Catholic League Warns of "Atheism for Kids"

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11-October-2007 – Catholic News Agency

Catholic League Warns of “Atheism for Kids” Movie, Book Series
New York, Oct 11, 2007 (CNA).- A new movie starring Nicole Kidman will belittle Catholicism and promote atheism to children, warned Catholic League President Bill Donohue.

The movie The Golden Compass is being produced by New Line Cinema and Scholastic Entertainment. It is based on the first volume of the His Dark Materials trilogy of books, written by the militant English atheist Philip Pullman.

“Atheism for kids. That is what Philip Pullman sells," said Mr. Donohue.

He continued: “The trilogy, His Dark Materials, was written to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism. The target audience is children and adolescents. Each book becomes progressively more aggressive in its denigration of Christianity and promotion of atheism.”

Mr. Donohue cautioned that a watered-down version of the film will deceive people into buying the books for children. “The movie is bait for the books,” he said. “To be specific, if unsuspecting Christian parents take their children to see the movie, they may very well find it engaging and then buy Pullman’s books for Christmas.”

The Catholic League is conducting a nationwide two-month protest of Pullman’s books. It has also prepared a booklet titled “The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked” for those concerned about the movie.

From EWTN:forums.catholic-questions.org/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=12
 
ARRGHHH!

I cannot keep up with the books and the 11 year old reader in the house. I was just going to warn her, and she already read it, YEARS AGO! Somebody sent it to her! I know her grandmother sends her books but does not “worry about” content so much, but I can’t be sure it was her and I know she meant no harm.

I do have “The Mother’s List of Books” by Teresa Fagan that I keep pushing in various posts, but a lot of those books are not available in our small town. I suppose she’s old enough for inter library loan but holy cow!

I need some other way of monitoring the book thing!

Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
Really simple:

1.) No book comes in the house without you at least reading the cover/ jacket and getting your approval.
2.) Nobody under the age of 18 has the right to expect mail privacy.

And I notice Nicole Kidman, who ***had ***to marry Keith Urban in the Church, is starring in this. Great. Fine example.

But I would like to investigate these books before I write them off. There have been times when the Catholic League has protested something, and I have not been of the opinion it was harmful; though sadly, that hasn’t happened very much.

OK, I checked. They are worse that the Catholic League stated. :bigyikes:
 
Meh, I’m VERY hyped for it. I don’t see how it’s anti-christian.
 
Personally I’m impressed that both Catholics and Atheists are actually supporting the same cause for once by hating the same film.
 
I agree. You need to look at the books grandma sends before dd reads them. Thankfully, I worked in the public library in highschool and read ALOT, so I have a looooong list of favorites to reccommend to my kids. Especially as they get older I find myself jumping over the “young adult” category and going straight to classics for them. My 13 yo is reading Little Women (unabridged), Jane Austen, and that sort of thing rather than the drivel published for teens these days. My 11yo prefers non-fiction, but there are SO many wonderful boy adventure books that I can’t seem him needing to pick up “the Golden Compass” or anything like that.

Try library websites for good book reviews–even if the library isn’t in your town. I also often go to the websites of some of the larger private/Catholic schools in this area to see what they reccommend summer reading for a certain age group is. For voracious readers there are the 27 (plus?) Vision publishing Saints lives or the series by Elizabeth (?) Windacott. Hoeny for a Child’s/Teen’s Heart is another great source of reccommendations.
HouseArrest said:
ARRGHHH!

I cannot keep up with the books and the 11 year old reader in the house. I was just going to warn her, and she already read it, YEARS AGO! Somebody sent it to her! I know her grandmother sends her books but does not “worry about” content so much, but I can’t be sure it was her and I know she meant no harm.

I do have “The Mother’s List of Books” by Teresa Fagan that I keep pushing in various posts, but a lot of those books are not available in our small town. I suppose she’s old enough for inter library loan but holy cow!

I need some other way of monitoring the book thing!

Does anyone have any suggestions?
Click to expand...
 
my dh and I heard this on EWTN not too long ago. Poor dh had just bought the books for dd! When we told her about it, she said, “I guess this means I can’t go to the movie” Of course not! Anyway, she said she read them… now mind you… she is 16 and an honor student in a very conservative Catholic HS… Her comment was, “Why do they have to ruin a perfectly good fantasy book by trying to send atheist messages? Geez… the story wasn’t bad!” To which we countered with: “They kill God because he is old and dying???” “OK, OK, you have a point… you’re killin me smalls!”
 
