Rantings

You know, I'm getting so tired of this whole book and movie controversy surrounding the new release of The Golden Compass. Just because one group or one person gets his feathers ruffled or thinks a certain way doesn't mean we all do. Certain groups and people are saying how anti-Christian it is and that the book's author is a violent athiest out to get our children and turn them away from God and the Bible. As a Christian woman, I say that's a load of crap. I got an email today from someone in my MOPS group that really set me off for the whole afternoon. Here it is:

"There will be a new children's movie out in December called "The Golden Compass". The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C.S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.

Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God". He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."

While "The Golden Compass" movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman's hatred of Jesus Christ.

"The Golden Compass" is set to premier on December 7, during the Christmas season, and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas.

Please consider a boycott of the movie and the books. Also, pass this information along to everyone you know. This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.

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Whether you are Christian or not, it should be very alarming to all that someone is making attacks on a group for their sacred beliefs. Atheism is a belief system of its own and some of its adherents has an agenda of de-Christianizing society. Just a reminder that the place where the most destruction of human life has occurred is in atheistic systems such as Communism.

For example, between Stalin and Mao a total of almost 55,000,000 people died in the various communist famines and persecutions. The pride of the Communist system was its atheistic approach to controlling the people. Belief in the State and the human "leader" as supreme authority in life, not God, was their thrust. As a result, anyone in disagreement with this approach was taken care of. I know personally of a priest who had to hide his religious studies from government authorities in Communist Yugoslavia and this man knew and saw people who were killed for their religious beliefs.

What this author Pullman is trying to accomplish in his writings is a death of the human spirit in children by weakening and/or changing their belief in God. This Phillip Pullman is inciting hatred/intolerance/disgust and the like toward those in our society who have different beliefs than his by promoting this intolerance covertly in his fictional works.

This shows where atheism can lead and none of us should ever agree to support those people who deny other citizens their freedom of religion without persecution. His works are a hidden form of religious persecution. Those of other faiths other than Christian should also be concerned since atheism denies belief in any religious faith whatsoever, so that at some other point in time it can be their turn. Support others religious freedoms by boycotting the movie and book series.

Please send this on to as many people as you think would support the boycott. Let's get the word out that religious intolerance will not be tolerated under the cover of children's books designed to (in the author's own words), "kill God in the minds of children". I trust fair-minded fellow citizens everywhere will be empowered to stop this junk literature by refusing to give it commercial success."

Most people receiving this kind of hatemail haven't even read the book or done any research into the author's philosophy! How can they not judge for themselves what is right or wrong for their children. It takes a narrow minded person to accept these emails at face value without putting in the effort of researching it themselves. For me it's a censorship issue and I get so disgusted by it. In this country we have freedom of speech and we have lost many, many brave soldiers protecting that right. The same things happened with Harry Potter and The DiVinci Code, too. This "holier than thou" attitude. It's just fiction people!

Listen, I'm confident in what I believe in. I happen to know that Jesus died for my sins and by that sacrifice I've been saved. I also know I'm flawed (cracked through and through, actually) and I pray everyday that Jesus will help me make the right decisions. That He will help me keep it all together. There's one thing else I'm sure of: God gave us all free will. I'm not about to take the word of someone I don't know or some group bordering on the fanatical to make the decisions for me.

Just a thought here, as a Christian facing an atheist, shouldn't we take this opportunity to witness to them about the glories of God? How about we make it a two-way conversation and really try to find out why they don't belive in God. We may actually reach someone by being willing to listen and not judge. Judgement is God's bailiwick and best left to him. We just get ourselves into way too much trouble.