Film Critic and Chicago Sun-Times  Columnist Richard Roeper responds to The Golden Compass  controversy.

Chicago Sun-Times

A tarnished compass?

“The Golden Compass,” opening Dec. 7, is under fire.

From a mass e-mail:

” ‘The Golden Compass’ . . . is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud atheist. . . . The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope they will buy this trilogy where in the end children kill God . . . This is just a friendly warning that you won’t hear on TV . . .”

Pullman’s popular trilogy, His Dark Materials, is a wildly imaginative story set in a “multiverse” of alternate worlds.

Humans have souls that take on a physical form. There’s this thing called Dust, seen as evidence of Original Sin, and there’s a Godlike entity, The Authority. The trilogy follows the adventures of Lyra and her friend Will as they — well, you get it. Like “Harry Potter” and “Narnia,” it’s a sweeping, fantastical adventure.

On the Catholic League’s Web site, William Donohue says, “The Catholic League wants Christians to stay away from this movie . . . because it knows that the film is bait for [the trilogy of books by Pullman] . . . unsuspecting parents who take their children to see the movie may be impelled to buy the three books as a Christmas present . . . no parent who wants to bring their children up in the faith will want any part of these books.”

To see or not to see

Pullman has said his books are not anti-Catholic, but there’s no disputing his anti-religion stance. Yet according to the Los Angeles Times, “there’s no mention of the church or Catholicism” in “The Golden Compass.” The article also quotes Donna Freitas, a Catholic and an associate professor of religion at Boston University, who says the film is “a thrilling, cutting-edge work of Christian theology. What’s distressing about Donohue’s message is he’s talking about [the book] as if it’s this atheist manifesto geared at children. He’s forgetting this is a wonderful literary fantasy for children.”

I doubt the calls for a boycott will have much effect. In the meantime, here’s a thought for the Catholic League. Instead of sounding terrified by the prospect of Christians reading Pullman’s books, how about saying something like this:

“While we vehemently disagree with the themes in Pullman’s books, we know children enjoy reading fantasy adventures. That’s OK because we have our own series of amazing stories. It’s called the Bible, and those who believe in it will have faith strong enough to withstand the readings of a thousand other books.”

In other words, have a little faith in your faith.