Religion Q & A – The Golden Compass

Ike asks: “There is a movie called ‘The Golden Compass’ coming out soon. People say it promotes atheism and anti-church ideas as should I be able to see the movie?”

Answer: To help me answer your question, Ike, I am including an excerpt from an article written by Tom Gilson, the director of strategic processes in the Operational Advisory Services team for Campus Crusade for Christ.

“There is word on the Web that the anti-God theme has been toned down for the movie; and that theme is expressed much more strongly in the second and third books than the first, anyway. So is there any reason to make a fuss over this first book, and the movie? Yes, because the first book in a trilogy, if it is at all interesting, is (among other things) the strongest possible advertisement for the second and third. It’s impossible to promote only the first. Who could stop reading The Lord of the Rings just when the Fellowship separated, at the close of the first book?

Moreover, the anti-Church, anti-Biblical elements of even the first book are plenty strong. The Church is presented as highly controlling and evil; and this is not some other-world, purely fantastical church with no connection to our own world. In Chapter 16 we learn of its “Vatican Council.” In Chapter 19 a character speaks of being “baptized as a Christian” in Geneva. Chapter 2 tells us the last Pope in this world was John Calvin, which in another context would be knee-slapping hilarious, but here contributes to the strength of the connection this fictional world has to our real one.

One of the prominent themes of the book is “Dust,” a mysterious “charged particle” from the sky. In the closing chapters of the book, the protagonist, Lyra, finally learns that Dust is “the physical evidence for original sin”; and Dust is what powers her “alethiometer” (the golden-colored, compass-looking device for which the book is named). From the Greek, alethiometer means “truth-measurer.” It is a device she consults, through a kind of clairvoyant process, to learn secrets and discover truths; it never lies or misleads. Dust and the alethiometer—central symbols in this book—together send the clear message that truth is measured by the power of original sin. In the closing pages, Lyra decides that Dust is a good thing after all, and she determines to go on and defend this original sin against the Church. Thus we are ushered into the second book.”

Mr. Gilson strongly agrees that the movie and the trilogy have atheistic, anti-Church themes, and after reading the novel summaries on SparkNotes, I do, too. I want to say that New Line Cinema was likely to have picked up this project solely for the entertainment value, but with even the simplest research, it is plain to see that the English atheist author Philip Pullman definitely did not spare the Catholic Church in the grossly misconstrued reputation that many people have already attributed to it.

For those of you who loved Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Narnia, you may be drawn to watch The Golden Compass because of its intriguing fantasy story line, but I STRONGLY discourage you to see it, much less support it. Works that have anything to do with “killing God” and portraying the Church as evil do not bear good fruit. We need to continue our faithfulness to the Church and the the Almighty God we know to be true and eternal. Amen.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Phil 4:8)

Other articles about The Golden Compass:
Perspectives: Does The Golden Compass point to a new atheism?
Thinking Christian – The Golden Compass