I'm glad the word is starting to get out in Christian circles about the upcoming movie, "The Golden Compass". The movie is based on a novel by Philip Pullman by the same title. The book is the first of his series "His Dark Materials"- which he wrote as an "anti-Narnia" series. Pullman is an atheist and has always despised the Narnia books for their obvious Christian parallels. (He dislikes the Harry Potter books for the same reason, interestingly enough.) Whereas the Narnia books theme is to strive for Aslan and his kingdom (Aslan is a Christ figure), in the Dark Materials series, the illustratory aim of the "heroes" is to DESTROY God and his kingdom.
One minor disturbance in this is that the movie stars Nicole Kidman, who says she is a devout Roman Catholic. However, she also says that she finds in this movie no contradiction to her faith. (!?!) I understand that the movie has "watered down" the anti-Christian message, which may lead some to say, "Well, then what's the problem?" The problem is that when kids like the movie, they will be drawn to the book. Each book of the 3 book series grows increasingly anti-Christian, anti-church, anti-God- and ends with a dramatic cliffhanger to draw you into the next book. And in the 3rd book- our "heroes" succeed in "killing God"- the whole point of Pullmans writing.
So here is a reasoned plea from one Christian parent to others- the emails you are getting about this movie DO have a basis in fact. You'll be seeing a lot of Pullman in the days ahead, I'm sure. He comes across as a kindly, gentle grandfather type- but the doctrine he presents in his books is a dangerous one. If your kids are old enough to understand, tell them about the authors purpose in having written the stories- it's a good way to make them understand that we have to stand up for our faith.
To learn more about Pullman and His Dark Materials, follow this link: http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp
