The Golden Controversy

I checked my e-mail last week to find three E-mails warning me about the new movie coming out in December, THE GOLDEN COMPASS. The Emails all went something like this:

Hi,

There is a movie coming out in December called “The Golden Compass.” It stars Nicole Kidman and it is movie marketed at children/families. I watched the trailer, and it looks like an exciting children’s adventure film. However, the movie is based on a trilogy of novels (“His Dark Materials”) by an author is unapologetically atheist. The books are intended (even the author admits) to be the atheist’s response to the Chronical of Narnia series. The first novel, on which the movie is based, is supposed to be seemingly mild, but in the third novel the “Adam and Eve” characters witness the death of Yahweh, or God.

Here are a few links for you to check it out on your own.

Goldencompassmovie.com—official movie site
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp --verifies that this is true, not myth
This segment is copied straight from Wikipedia:

The His Dark Materials books have been controversial with some Christian groups. Journalist Peter Hitchens has claimed that Pullman actively pursues an anti-Christian agenda, having stated, "This is the most dangerous author in Britain."[3] Hitchens views the His Dark Materials series as a direct rebuttal of C. S. Lewis's series.[4] This also appears to be the view of Pullman.[5]

The Golden Compass movie seems to be an exciting children's tale, sharing much with the Chronicles of Narnia. For example, both The Golden Compass and Narnia feature children facing adult moral choices, talking animals, religious allegories, parallel worlds, and concern the ultimate fate of those worlds. They even begin the same way, with a young girl hiding in a wardrobe.

However, in the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve witness the death of "God" (who turns out to be an upstart angel, rather than the creator).

The Scopes page is one of the most requested pages on Scopes right now, so I'm guessing a lot of people (mostly Christians) are getting this e-mail. But before we all get our selfs in an uproar, Christianity Today posted a good article about this hullaballo, reminding Christians that this is maybe opportunity rather than a disaster.

Home > Movies > News

Golden Compass Under Fire
Evangelicals warn against anti-religious fantasy film, coming in December.
by Josh Hurst | posted 11/05/07

Just a little over a year ago, a major motion pictured hit theaters worldwide carrying a message full of hooey, heresy and borderline blasphemy. But rather than stage boycotts and cry foul, many Christians embraced the film as a "tool" for evangelism and for "engaging" popular culture; one even called it Dan Brown's "gift to the church."

So it was with The Da Vinci Code. Now here comes The Golden Compass, slated to hit theaters in December, and Christians are reacting quite differently. Instead of seeing the film as a tool, opportunity, or gift, some are already calling for a boycott because of the movie's anti-religious elements.

In recent weeks an e-mail has circulated—among Christians in particular—urging families to avoid The Golden Compass, based on atheist Phillip Pullman's novel of the same name. The e-mail, which cites Pullman's highly publicized hatred of the Christian faith, is one of the most requested pages at the rumor-debunking website Snopes. The e-mail even notes Pullman's dislike of C. S. Lewis's Narnia Chronicles. (One commentator even called Pullman "the anti-Lewis" and "the most dangerous author in Britain.)

The e-mail has sparked a renewed interest in the anti-religious themes in the books—and, presumably, in the upcoming trilogy of movies. The Catholic League CEO Bill Donahue speaks out against Pullman's books, noting that they "sell the virtues of atheism"—an accusation that Pullman denies.

Meanwhile, Donahue and other Christian spokespeople decry the film's efforts to remove the more offensive and overt anti-religious material from the movies, calling for a boycott of the films because of their "stealth campaign" to mislead people into buying the books. Donahue says the films have been made "innocuous" as a marketing ploy: "Pullman is hoping his books will fly off the shelves at Christmastime."

Others—like The Hollywood Reporter's Gregg Kilday—counter Donahue's boycott by asserting that all the publicity will simply serve to sell more tickets. "Historically, these warnings sent as many people to see the movie, once they were labeled 'forbidden fruit,' as they kept away."

Many non-religious columnists and commentators share Kilday's skepticism.

Follow the links to the CT article for a bunch of links to other good articles about this.