The Conservative Cat

Speaking from a Christian conservative perspective, I think the reason people should avoid the movie and the books is that Phillip Pullman is spreading outright lies about Christianity and targeting them towards children, specifically 7-12 year olds, who anyone who isn't a Democrat knows are totally short on critical thinking skills. Not to mention that while he claims to be attacking organized religion in general, he completely ignores the threat of Islamic fanaticism, using the typical leftist scapegoat of Christianity as the source for all of humanity's troubles.

Also, I believe the exact quote from the Declaration of Independence is "All men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights," not "no one is born special." So while your paraphrase was generally correct, it was a little out of context. The same way that Phillip Pullman takes certain mistakes made by the Church (or those claiming to be a part of it) throughout history and says this is done by all Christians.

Speaking as a conservative in general, I find it hard to believe that people are willing to do good without some kind of reward or some potential punishment for doing bad. That's what free-market economics and our criminal justice system is based on, respectively. It is also why the founding fathers created separate branches of government: because they believed people are basically evil and if not held accountable, will do as they please, just as King George and many other monarchs and dictators throughout history have done. Christianity is one of the few forces that has broken the first trend (selfishness) and the second trend (unaccountability).

And while atheists may claim otherwise, Christianity has done more to protect freedom and individual liberties than atheism has. If you don't believe me, just check out the (former) Soviet Union, North Korea, and modern China. They were founded on atheistic principles, and have had miserable human rights' records. Causation or corellation? You tell me.

This is what makes Pullman's anti-Christian message so dangerous: he seeks to eliminate the only reliable source of accountability in the world. For someone guided by strong moral principles and who believes that someone will ultimately punish them for their evil actions is less likely to do wrong than someone who believes that no one is watching them.

I saw the movie the other day, and while it wasn't all that good (it seems to have been made strictly for the purpose of making sequels, sort of a "Star Wars" without light sabers, which proves your point, I guess), I didn't find it all that offensive. What I found is that you can substitute "the Democrats" for "the Magisterium" and you can find the true hidden meaning.

"What I found is that you can substitute "the Democrats" for "the Magisterium" and you can find the true hidden meaning."

LOL. I hadn't thought about that.

Shame on you for watching it though. :(
It'll give them more money to make those sequels, and the director has specifically stated that he is not going to water down the anti-Christian messages from the books in the next 2 movies, which is what he did with the first movie because he knew that if he didn't, the film wouldn't "pass the goal line with the viewing public", which is how I believe he put it.

First off let me say that i love your site www.conservativecat.com a lot
now.. back on topic hehe
I cant say that fully agree with what you typed up... care to clear things up for me?

I've blogged on this general concept before: the tendency of fantasy stories to involve conspiracy theories and One Guy Who Can Stop the Evil. It's like the X-Files with wizards. My point is that even if The Golden Compass is not an anti-Catholic screed, it's still more of the same old paranoid fantasy that has been done to death.