Living Catholicism

Have you bothered to read The Golden Compass? It's actually a very intelligently written book, with compelling characters and a brilliant plot. My ten-year old just finished reading it, loved it and has moved on to read the other books in the trilogy. So far, she hasn't become a brainwashed atheist.

What's wrong with getting young minds thinking about the very complex subject of the existence of God and religion in our society? If anything, it promotes discussion and contemplation of whatever it is a person happens to believe.

Maybe the Catholic church should get into the business of reviewing and critiquing every work of art, literature, theater, film and music that has been produced in the history of the world, just to be sure the intended "message" is always in alignment with its own narrow, rigid views; as if people cannot decide for themselves what might corrupts their souls.

Karen and Jay, here's some information you might want to be aware of:

The Scholastic publishing company is partnering with New Line Cinema and promoting "The Golden Compass," and the related Phillip Pullman trilogy, heavily in public schools. There is more information here, including links to reliable plot summaries.

If it's okay to get kids thinking about God in the way you think is okay, then the next question is whether it's okay to do it in schools, as part of required classwork. And if it is, then of course it would be great if we could also bring in, say, some of Max Lucado's Christian fiction for kids.

It seems to me the church needs to be made aware of this--and parents need to be watching what happens in their children's schools.

Please spread the word on this so we all can be made aware.

These books are wonderful and although I don't believe that religion should have any place in the school system, if kids are going to have to read the bible then they should also read these books so that they'll be exposed to a different point of view and be able to make up their own minds.

The central message of these books is that we should devote our lives to building "heaven" on earth while we're alive rather than bowing and scraping to an idea of God and expecting the good times to come after we've died. I think the world could be a much better place if more people felt that way, though I don't expect to find much agreement here.

Right, Jamie. And if they read a book that teaches that rape is bad, we should make them read a book about how good rape is also, right? That way they get both sides of the issue, which is the most important to you, right?

Give me a break. If you like the books then good for you. But don't justify a man trying to convert your children to atheists through means like this. No matter how you slice it, it is NOT okay.

To put it another way: these books are designed to lead your children to hell. You wouldn't let your kids watch pornography or read books about bombmaking, why let them read a book about how all religion is evil?

God bless,
Jay

PS - If there were no God, there would be no atheists. - - Chesterton.

It is typical of people to accuse either side of being at fault, but I believe as long as we live in this great country we do have freedom of speech, press, and religion. If we keep these things from our children they will always be closed minded and not be able to truly make their own decisions as far as their own beliefs. If you force ideas and ways of life onto people as we all know throughout history they revolt -ex.(Communism, Prohibition, Legal Drinking Age, Religion, etc.). Good judgement and an open mind are needed in such cases, watch the movie before you send your children off to the theater. Make an educated decision as to whether your kids will be able to understand and weed through the fantasy and reality of a movie of this type. Withouth imagination, we would not survive and withouth reason we would fail as a society. As far as atheists and God existing, an atheists views are decided for themselves, where a Christians is made up for them. In explination, as a child you do not know if or what God might be, you just know you exist. You are taught that religion exists and you can make a decision to believe or not. So to redirect your "PS" if atheists didn't believe, your religion might not exist.

Steve,
First, whether you like it or not, you teach (you call "force") ideas to your kids everyday. You have to decide which ideas are good or bad, since children aren't able to determine for themselves. By deciding not to teach your children, you don't give them the tools to make decisions in the future.

Second, there's a lot of rational evidence that God exists. To say that a Christians views are made up for them is preposterous and suggests a total misunderstanding of Christianity.

Third, you misunderstand the point of the quote. Do atheists beliefs in any way affect my religion? No. The point is that atheists define themselves by a negative, an "un-belief" if you will. And you can never disprove a negative statement. Atheism is not a intellectual problem, it's a moral problem; it is a case of rebellion against something good for the sake of rebelling. So if God didn't exist, there would be nothing for atheists to rebel against. Make sense?

God bless,
Jay

Actually, it doesn't make sense. As a matter of fact, atheists don't fight against "God", but people's faith in God, which is -according to them- pointless and very dangerous.
When the philosopher Nietsche wrote that God was dead, it didn't mean a real god, but the moral values connected with him. Besides, to believe in God depends on faith, there are no real facts that can prove that He really exists. Faith is a gift from God, and it's one of the three virtues, isn't it?
Anyway, His dark materials is a really good trilogy. Yes, it is anticlerical-no matter what Nicole Kidman says -and it is anti-religion, especially in the last part.

But I don't think that the books are supposed to teach atheism, they are supposed to make you think. You could ask yourself: what if they are right? Is there really just one world, or are there more? Is religion and the Church just an evil organisation that want to control and suppress everything?
These books' real purpose is make people reflect more on what they believe and why they believe it. I don't agree with their theory, because, in my opinion, religion and habits (such as sex habits) are different things. But I though about it when I was reading the book.
And if I had children, I'd like them to read the book first -reading is a very good habit- and then walk to the theater.

Ok, this is the end. I hope it's understandable -I'm Italian, sorry for any mistake!

well, i most say that at the ripe age of 14 i see nothing wrong with THe Golden Compass. There were no protests when Narnina came out with it's god damn secret messages. Why prostest the Golden compass? If the man is trying to put thoughts into our childrens heads then you have the choice to tell them what you think. Are you saying that people can't give their children thier free will? Speaking of free will is that not the piont of the first book? Devloping your own free will? It's not just killing god it's killing everything and anything that has to do with others ordering you around. I swear if the catholic church isn't made up of the most heretic and separatist people i have ever meet then i don't know who is? I don't mean to insult but only to prompt free will. Free will to think the way you want too. The Golden Compass isn't really out to corrupt children only to show them they can belive what ever they want.