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I received an e-mail today about an issue with the new movie coming out called The Golden Compass. I have copied and pasted it here. I was shocked to read this after seeing the rather tame looking previews on TV. I know I won't go to see this movie now, and I will tell everyone I know what I have read. What do you all think?


"PLEASE parents and grandparents do not let your children see this movie or read these books !!!!!
PRESS RELEASE
October 31, 2007
Bryan Cutshall
866-274-1501
Church Trainer
Regarding The Golden Compass

THIS IS A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM DR. BRYAN CUTSHALL

Yesterday, I was handed a children's book by a staff member who said, "I think you need to see this."

The book is published by Scholastic and is part of a collection of books. The book I was given is called The Golden Compass. This children's book is one of the most ala rming
things I have ever read. What makes it worse is that a movie based on the book premieres in December. Both the book and the movie introduce atheism to children. The story ends
with Adam and Eve killing God.

THIS IS A MOVIE THAT WE MUST PROTEST AND OPPOSE AS CHRISTIANS. Please educate yourself on this by checking out the links I have provided below and help me spread the word. Do not remain silent on this issue. This is a time for the family of GOD to stand together.


Focus on the Family has several notices written about it. You can click on this link to see one of them: http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000005672.cf m

You can also read more about it below.

I checked this out at snopes.com; unfortunately, it's true... 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" 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 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, "my books are about killing God." He has even stated t ha t 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 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
boo ks for Christmas. Please boycott 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.

The Golden Compass
A movie to avoid. We need to get the word out about this movie - it is coming out in
December - an atheist produced it, it is marketed for children and in the end they kill God.
Send this to everyone you know.

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

www.churchtrainer.com"

Hmm. I think the email you received is pretty one-sided.

I haven't done a whole lot of reading up on this, but from what I understand the movie itself isn't going to weave any sort of religious ties into it. It is going to be mainly fantasy.

Now, I realize the argument is that it will hopefully encourage children to read the books, but personally I don't see that as bad either.

I have no problem with my kids reading books that spin religion in a positive light, or ones that make them question the values/virtues of religion. I think it's great if a book encourages them to think about these issues, and then the parents can step in to answer questions about how these issues relate to their own beliefs.

Again, I haven't read the books or seen the movie yet, or done a whole lot of research, but so far I don't have a problem with it at all.

I totally agree with moozle.
Parents can't be afraid to let their children learn about other viewpoints and beliefs; I think our biggest job as parents is to teach our kids to have open minds and think for themselves.
My child is way too young for movies right now, but I think the books and the movie sound very intelligent and exciting. I may just go watch it myself!

Well, I agree with Ronaldsmom and will definately not be seeing the movie. I've heard a lot about it and I don't think it's something worth seeing, if you believe in God. I would not want to encourage any negative thoughts about God by seeing this movie.

So your religious beliefs can't withstand a few questions?
Sounds like a good way to start a conversation about God & why you believe what you believe, in my opinion.

Interesting. I don't know anything about it. Thanks for posting so I can read up on it!

First of all, it's not that our religious beliefs can't withstand a few questions about God, it's that we are not going to support an athiest hoping to make all Christians want to kill God with his books/movies. I do not wish to see or read ANYTHING in which my God is killed. Nor do I want my child (when he is much older) to do so. When he is old enough(an adult, older teenager) to make those decisions on his own, then I will allow him to do whatever he wishes, but a book/movie like this could be very confusing and persuasive to say a young teenager. Not to say that I will not teach my son respect and tolerance for all religions, I will, but I will try to protect him from direct attacks on our faith until he is old enough to understand, and can defend his faith and beliefs, whatever they may be.

Secondly, if you read the articles-the characters KILL God in the end, so how can that be spinning religion into a positive light, or making them question their beliefs in a constructive way. I could understand reading about and experiencing other religions and cultures, which then makes you study and question your own, but a direct attack on our faith in which our God is killed would probably be a little hard for a child to understand and process.

Maybe this comparison can shed some light and make you understand why most Christians WILL NOT want to see this movie. The man responsible for this book/movie thinks that all of Christianity should be destroyed and/or convert to Atheism. Well, certain terrorists believe that all of America is evil, saying that their God tells them so. They believe we all (Americans) should be destroyed or convert to their religion. Now, would you not all agree that we all were horrified and are still terrified by the idea of terrorists attacking our country, our homes, and our families? Then why as Christians should we go and see a film that attacks our faith directly, and kills our God?

Anyone who really wants to see this move is going to see it no matter what I say or believe, but for those of you just going based on the misleading previews (I was going to see this movie until I found this out!!), I just wanted to let you know what Golden Compass is really about, so that you all can make your own informed decisions.

