Pullman...
I\'ll be honest: His Dark Materials was one of my favorite fantasty trilogies, far more interesting and also more literary than Harry Potter. I\'ve read them a few times, mostly when I was already an agnostic/secularist. It didn\'t strengthen that view, to be honest; I wasn\'t raised in a particularly Christian household and our few ventures to the local Congregationalist church didn\'t provide much of a spiritual backdrop, so I blaim that more than Pullman. I can see why people wouldn\'t want their kids to read this in worry that the child might run around saying Lord Asriel is going off to overthrow an oppressive angel (by the way, it\'s not \"killing God;\" it\'s more of killing an angel who, alas, happens to be named \"Adonai\" (eek!); basically it\'s \"killing God\" in a sense, but there is some implication that there\'s still \"something out there\"). Then again, from our perspective, that\'s about the same thing. I\'ve heard some interesting perspectives on the role of God in Pullman\'s books, actually.
Essentially, if you\'re going to read Pullman, I would suggest it more so for adults who would actually understand the symbolism (and hence be able to place up more of a guard). Most of the references (e.g. the relation to dust as a physical representation of original/ancestral sin; hence, when the antagonist in Northern Lights says something about how dust \"settles\" only after small children \"grow up\" -- which is signified by the settling of the daemons) are far more Catholic than anything, namely, at least in the case of dust, more Scholastic. If anything, Pullman\'s rabid anti-Catholicism should be more of a worry than his anti-Christian sentiments; the first one, after all, is the most prominent in the book AND the movie.
I saw the movie a few days ago, and, interestingly enough, his aggression had been dumbened down a lot. I suspect that\'s going to be considered for dangerous for kids, and perhaps rightfully so.
Should we protest it? I honestly don\'t thinks so; there are better things to worry about, and, alas, Pullman does have the right to freedom of speech. Again, I would say it\'s more appropriate for adults than kids on more than one level (for instance, the books contain numerous references to quantum physics, specifically multiverse theories, which, to be honest, rocked my socks when I was fourteen). Anyway, for anyone who\'s interested, there was a good program by Clark Carlton on the release of the movie.
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