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What is all the fuss about?
Christians have voiced serious concerns about the film 'The Golden Compass', to be released in the UK on 5 December.
It is the first instalment of the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's trilogy of books, 'His Dark Materials'. Pullman is a crusading atheist who sees his stories as the antithesis of the Narnia novels by CS Lewis. He says his books are about undermining Christianity and "killing God".
Though the film's makers have toned down the 'religious' themes of the original novel, Director Chris Weitz has indicated that he will develop them more fully in the sequels.
The author's own words
Mr Pullman is avowedly opposed to Christianity, and has said of his novels: "I'm trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief".1
He told an Australian newspaper, "I've been surprised by how little criticism I've got. Harry Potter's been taking all the flak. I'm a great fan of J. K. Rowling, but the people mainly from America's Bible Belt who complain that Harry Potter promotes Satanism or witchcraft obviously haven't got enough in their lives. Meanwhile, I've been flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God."2
Elsewhere he has said: "...if there is a God and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and rebelled against.
"As you look back over the history of the Christian church, it's a record of terrible infamy and cruelty and persecution and tyranny.
"How they have the [swear word] nerve to go on Thought for the Day and tell us all to be good when, given the slightest chance, they'd be hanging the rest of us and flogging the homosexuals and persecuting the witches."3
What Pullman's critics say
Philip Pullman has been widely criticised for his anti-religious views.
The Association of Christian Teachers' Chief Executive, Rupert Kaye, says that the fictional deity in Pullman's novels is given biblical titles including 'Almighty', 'Ancient of Days', 'Father' and 'Yahweh', yet is "malevolent, deceitful and powerless".
Mr Kaye says: "My key concern is that many young people (and adults) who read Philip Pullman's trilogy will be left with an extremely distorted understanding of what Christians actually believe and what the Bible really says about the person of God."4
Columnist Melanie McDonagh, has described the trilogy as "...a rather blatant and exceptionally offensive anti-Christian polemic..." in a radio discussion programme.
She adds, "...he is actually setting up a parody of Christianity as a thing itself. Now, that's fair enough as Mr Philip Pullman's own belief but I think it is something that readers should be alerted to because it is a proselytising agenda."5
"Pullman says he's just a storyteller," says Tony Watkins, an evangelical media commentator. "I think he's really slippery at this point. Because it's all very well saying, 'It's just a story, just a fantasy, some of the characters say what I believe and some of them don't' – but in his Carnegie Medal speech, he said stories create the morality we live by.
"The trouble is, he blurs the line between fantasy and reality by giving interviews and talking about the Republic of Heaven in the world. And because he's got all of this anti-God rhetoric in the real world that is even stronger than what's in the book, I think he can't get away with saying, 'It's just a story and you can read into it whatever you like.' Because he does understand what he's saying."6
The director
Chris Weitz, the film's director, claims on the MTV movies blog 
that the novel's religious themes have been toned down in the first film in order to safeguard box office takings and ensure that money is available to make the second and third instalment.
But, he says: "Whereas The Golden Compass had to be introduced to the public carefully, the religious themes in the second and third books can't be minimized without destroying the spirit of these books...
"I will not be involved with any 'watering down' of books two and three, since what I have been working towards the whole time in the first film is to be able to deliver on the second and third films."7
Useful resources
The following links will go to external websites.
- A statement on the trilogy from the Association of Christian Teachers
- An article by Peter Hitchens on "the worship of Philip Pullman, who has set out to destroy Narnia
- An article from the Media Research Center (US)
- Resources on a Christian approach to the media, with particular help for parents, from Focus on the Family (US)
- A review of 'The Golden Compass' in The Times
- A review of the stage version by Melanie McDonoagh
- Philip Pullman comments on his book and the film adaptation in an article for The Sunday Times
- An article from the Christian website, pluggedinonline.com
- An extended e-mail interview with Philip Pullman
- An article in Christian Today drawing on the interview above
- 1The Washington Post, 19 February 2001
- 2The Sydney Morning Herald, 13 December 2003
- 3The Sunday Telegraph, 27 January 2002
- 4http://www.christian-teachers.org.uk/newscomment/33
- 5http://www.abc.net.au/rn/encounter/stories/2002/510312.htm
- 6http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/december/12.36.html
- 7http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2007/11/14/golden-compass-director-chris-weitz-answers-your-questions-part-i/#more-1268
