Throughout the years, you’ve probably heard stories about malicious adults placing harmful substances in Halloween trick or treat candy so as to hurt unsuspecting children. We recoil at the thought of someone being so devious and cruel. And yet, sometimes, the most harmful things that can be foisted upon innocent children are not those items they can ingest orally but the ones they can absorb mentally and spiritually.
Such is the case with a new major motion picture being released today. “The Golden Compass” looks like an ideal holiday movie for kids. It has the look and feel of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, both of which are allegorical fantasies with strong spiritual underpinnings. “The Golden Compass” also has an underlying spiritual theme, but not in the way you might imagine.
Now before I proceed, let me say that I seldom raise concerns about movies, maybe once every few years, and only when I feel such a pastoral response is absolutely needful. And while I’m not trying to lead any kind of crusade against “The Golden Compass” or put a guilt-trip on anyone that’s already seen it, I feel it is incumbent upon me as a pastor to give the parents in my church a heads-up about some of the concerns involving this seemingly wholesome holiday film.
“The Golden Compass” is based on the first book in a popular 3-volume series by British author Philip Pullman. An avowed atheist, Pullman writes in the genre of C.S. Lewis, but with a very different agenda. His trilogy has been referred to as the “anti-Narnia,” reflecting his deep personal disdain for Lewis’ Christian-flavored fantasies. In a 2001 interview with The Washington Post, Pullman declared, “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” Two years later, he told another interviewer, “My books are about killing God.” Pullman has been more toned down in recent interviews, however, perhaps because this movie adaptation of his first book needs to be broadly successful if the final two books are to make it to the big screen.
Launched in 1995, Pullman’s books—following in the wake of the successful Harry Potter series—have been extremely popular across the Atlantic, winning several awards in the United Kingdom. Here in the United States, Al Roker of NBC's Today Show recently made “The Golden Compass” part of his children's book club. The book also is reportedly being sold nationwide in schools through Scholastic, which claims it is appropriate for grades four and up.
The story itself focuses on a 12-year-old girl and her daemon (pronounced "demon"), which appears in the form of a talking animal. Everyone in her world, in fact, has a daemon in the form of a talking animal. Early in the story her young friend is kidnapped, and she sets out to find him. What follows is an unfolding adventure in which the two of them help rescue the world from institutional Christianity, learning along the way that sin is the key to “wisdom” and that saving the universe depends on killing the God of the Bible. Whoa!!!
Supposedly, most of the anti-religious elements of Pullman’s trilogy are found not in his first book but in the latter two. In addition, the film version of “The Golden Compass” tones down some of the more blatant anti-Christian elements of the story. The director admits that this was intentional in order to make the film more palatable for the general public, thus enhancing its potential for financial success “so that we have a solid foundation on which to deliver a faithful, more literal adaptation of the second and third books.”'
Such is the case with a new major motion picture being released today. “The Golden Compass” looks like an ideal holiday movie for kids. It has the look and feel of J.R.R Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, both of which are allegorical fantasies with strong spiritual underpinnings. “The Golden Compass” also has an underlying spiritual theme, but not in the way you might imagine.Now before I proceed, let me say that I seldom raise concerns about movies, maybe once every few years, and only when I feel such a pastoral response is absolutely needful. And while I’m not trying to lead any kind of crusade against “The Golden Compass” or put a guilt-trip on anyone that’s already seen it, I feel it is incumbent upon me as a pastor to give the parents in my church a heads-up about some of the concerns involving this seemingly wholesome holiday film.
“The Golden Compass” is based on the first book in a popular 3-volume series by British author Philip Pullman. An avowed atheist, Pullman writes in the genre of C.S. Lewis, but with a very different agenda. His trilogy has been referred to as the “anti-Narnia,” reflecting his deep personal disdain for Lewis’ Christian-flavored fantasies. In a 2001 interview with The Washington Post, Pullman declared, “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” Two years later, he told another interviewer, “My books are about killing God.” Pullman has been more toned down in recent interviews, however, perhaps because this movie adaptation of his first book needs to be broadly successful if the final two books are to make it to the big screen.
Launched in 1995, Pullman’s books—following in the wake of the successful Harry Potter series—have been extremely popular across the Atlantic, winning several awards in the United Kingdom. Here in the United States, Al Roker of NBC's Today Show recently made “The Golden Compass” part of his children's book club. The book also is reportedly being sold nationwide in schools through Scholastic, which claims it is appropriate for grades four and up.
The story itself focuses on a 12-year-old girl and her daemon (pronounced "demon"), which appears in the form of a talking animal. Everyone in her world, in fact, has a daemon in the form of a talking animal. Early in the story her young friend is kidnapped, and she sets out to find him. What follows is an unfolding adventure in which the two of them help rescue the world from institutional Christianity, learning along the way that sin is the key to “wisdom” and that saving the universe depends on killing the God of the Bible. Whoa!!!Supposedly, most of the anti-religious elements of Pullman’s trilogy are found not in his first book but in the latter two. In addition, the film version of “The Golden Compass” tones down some of the more blatant anti-Christian elements of the story. The director admits that this was intentional in order to make the film more palatable for the general public, thus enhancing its potential for financial success “so that we have a solid foundation on which to deliver a faithful, more literal adaptation of the second and third books.”'
While it’s likely that a good many moviegoers could go and watch this film as a pure fantasy-adventure without grasping its deeper spiritual agenda, the biggest concern I have is how this film potentially could entice countless numbers of children to read the books, which I believe would be to their detriment.
If you’re interested in finding out more about this so you can make your own determination, here are a few suggested website links:
Focus on the Family’s movie review:
Baptist Press articles:
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=26849
and http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=26986
Dr. Albert Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, commentary:
http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=1065
Pastor Danny
