The Golden Compass

[davywavy]

One thing that keeps on coming up about Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy is that it contains, apparently, anti-religious sentiment.
I have to say that when I read it this passed me by entirely, but Evangelical Christians in the 'states are burbling in their usual frothing fashion about 'foisting atheism on children', and I've read atheists (seemingly) everywhere rattling on about how they approve of doing just that.
In as far as I can remember from reading the books, the villains are the 'Magisterium', a church who worship a god who turns out just to be the 'first angel' who is pretending to be a god. Now, as far as I remember from reading Paradise Lost, the 'first angel' who pretends to be god is usually referred to as Lucifer, or the Devil.
The reaction to this leaves me slightly boggling. Obviously Pullman's grasp of theology is so poor that he's written a book in which the villains are Satanists whilst thinking he's doing the exact opposite, but what is so depressing is just how many people - atheists and folks of religious bent - he's got to go along with him in this. You'd think that people who feel so strongly about a subject - either positively or negatively - would know a little more about their subject before they started spouting off, wouldn't you?
But then again, this is the internet. Ignorance isn't so much a hindrance as an advantage round here.

Comments

[annwfyn.livejournal.com]

You see, I may be the only person in thinks that the Golden Compass is pretty non-atheist. It is all about a world in which angels are real, in which Adam and Eve are real, and in which Original Sin is real, albeit with the slant that it is necessary for humans to be what we want our race to be - independent.

That's not very atheistic - atheism mostly seems to teach that there is no God, and instead we live in a miserably dull, grey and scientific world.

That may just be my slightly odd take on it, however, and I'm aware I'm prone to reading books as I want them to be, as opposed to how they were intended.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

instead we live in a miserably dull, grey... world.

We teach nothing of the sort. I mean, take the platypus. Those things are an absolute blast. And don't even get me started on the fruits of double distillation in oak casks civilisation.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

No, I came away with the impression it was rather pro-religion too. Pullman later claiming exactly the opposite merely confirmed my opinion that he's not a very good writer, considering he failed to get across his primary philosophical point despite over a thousand pages of text in which to do it.