April-mommy to Ronald-11 months old

Atheists don't believe in God, so he can't be trying to make all Christians want to literally kill God (since he doesn't believe there is one).
Maybe he's just symbolically trying to make us question religion, in general, because religion hasn't always inspired the best in people. Terrorists are very religious, for example, and so are those awful people who've been in the news because they're picketing soldiers' funerals.
They all have very strong faith in their God, too, and I think we should all want to question that.

If Dr. Pullman doesn't believe there is a God, then why do his characters kill God in the book, unless he is trying to spread atheism and make Christians want to kill God (by them converting to Atheism)! Being a Christian is about having faith, and you can't truly have faith if you are constantly questioning yourself and your beliefs. You either have faith in your God and religion, or you don't. Sometimes questioning your faith can be appropriate, especially if you are having issues with the practices of your religion, but I would say you can't call yourself a Christian if you are constantly questioning God and his commandments, and wondering whether he is real. That is why it is called FAITH.

I feel that everyone has the right to their own beliefs and religion. But if your beliefs/religion causes you to want to do harm to others, religiously and/or physically, then those people are the ones who need to question their beliefs, not those of use who live every day without the urge to do harm to others. I do not agree with other religions, but I do not have such hatred that I want to write a book in which the characters kill their God. That is terrible. I do agree that sometimes religion has not brought out the best in people, and those people picketing soldiers funerals are awful (I have alot of veterans in my family), but all I can do is try to be the best person I can be in my faith. Noone is perfect though, that is why I am thankful I have a forgiving God.

April-mommy to Ronald-11 months old

I have not seen the movie, but Pullman is probably using the idea of "killing God" as a METAPHOR.
Many atheists think that religion, in general, has done more harm than good; all religions have, in fact, inspired certain people to kill on behalf of their faith.
Maybe Pullman wants his audience to consider how life might be better - or at least not any worse - if we stopped relying on blind faith or thinking we need the wrath of some unknowable God to keep us in line.
And I don't understand the point of your post. Are you saying that people who don't believe in God can't be good people? Do you think blind faith, just for the sake of having faith, is a good thing?
And this is just a work of fiction, it's not telling people to somehow "kill God."
The bible, however, has all kinds of supposedly "real life" examples of people dying and killing for their faith & encourages believers to take extremely violent measures to punish those who break its laws or simply don't believe.And the bible is supposed to be the official word of God, and therefore the law.
I honestly don't understand how asking people to take a closer look at their beliefs - and not cling to blind faith - can do them any harm.
I also don't know why anyone would feel the need to tell others not to see or read a work of extremely fantastical fiction.

Pullman actually isn't an atheist - he's an agnostic, which I think is an important distinction because people are using the fast that he's a supposed atheist as one of the reasons to denounce him. Agnostics merely question the existance of god.

Anyway, I've done a little more reading up on the books (I haven't actually read the books though), and in the end of the final installment, the characters succeed in killing a character CALLED GOD, who turns out to be a phony, and not god after all. (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,305487,00.html). I purposefully took this quote from an article on foxnews.com - the most right wing news source out there - so no one thought I went and found a purposefully liberal source.

I'm betting most of us discussing this haven't read the books. And I think Ronaldsmom, your main beef is with the fact that God is killed in the end. But, from what I'm finding, that isn't true.

I think most of us can agree - whether we are religious or not - that there DO EXIST people out there that try to lead people in the name of faith who are phonies. Just look at David Koresh.

It sounds to me like these books are just encouraging people to question instead of blindly following. I really don't see the harm in that.

You're right, Moozle. I haven't seen the movie or read the books, and I probably won't because sci-fi/fantasy just isn't my thing.
But I probably should try to be more informed about something before I start ranting about it, huh?
It's fun to get a little intelligent debate into my life, though, because (as much as I adore and enjoy spending time with him)you don't get much of that with a three year old.
So, thanks Ronaldsmom (and you, too, Moozle!); I've really enjoyed the discussion.

FYI, here's the NY Times review of the movie:

http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/07/movies/07comp.html?8mu&emc=mua1

Thanks Kristi!

distractedmom - I know, I feel the same way. It's nice getting to talk about something other than poop for once! LOL.

BTW ... I hope I didn't come across rude. I haven't read the books either, so I wasn't saying any of us needed to research more. I was just saying I think some of the groups that are calling for boycotts are doing it as a kneejerk reaction without having really investigated.

You didn't seem rude at all, just very level-headed. The voice of reason. Thanks!