"Please get your facts straight before launching charges. The Catholic League warned Catholics across the country through email to bishops and through Church bulletin inserts of the dangers of this movie long before they produced this helpful booklet which people of all religious stripes are free to purchase or not."

People on this forum have said that this is the Church doing this. The Catholic church has a mouth piece for education, it's called the pope. This is another organization, the Catholic League, which is not a sub organization of the churuch, which is running this media campaign. My question with all the mis information, was what is the true motive of this organization.

If it is purely educational, there are other ways, more effective and more massive ways to reach people, i.e. creating a wiki page. In this case, this organization has chosen to compile a document, and charge people for it, an electronic version of the document, which is essentially free information, they are asking money for. So this is not a purely educational enterprise, it's a for profit money making venture, just like the C league is in general. What other company or organization, charges you for an electronic flyer, access to an html webpage, or pdf file?

"Church bulletin inserts of the dangers of this movie long before they produced this helpful booklet which people of all religious stripes are free to purchase or not." Really, signed by the pope, or passed around by the religious community without regard to actually researching who is advancing the cause?

The question was...
"In what way does the movie Golden Compass denigrate Christianity specifically?"
Your response was...
"The movie Golden Compass is based upon 3 books written by Pullman, a self described atheist who said in interviews, "My books are about killing God" and that he was "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief" and "I am all for the death of God."

Being based off anything doesn't mean jack. Do we judge a work of literature or film by the content of that literature of film, or upon the work on which it is based, or by who has written it. If you believe it's fair game to be judging works by the people that create it, than that is unfair, and really biased.

I would only expect a fanatic Catholic to make that kind of of statement.

"Chronicles of Narnia are fantasy that represent the battle between God and His followers and Satan and his devils. In Lord of the Rings, Tolkien shows the power of God and readers join Him while Pullman promotes the lie that evil can ultimately defeat God. Christians know that Christ death has already won the ultimate victory."

They know it, like everybody knew the world was flat, however they cannot prove it, just as they cannot prove the world was flat. Today it is highly provable that the world is round. Look towards the future when you are finished putting your faith in the past, imagine where the world will be, when the science we use for convenience today, becomes the predominate faith of the future.

Movies like the "5th element", which had an anti religious theme, with a comparable budget and bigger stars didn't draw a boycott by the C league. Why not? Because their creator wasn't atheist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Element

"Dan, why hasn't Pullman exercised his inalienable right to write a book denigrating Allah (Islam) and publically denunciate Mohammed and have that made into a children's fantasy movie."

I hate to get personal, but pull your head out of your ass and start reading what I have written before you start making statements that clearly don't capture my viewpoint. I have stated, as has Pullman, that his works don't target any religion specifically, but it is the nuts at the C league who have adapted their perspective on a movie based on a book, to mean the Catholic church. The stories, are anti-organized religion, not anti-Catholic. So you tell ask me, why does he not denigrate other religions when indeed he has done so as much as you claim he has done to the Catholic Church.

Maybe it is you who needs to do a little more research, why do I say that, it would appear most Catholics are fully willing and able to let others do their thinking for them. Making prejudicial judgments about media without actually viewing the media or learning about them from independent sources.

Pullman has a message in the movie which isn't necessarily bad, it is don't put your faith entirely into an organized religion that is can be corrupted by evil men or women. The Magistrium was corrupt, just like certain religions have been corrupted. If you need me to point to a Catholic failure in th past, how about the ongoing and endless SEX SCANDAL, and the millions that the church is paying out daily for the sins of their empire?

Tell me that shifting sex offenders from community to community, is moral, divinely guided, or even ethical. Certainly an organization that hasn't even to this day purged itself of this kind of thing, should be careful about throwing stones at glass houses, when they themselves live in on. Oh that's right, Jesus had a parable for this didn't he?

"He who has not sinned, shall cast the first stone."

excuse me


when did love become anti-god.


but then i forget some many people never figured out what the 5th element was.


for those of you who didn't figure it out. the fifth element was love.


and sense god is love.

Dan,

By your "I hate to get personal" paragraph, you have crossed the line of civil discourse with me. I wonder if it is possible for you to carry on a discussion and not resort to becoming insulting crass.

Good bye, Dan.

Just throwing in my two cents here...

I saw the movie this weekend with some friends, completely oblivious to the whole "evil ulterior atheist motive", which I found out about the following day much to my surprise! Truth be told I really enjoyed the movie. If the books are heavily anti-religion then it didn't spill over into the movie. If there was anything that the movie conveyed it's that people should think for themselves and not buy into groupthink. Regardless of your religious or political beliefs, I think this is an entirely valid message. It also attacked the notion of blind faith, and large organizations over-stepping their bounds. Both of these things various churches (and forms of government) have been guilty of promoting many times down through the ages. Notice that I didn't say it attacked the concept of faith itself, but one of it's false flavours. Blind faith is the worst kind of faith, because in my opinion it is entirely false and requires no decision on the part of the believer, so we can definitely do away with that!

Hallelujah!

~Zoo

I'm coming in late to this too.....I have not seen the movie and probably will not, but I have read the books. I was very excited about the movie when I saw the trailer earlier this summer and immediately went out to get the first book. It was a great story with very little religious overtones to it, unless you already knew where to look and I had no idea at the time. I proceeded to go back to the store and get the rest of the trilogy and was disappointed with them. The story was okay as far as actual fantasy went, but the author's bitterness and anger was obvious, as well as his blatant anti-Christian, anti-religion stance in general. I was relatively certain of this part-way through the second book but I didn't want to be one of those people who condemned the books without having read them, so I finished all three!

Would I encourage anyone to see the movie or read the books? NO. Would I ever dream of telling someone not to? NO. In fact, my cousin's 12 yr old son has asked her about reading them because he wants to decide for himself, so I am sending them to him for Christmas. Both of us come from conservative Christian backgrounds and have strong personal beliefs.......but those beliefs cannot be pushed on another person, and you have to be able to ask questions. I will not see the movies, though, the books were enough.

"Truth be told I really enjoyed the movie. If the books are heavily anti-religion then it didn't spill over into the movie. If there was anything that the movie conveyed it's that people should think for themselves and not buy into groupthink."

"Regardless of your religious or political beliefs, I think this is an entirely valid message."

"Blind faith is the worst kind of faith, because in my opinion it is entirely false and requires no decision on the part of the believer, so we can definitely do away with that!"

Exactly, Exactly, Exactly. Thank you.

"Would I encourage anyone to see the movie or read the books? NO. Would I ever dream of telling someone not to? NO. In fact, my cousin's 12 yr old son has asked her about reading them because he wants to decide for himself, so I am sending them to him for Christmas. Both of us come from conservative Christian backgrounds and have strong personal beliefs.......but those beliefs cannot be pushed on another person, and you have to be able to ask questions. I will not see the movies, though, the books were enough."

Another totally, commendable way of handling the controversy, and situation.