
"skimming the stories in order to extract the verses that serve their own agendas, without paying a bit of attention to the larger context or story in which they find the juicy bits."
If you read the greater context of that chapter you will find that the "avoidances of evil" has to do with "prophecies." As it states in the book, "How to Read the Bible for All it's Worthy": "To make this text mean something God did not intend is to abuse the text, not use it."
Simply put, you need to learn to use exegesis.
As far as what Pullman really means:
"I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief," says Pullman. "Mr. Lewis would think I was doing the Devil's work." - from A Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A23371-2001Feb18?
Thank you, Spence, you responded eloquently. Excellent links!
The controversial content (at the very least female circumci**on) is repulsive that it would be awarded international children's book of the year. Proves how truly out-of-touch many librarians and literary professionals are throughout the world (in regards to children's mental health and maturity/development).
Fie on Scholastic for loading schools with dozens of copies at every school book fair they do. It is commendable to teach children to search for truth, but that is NOT what Pullman's works are about. There are too many offensive and degrading issues within the trilogy to list here (I've read them) to excuse his works as being "good" for young people. Regardless of doctrinal creed or none at all, Pullman offends me that he would enjoy traipsing along his merry way, happy that he is "saving children before their parents and religion perverts them." His closed-mindedness and lack of civility astounds me. Shame on him. I truly feel sorry for his poor departed grandfather who tried to raise him as a loving individual.
Well, Pullman's works won't be on my children's shelves unless they choose to read them, but I hope they will choose not to. I know that you don't have to try-out every single new fad to decide whether or not you want it to be a part of your life...and this isn't being closed-minded, it's being selective--because our lives are too short to spend time on cheap shrift. Just my thoughts. READ HIS PAST INTERVIEWS FOUND AT THE LINKS ABOVE!!!!! (It's always good to go to the direct source, Robert Pullman himself, to see how abhorrent the content is!)
The controversial content (at the very least female circumci**on) is repulsive that it would be awarded international children's book of the year.
Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of international children that have the repulsive practice foisted upon them in the name of one god or another.
Seems to me that your problem is with reality, not Scholastic.
Since Adam and eve, Satan has been attacking Godly men.
As we all know, Satan has an agenda. Weather it is to be blatantly obvious or dancing gentility around, the outcome is the same; he doesn’t like God or those who believe in God. Satan wants our downfall... his best efforts are spent getting us to do it to ourselves. “Inter fighting” I’ll call it. Christains and others, who believe in GOD, need to get right with God, Be a good example of Christ’s LOVE, spreading God’s message, not our mixed up interpretations, read the whole scripture, not just the parts we want to pick out and use to slap others in the face with... Godly people have to stop judging others and pull the logs out of our own eye first. Then we can really make a subtle impact of our own. With our families, our kids, our friends and co –workers. We can not shove religion in other people faces. Christains are getting a bad name.
As for the kids, we need to fight fire with fire, make movies wear God is “REAL MAGIC” as real as it gets. To kids magic and miracles are one in the same; they just need to learn the difference. And that were the Godly men come in, we reach out and share what we know to be the truth. My children know the difference. They know of God and they know of Satan, and they know he is so very real, in a world that chooses to ignore the real dangers, and that’s a world without compassion, love, encouragement, hope, believing and most of all FAITH.
We become the bad guys when we force or beliefs on others. Why else do we fight against tyranny, why do we have wars? We want a Godly world, Start in your own home, friends family, work etc. The ripples in a pond, how far do they travel?
Thanks kkp, that was just what I needed. The one thing that these books/movies have brought to my attention is the very ugly side of religion/"christianity": The complete lack of love, compassion, NONjudgementalism.... I have now become aware of the cruelty and accusations towards those that do not believe as we believe, that have seperate agendas than our own, etc etc etc.
The one thing that seems to be consistently lacking in those that criticise The GC is God, in the hearts of the critics/judges. God gave us free will when we entered earth, but man, in the name of his religion, seeks to take that away from us. It seems that "christians" don't have the faith in God to keep them, and their children, safe from a movie. So "they" want to take the movie away from everyone.
I have to say that, based on what I have heard "christians" say in posts, videos, radio (Focus on the Family)... I am ashamed and horrified to be called a "christian". I do not want to judge people, or make accusations towards anyone, or lash out and attack anyone. I do NOT want to hurt anyone, or take away their god-given free will. But it's starting to sound like if I am a "true" christian, than this is what I am going to have to do. My heart is broken. Like you said, christians are getting a bad name. And I can't blame it on satan either, because it sounds like people are choosing to be outright judgemental, full of attack, etc.
Anyway, thank you for your openness, for your words of wisdom. You said to be an example of Christ's LOVE, Godly people have to stop judging others and pull the logs out of our own eye first, etc. It seems like the christians that are the most judgemental are the ones that are speaking the loudest. Where is the Love? I thought Christ was about unconditional love. He didn't walk around telling everyone that they were always wrong.
PS~ Instead of trying to take movies away from others, I love your suggestion about people making God movies!
Also, I hope this does not offend anyone, but I try to see the beauty in all things, and I can see God's beauty at work in The Golden Compass. Although I have seen some uglies coming out in people, I would rather see the truth than a lie, if God thinks that I am ready to see the truth.
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