The problem is a lot of the book review sites just state whether the story was “good”, “interesting”, “kept my attention”, “well written” or not. The Golden Compass" and the two others in the trilogy got great reviews. Even people on this site agree they are well written. When I search for reviews this is what I find, not whether or not they are offensive. I didn’t know about the two pages of atheist drivel in “Eldest”, either, until I read it on this site, of course, after my daughter had read it. What I need is a quicker way (other than reading it) to be able to pass or flunk the book.

There’s a website I go to - kids-in-mind.com, that gives a synopsis of movies as they come out. I can go there and look up and read a complete description of the movie in about a minute. I wish there were something like that for books - at least the “new releases”.
 
Sophia, I haven’t read the books, but from the article previews I thought of something I’m not sure you considered. It sounds like Pullman’s Authority is a parallel to the gnostic idea of the Demiurge, rather than the actual Christian God.

That may not make it a whole lot better from your point of view, but it’s something to keep in mind 🙂
 
BlestOne said:
my dh and I heard this on EWTN not too long ago. Poor dh had just bought the books for dd! When we told her about it, she said, “I guess this means I can’t go to the movie” Of course not! Anyway, she said she read them… now mind you… she is 16 and an honor student in a very conservative Catholic HS… Her comment was, “Why do they have to ruin a perfectly good fantasy book by trying to send atheist messages? Geez… the story wasn’t bad!” To which we countered with: “They kill God because he is old and dying???” “OK, OK, you have a point… you’re killin me smalls!”
Click to expand...
My take on those books was the same as your DD. A really fun story, but for any kid who has been raised in a good Catholic household, the atheist messages stick out like a sore thumb, and are easily laughable. It’s obvious that Mr. Pullman is criticizing what he thinks is the Catholic Church. If you’re familiar with the real thing, the differences are VERY obvious. He portrays a church that is SO different from the real Catholic Church… it’s more like every atheist’s worst nightmare of an organized religion. 😛

I didn’t think they killed god, per say… I thought they killed an angel who claimed to be god. 🤷 Sounds more like a version of the devil, if you ask me. At least, that’s how I saw it… Meh, what do I know.

I don’t think any young kid should be reading them, but kids 16+, if they’re solid on their faith, shouldn’t have a problem with it. It’s no different than what some people will throw at us as Catholics, anyways.
 
Mirdath said:
Sophia, I haven’t read the books, but from the article previews I thought of something I’m not sure you considered. It sounds like Pullman’s Authority is a parallel to the gnostic idea of the Demiurge, rather than the actual Christian God.

That may not make it a whole lot better from your point of view, but it’s something to keep in mind 🙂
Click to expand...
Thanks, Mirdath. That’s a great observation. I agree that gnostic elements are certainly present in these books (although I’m far from sufficiently well versed in gnosticism’s specific elements to say which).

I do point out in my article that the depiction of God and the Church in these books bears almost no resemblance to anything Catholics believe. My concern is that while most adults can glean this readily, younger readers might not. And as you know, gnosticism in its various forms continues to attract people of all ages.
 
Mirdath said:
Sophia, I haven’t read the books, but from the article previews I thought of something I’m not sure you considered. It sounds like Pullman’s Authority is a parallel to the gnostic idea of the Demiurge, rather than the actual Christian God.

That may not make it a whole lot better from your point of view, but it’s something to keep in mind 🙂
Click to expand...
Actually (haven’t read the books either 😃 ), it would make a LOT of difference to me - the whole paradigm shifts! God-killing can then be viewed in two possible ways by a faithful Christian:
  1. if you see Gnosticism as a Christian heresy, then those poor deluded souls believe the Creator is an evil prison warden, and some hostility towards him is understandable, erroneous as it is.
  2. if you see Gnosticism as a mythology (it is arguably an extension of Egyptian myth that only took on some Christian elements), the death of the Demiurge should not upset us more than that of Chronos or the Titans.
I still wouldn’t let a kid read it without a lesson in Gnosticism from me! 😃
 
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