If we are to believe the media, atheism appears to be taking the offensive. “We’re good people, we’re just not God people.” Sounds like positive PR. According to the Barna Group, over 81 percent of Americans claim to pray at least weekly, which means to me that for people to pray, they must pray to or believe in some sort of Deity; either Christian or otherwise.
There is movie coming out December 7, The Golden Compass, which is directed toward children; but it’s sort of like anti-Narnia. It will get a lot of publicity because it stars Nicole Kidman. What concerns me is this movie is based on the first of a trilogy of books for children called His Dark Materials written by award winning author, Philip Pullman of England. He’s an outspoken atheist and apparently his objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman said, “I don’t profess any religion; I don’t think it’s possible that there is a God.”
Critics of Pullman’s books point to strong anti-religion and anti-God themes, and although literary works are subject to a variety of interpretations, Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald that “my books are about killing God.” Here is a summary of the novel, the controversy, and an interesting book called Shedding Light on His Dark Materials. For parents wanting to make a more informed decision about seeing the film, visit Plugged in Online.
I’ve read that this movie is a watered down version of the first book, which is the least offensive of the three books. The second book of the trilogy is The Subtle Knife and the third book is The Amber Spyglass. Each book gets worse and worse regarding Pullman’s hatred of God. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl travels through multiple worlds populated by witches, armor-plated bears, and sinister ecclesiastical assassins to defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as “a very powerful and convincing mistake.”
Bottom line: let’s not see this movie. Rather, if you’re into spiritual fantasy, let’s wait for the release of Prince Caspian in May 2008.
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me and my book group have discussed this and we’ve come down to this: Most children won’t get the UnderTones of the book unless an adult tells them, and the 1st movie will be watered down in order to sell more tickets. Each progressive movie after it will get stronger and stronger in the books’ intentions.
Good point. My 11-year-old would see the fantasy, the action, the characters and the story; much more than she would see the spiritual message beneath the movie. But I need to be aware of these issues so if she sees the film at some point in her life, she will view it from her own Christian worldview. Film is a powerful medium that influences people.
I remember Star Wars from years ago; just an epic story of the fight between good and evil, until I understood what Taoism and the whole yin-yang thing is all about (good and evil are one in the same). The first “Turtles” movie had a scene where the teens were meditating around a campfire, mourning the loss of their mentor, Splinter. They were in the lotus position, meditating as in some sort of a séance, when their master appears to them. A harmless scene, stuff we will eventually see in the real world, but the images have been planted. The turtles did it so it must be OK.
Kids pick up on stuff even if they don’t know the meaning behind the actions. They will be able to quote scenes like they memorize words to songs on the radio. Many claim that explicit lyrics dealing with sex, drugs and gangsta activity don’t cause kids to engage in those activities. I question that. Music is also a powerful medium.
Check out Pullman’s own words (source): Pullman contradicts himself when he talks about his understanding of how stories naturally influence people’s beliefs. “All stories teach,” he’s said, “whether the storyteller intends them to or not. They teach the world we create. They teach the morality we live by. They teach it much more effectively than moral precepts and instructions. … We don’t need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do’s and don’ts: We need books, time and silence. ‘Thou shalt not’ is soon forgotten.”
My only point in the post was to be aware of the anti-Christian bias in the new movie, and ask ourselves, “Why go see it if it goes against our family’s beliefs?”