Does "Compass" point kids to atheism?

Alexandra Loesser

Does"Compass" point kids to atheism?

We live in a time driven by entertainment. The media is everywhere and many people believe it to be extremely influential. This is why a new film coming to theaters next week is stirring up quite a bit of controversy. The Philip Pullman series with the first installment called The Golden Compass is a fantasy-based story for children that is said to have strong undertones of atheism. Schools are pulling these books off their shelves and certain religious groups are boycotting it.
“Kiera McCaffery, a spokeswoman for the New York-based Catholic League, says the film is a hook to lure kids into a series of what she calls deeply anti catholic books.” McCaffery has not yet seen the film. New Line Cinema has said they watered down the anti-religious themes but Pullman sees nothing wrong with his stories. “He talks about the value of the religious impulse and goes on to condemn organized religion that has burned, hanged, tortured, maimed, robbed, violated, and enslaved millions in the name of God.” “That is the religion I hate, Pullman writes, “and I’m happy to be known as its enemy.”
Many Catholics even see nothing dark about the film. Nicole Kidman who plays the sinister Mrs. Coulter (interesting name) says, “The Catholic Church is part of my essence, I wouldn’t be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti Catholic.” Even Donna Freitas, the professor of religion at Boston University agrees. She said “reading the trilogy reinvigorated her concepts of God, salvation and the soul, this trilogy is actually responsible for helping me stay Catholic.” In the end it is all how you interpret the book. People who are fans of the Golden Compass believe it is not God who is killed in the end but an “imposter God.” And when it comes to kids the interpretation is completely different again. In a question and answer session with Pullman not one child asked why he killed God in his books.
When it comes to this movie everyone is going to have a different opinion just as they do when it comes to religion. Movies are a form of expression, as is all art, so lets not malign the first amendment.

Heather Donckels, "Does "Compass" point kids to atheism?." Charlotte Observer