Present Tense: Should you be looking for film reviews, you should try MovieGuide.org. It's a hoot. The Christian website views movies on a scale from "Wholesome" to "Abhorrent", and summarises plots through their supposed theological standpoints (Beowulf: "light, undeveloped Christian worldview with strong pagan elements".)
Right now, its chief concern is with The Golden Compass, a movie based on the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy written by Philip Pullman. Or "an avowed atheist", as MovieGuide.org clarifies. It concludes that: "A society shaped by the materialist and godless ethic promoted by films like The Golden Compass is a society without hope."
The site's founder, Ted Baehr, has explained that when the trilogy ends, "All [ the central character] Lyra wants to do in her life at the end of the trilogy is sexually pleasure herself with her friend". Readers of the book will recognise that as a statement that proves only that there is nothing filthier than the mind of a religious puritan.
Pullman's reaction? "Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world," he told Newsweek.
The author once said that if Hollywood was ever to get its hands on His Dark Materials, then his response would be take the money and hope for the best. That moment came to pass this week when The Golden Compass had its premiere. Two things were notable.
Firstly, the rather important references to the Church had been diluted by the American film studio. And secondly, the studio's prudence has made little difference. People who like to be annoyed by this sort of thing will find this the sort of thing they like to be annoyed about.
His Dark Materials is epic in its plot and themes. It features a young girl on the cusp of adolescence, living in a world that is both similar and very different from ours, who becomes pivotal to a war against the cruel religious authority known as the Magisterium.
The author is indeed an "avowed atheist", and the Magisterium clearly represents the Catholic Church, but Pullman has many times explained that the story is not about God as such, but the abuse of power by those who claim to interpret God. "The underlying myth of these three books - the story of the Creation and the Fall - clarifies how the original impulses of great religious teachers are used and perverted and taken as empty banners by people who set up churches," he has said.
With customary lack of self-awareness , Christian fundamentalists have called for boycotts. At least one Ontario school has removed His Dark Materials from its shelves in the run up to the movie's release. Meaning that, having criticised the books without reading them, they can repeat that tactic with the movie.
Until now, Pullman has had little trouble from the Bible Belt. In 2000 he noted that they were "too busy knocking Harry Potter" to be bothered with him. He has, however, had criticism from British quarters. When The Amber Spyglass brought the trilogy to a close, the Catholic Herald declared the books to be "far more worthy of the bonfire than Harry (Potter) - a million times more sinister".
When later adapted for the stage, in a much-lauded version involving puppets, the head of the Association of Christian Teachers was among a vocal minority claiming that "Pullman sets out to undermine and attack the Christian faith. His blasphemy is shameless."
Pullman has always been articulate and consistent in his views. "I am not promoting atheism because it doesn't matter to me whether people believe in God or not. What I do care about is whether people are cruel or kind, democrats or tyrants."
Nevertheless, what would be wrong with an atheist writing books for children, in which the nature of religion, belief and the fundamental questions about the existence of God are asked? Young people, after all, ask these questions too. Must they look only to The Chronicles of Narnia for the answers?
It has been a year of battles between atheists and religious, with Pope Benedict's second encyclical offering the least surprising headline of the last 24 hours: "Pope attacks atheism." And since people keep asking him about religion, Pullman has decided to write about it when he next takes up this story in The Book of Dust. He told the Literary Review this year: "The interesting - the curious - question is, if people can be helped by something that is palpably not true, is this better than denying the thing that is not true and not being helped?"
The Book of Dust will, presumably, also be written primarily for young readers, but will appeal enormously to adults. But it's likely to be far too complex, far too subtle and far too intelligent for the bible bashers to ever understand it. Or for them to realise that it is they, not God, that he has been writing about.
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