The Golden Compass

The onslaught of mystical, magical, super-fantastical cinematic adventures based on hit kidlit continues. Next up in the "let's cash in on Harry's box office" parade: His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (releasing Dec. 7).

Based on the first of a trilogy of books by Philip Pullman, the film reportedly alters significant aspects of the tale. Pullman is an atheist and secularist who told an Australian newspaper, "My books are about killing God." I haven't read the popular series, but here's one description from a ChristianPost article:

In the story, a malevolent governing body called "the Church,” which answers to the "Vatican Council," is known to kidnap children for experimentation. With the help of a golden compass that reveals a coded answer to any question asked by the user, Lyra, by the trilogy’s end, gets to the bottom of the missing children and kills a character called “God."

Worried that such outright attacks on religion, Catholicism, and Christianity might hurt ticket sales, New Line Cinema purged those awkward ideas from the film version. Now, the Compass-carrier must stand not against "the Church," but "the Magisterium." (Not to be confused with Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium releasing Nov. 16.)

You might have guessed that some Christian groups are warning parents away from the films and books (yes you can believe that forwarded e-mail), but my favorite quote is from this outraged anti-religionist:

“It was clear right from the start that the makers of this film intended to take out the anti-religious elements of Pullman's book. In doing that they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it,” said Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, a British organization that promotes secularism and which Pullman is an honorary associate of.

“It seems that religion has now completely conquered America's cultural life and it is much the poorer for it," she said in The Guardian newspaper earlier this month. "What a shame that we have to endure such censorship here too.”

What a silly thing to say. Ms. Sanderson has clearly never been to America. What has completely conquered America's cultural life is money, not religion. New Line "censored" the film version of Mr. Pullman's book for the sake of Christian dollars, not Christian values.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pullman will continue to follow the tradition of great British writers like C.S. Lewis by using fantastical kid's fiction to teach his spiritual beliefs (anti-beliefs?) to a new generation. Not that he's a fan of Lewis:

"I loathe the 'Narnia' books," Pullman has said in previous press interviews. "I hate them with a deep and bitter passion."

As always, we hope you're not just devouring your entertainment without chewing it first. Do you hear what your books, movies, and music are teaching about life, truth, and God? Are you talking back?