I read an article a few months ago that wondered if the film distribution company was going to have any problem selling “The Golden Compass” since it is a movie about atheism. Because of its obvious connection to their religion, Christians were able to promote the Narnia movie easily. “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, while not overtly religious, at least did not openly challenge the authority of their scripture or story.
But here comes a story that is written from an atheistic point of view! Pullman creates an imaginative, rich world - almost a parallel universe to our own. He infuses these books with a sense of wonder, but it is science-based and refreshingly not the supernatural view of creation.
A young person in a Unitarian Universalist congregation I was serving a few years ago thrust a copy of the first book of Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” Trilogy (The Golden Compass) in my hands, telling me I must read this. I didn’t at the time, but kept it on my bookshelf. We moved twice since then, and each time I took the paperback off the shelf and wondered whether to pack it or not. But it made the trip from Connecticut through Queens to New Jersey. And when I heard there was concern about how (or whether) to promote a movie based on a story that (purportedly) promotes atheism to young people, I knew now why I had to read it! Parents are being warned against taking their children to see this film lest their faith be challenged. So of course I wholeheartedly recommend the books and the movie to you.
If you take your religion seriously, and enjoy thinking about the world we live in, read this. The scars we all bear from those religious teachings that stress human sinfulness and how power coalesces around the control of thought and belief are just some of the themes you'll find here. It is classified as “young adult fantasy/fiction”, but it really is a book for us adults, too. And to my mind, it is much richer in its approach to life and death than the Harry Potter series.
Indeed, in the film as the character Lyra begins to discover her purpose in life, she is told about the coming war - the purpose of this struggle will be the preservation of human free will. And all this against a background of a world (and worlds) increasingly severed from its origins.
When a presidential candidate openly warns against a “religion of secularism” and advocates keeping God in our politics, we need this message more and more!
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1 comment:
It's still like it was 40 years ago. Of course, anyhing offending the Roman Catholic hierarchy has to be interesting therefore worth a look.
I remember the outrage over The Graduate. My mother snuck a look when it first came on TV. I was barred from viewing it. Of course at my first oppotunity to watch it, at age 12 during a babystitting gig, I did.
I knew at 12 anyhing so forbidden and banned was way more interesting than anything the Catholic Church promoted.
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