Posted on 11/26/2007 8:46:29 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
Note: This commentary was delivered by PFM President Mark Earley.
All of you have probably received the e-mail by now. A lot of Christians have, including many of us here at BreakPoint. One of my colleagues received it from five different people no less!
I am referring to the e-mail that is circulating about the upcoming fantasy film The Golden Compass, based on the book by Philip Pullman. It says that Pullman’s fantasy trilogy is openly anti-Christian.
Unlike many other e-mails that get circulated, The Golden Compass e-mail is not a hoax, though, in fairness, there are some incorrect details. (For example, contrary to what the e-mail cites, Jesus is mentioned in the books, and the girl and the boy at the center of the story do not kill God, though they are present when a being calling himself God is killed. God is actually presented as completely unreal in The Golden Compass; there are only angelic beings who try to set themselves up as God and are defeated.)
But the part about Pullman hating the idea of God is completely accurate. He uses his stories to twist and distort familiar biblical accounts of creation, fall, and redemption, making heroes of those who rebel against religion, and having one of his “good” characters even say, “The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.” It’s sort of a Da Vinci Code theme for kids.
But I suggest that we should do more than just read the e-mail and press “Forward.” If we really want to be able to speak out against Pullman’s ideas, we must know what we are talking about. That’s why I mentioned the story details that might seem a bit trifling. Because when Christians start warning the culture about something dangerous, we often get a backlash. And it is worse if we are not prepared. If we just go out there and tell people, “This movie is about kids who kill God!” we just get a reputation as ill-informed scolds. Already that is starting to happen.
There are several ways you can prepare yourself to talk about Pullman’s books and upcoming movies. You can pick the books up at the library and skim them. You can read a book called Dark Matter by Tony Watkins; although Watkins finds more to like in Pullman’s books than we do at BreakPoint, he still does a good job of explaining the problems. You can visit our website—BreakPoint.org—where we have a number of articles, blog posts, and commentaries pointing out Pullman’s spiritual and literary flaws.
I know of one school in Virginia, Immanuel Christian, that is considering having the older students discuss and evaluate the worldview of the books in their weekly book discussion group. This is a terrific idea. When the movie comes out and their friends head off to the theater with no clue about what kind of indoctrination they are going to undergo, kids who have discussed Pullman’s worldview with Christian parents and educators will know what’s going on. Then they can choose the good and reject the bad.
Of course, all of this takes time for parents and teachers who already have enough to do. There is no easy way around that. But it is worth the investment in the lives of our children. As parents, teachers, and leaders, we can and should do no less.
He leaves a question that’s needing to be begged. If he does believe that there is no “God”, but just a very powerful and hateful angelic being that filled a power vacuum, who is to say that the angelic being that filled the vacuum wasn’t good?
The allure of kids riding polar bears will be too much for kids and parents to resist during Christmas (er, "Winter") vacation. Sadly, even most Christians are unaware of Pullman's agenda.
Great title. Enormously disappointing movie.
I’m with Chuck on this.
The last thing you should do is cringe and censor. By all means read through and discuss the books.
Furthermore, if I were a crafty Hollywood director seeking to gin up maximum publicity for a harmless kid’s adventure movie...
As far as I can tell, in the movie the bad guys are called “The Magisterium.”
Big. Deal. Didn’t our own beloved R.A. Heinlein set at least one of his novels in a period when earth was dominated by an oppressive theocratic state?
At least we know the usual suspects will knee-jerkingly cover it with glory, assuming—sight unseen—it to be christian-kicking.
“I believe it’s being made by Walden Media; who gave us Narnia. “
Not to just echo other posters...
but even though there lots of “marriages of conveniences” in Hollyweird
I don’t think Walden has anything to do with the movie “The Golden Compass”.
Except to give the copy-cats of “The Golden Compass” a recipe for
the visuals of their film!
From imdb.com:
Walden Media
http://www.imdb.com/company/co0073388/
(Narnia is at #17 on the list at this time; and IIRC Walden did partner
with Disney to get more distribution/publicity?)
New Line
http://www.imdb.com/company/co0046718/
(Golden Compass is at #51 on the list at this time)
If there is any working/business connection between Walden and
New Line on “The Golden Compass”...I’ve just missed it.
Ping! This is that movie.
Of course, he actually (as I understand it) believes there's no God and he wishes to kill belief, not the being, but you make a good point. I love it when atheists start talking about good and evil, it's always good for a chuckle.
I understand the "don't give them publicity" argument, but if you think Pullman is not anti-Christianity, you have not done your homework.
As far as I can tell, in the movie the bad guys are called “The Magisterium.”
Also, consider this para from the Wikipedia entry for the book trilogy. Note that The Northern Lights is the original title of The Golden Compass.
In Northern Lights, the story takes place in a world with some similarities to our own; its society seems to resemble the 19th century with Victorian era dress style and steampunk technology level. It could also be speculated that in this world The Reformation never took place; John Calvin is referred to as a Pope. The church (often referred to as the "Magisterium") controls all of the western world and probably the entire planet.
Hope that cleared things up.
I presume this movie will be better, as those scifi movies of the seventies were B movies at best.
Get it through neflix, if like me you have quick turnaround neflix only cost me $.75 per movie, with a next day return mail i’ve gotten an average of 22 movies a month. Surly very little of that goes to MR. Pullman.
I rip the movie to my media center pc and watch it at my convenience then delete it when done.
Better he warns them than me. These kids should be made aware of the subliminal attacks on their spirituality, and this will be an opportunity to show them the hypocrisy and deviant and slippery methods the left uses to strip them of their faith. Additionaly, we can reveal how the media supports the rise of Godlessness by their inevitable failure to reveal this trilogy for what it is.
We can turn this into a win with a little work.
Ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.