Golden Compass FAQ

Here’s a Golden Compass FAQ that I wrote for my own congregation. The content is below. Feel free to download and distribute the pdf though.

Here’s an FAQ that I wrote for families in my congregation. I prefer Keith’s suggestion of a dicussion board. Unfortunately our family message board isn’t scheduled to go online for a few months.

Is the Golden Compass Movie anti-God?

Not anymore. Philip Pullman’s Trilogy, His Dark Materials, takes a decidedly negative tone toward organized religion. However, New Line Cinema, became aware of the books’ plotline and demanded a re-write. The studio invested $180 Million into making The Golden Compass and couldn’t risk a boycott. The antagonist in the movie is not longer “the Church” or a senile God, but a totalitarian government.

 So the author of the books, Phillip Pullman, is anti-God?

That’s not a fair statement. If you kick around his website, Pullman seems to place value in religious experience. I can’t tell from his writing if he believes that there is a supernatural power on the other side of our religious experiences or not. What is obvious is that Pullman believes that there is a great limit to what we can know about God. So it is fairer to categorize Pullman as an agnostic– an agnostic who has a strong dislike for the Christian faith.

A quick read through Pullman’s website reveals his strong disdain for how religions, such as Christianity, are configured. His convictions about how little we can know about God cause him to view Christian theology and moral judgments as arbitrary and man-made. He views the clergy as agents of control and opponents of human freedom. He seems to rail against Christianity the most, but probably because it’s the dominant religion in Western Cultures.

 Do the books have demonic themes? Didn’t he write these books as a response to the The Chronicles of Narnia?  

No. There are fictional creatures in the books called daemons. The “daemon” is a character out of Greek mythology and shouldn’t be confused with the demons of the Bible. In Greek mythology a daemon can be good or bad. In Pullman’s world, a daemon is a creature that bonds with a human and serves as their assistant or guide.

Pullman is open about his dislike for the Narnia books. He’s repeatedly called them “poison.” He claims the books are misogynistic. I suspect his biggest objection is that C.S. Lewis communicated the Christian story so well in these books. Regardless, is not a sin to dislike C.S. Lewis.

Milton’s Paradise Lost is actually the work that inspired His Dark Materials (“His dark materials” is a phrase from Milton’s poem). In Paradise Lost sin enters the world when Adam and Eve give into temptation and bite the apple. Pullman turns the story on its head and casts the eating of forbidden fruit as a good thing—the key to gaining more wisdom.

The Christian reader will turn his or her mind to Genesis 3 and see that Pullman is echoing same logic offered by the serpent.   

Shouldn’t our church organize itself to boycott the movie?

I’m sure you’ve noticed that Grace hasn’t boycotted anything. That’s because boycotts tend to shutdown meaningful conversations between parties. Grace’s bias is toward starting conversations with unchurched people. (Not to shill my books, but I do have a chapter on this topic in my latest book Divine Intention: How God’s Work in the Early Church Empowers Us Today.)

 

Boycotting the “Golden Compass” would be particularly confusing to bystanders since all the anti-religion themes have been purged the movie.

 Should I let my child see the movie or read the books?

Grace doesn’t intend to make that decision for you. My hunch is that reworked movie will be harmless fun. As a dad, I wouldn’t let my elementary aged son read the book. I personally wonder if elementary school aged children are able to tell the difference between an attack on God and a critique of organized religion.

 

Now I might actually recommend that a parent read the books with his or her middle- or high-school aged children. This could be a positive and fun way for a teenager to explore beliefs that run counter to Christianity. As a parent, you’d have a new opportunity to answer your child’s questions about faith.

 Have you read the books, Larry?

I’m nearly finished with “The Golden Compass.” I’ve already shared my concerns about the books. Here’s what I appreciate. Lyra, the protagonist, is a strong female character. There aren’t enough of these in children’s literature, I think. And even though I believe Pullman goes too far in his opposition to organized religion, I like his hostility toward religion as a form of control. Some of the Old Testament Prophets, such as Samuel and Malachi, made similar attacks when the clergy used their power to exploit people.