The Golden Compass and His Dark Materials

A movie review by Adam R. Holz

We should be aware of what is being mar­keted as “children’s movies” but which are really wolves in sheep’s clothing. I haven’t seen the movie, so all I can do is pass along one person’s opinion (although I have read other articles that are similar to this one). Below is an article of interest.

New Line Cinema insists that it is toning down some of the anti-church messages contained in its movie adaptation of The Golden Compass. But there is still a great deal of reason for concern that these themes will be impossible to eliminate completely. Even if they were, the theatrical celebration of Bill Pullman’s His Dark Materials stories will likely introduce many more viewers to a worldview that’s wholly opposed to the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Pullman, who has said, “I hate the Narnia books ... with a deep and bitter passion,” has crafted a trilogy wherein the protago­nists confront a wicked and malevolent church and seek to take on and kill a God figure, who’s known as the “Authority.” Those arrayed against the Authority are the story’s heroes — including a 12-year-old girl and boy — and they regularly reflect Pullman’s own antagonistic attitude toward Christianity. “If there is a God,” he says, “and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and re­belled against.” That message is delivered unmistakably by an ex-nun in the story when she talks about why she renounced her faith in the third book, The Amber Spy­glass: “The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that’s all.”

Another character says, “There may have been a creator, or there may not: We don’t know.” In addition to alternately denying that God can be known and insisting that He should be rebelled against, this fantasy series that targets children also exalts themes of witchcraft, divination, evolution, homosexuality and premarital sex.

From The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing®, Nov. 9, 2007. © 2007, Focus on the Family