The Golden Compass- No Atheists Here!

I have read too many posts about how the Golden Compass is turning the children into atheists to stay quiet about it. Of course, it doesn’t help that Snopes confirms. This is the article that people pull out to satisfy themselves that they’re right and that the Golden Compass is wrong and they most certainly wont be taking their children to see this horrible movie.

Everyone I’ve seen talking about it so far has been older adults with children. The kids will probably want to see the movie, so the adults are checking it out. The problem is that these adults haven’t actually read the books. So let me talk as someone who read the books as an older child (12-13).

I didn’t notice the religion stuff.

In fact, it came as a shock to me when I learned a couple of weeks ago that the main characters apparently kill god. I had completely missed that part! I was too busy being sad that Lyra and Will grew up at the end to notice that Pullman was (supposedly) trying to turn me into an atheist. (For the record, it didn’t work.) Want to know what I did notice?

Daemons. How cool were they?

The most important point though, is that NO movie or book will turn a child into an atheist. It’s a completely ridiculous suggestion and the fact that a book or movie has religious or anti religious themes should not cause a parent to censor the child. If they are age appropriate, then let them read the book if they want to and then engage in discussion. A parents religious views impact a child far more than a book or movie.

Also, if it makes the child discuss these themes with their parents, this is a mark of good fiction. Good fiction doesn’t make you feel all warm and fluffy and sure of your convictions. Good fiction makes you think!