Beware of Atheists Bearing Gifts

As with every religious holiday, we can expect an attack on the institution of Christianity this season. During past holidays, we have had the release of the DaVinci Code, the revamping of the Gospel of Judas, the re-emergence of the Gospel of Thomas -- all spurious and all containing half-baked theories concerning the life, death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

This year the attack may be more subtle. Theaters are currently playing the movie The Golden Compass. Its author, Philip Pullman is an enemy of Christ. Pullman hates the writings of C.S. Lewis and has written his series to directly counter Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. He has left little doubt about his books' intended thrust in discussions of his works, such as noting in a 2003 interview that "My books are about killing God" and in a 2001 interview that he was "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."

A Los Angeles Times article on the Golden Compass controversy noted that:

Pullman's never hidden his skepticism about God or his rejection of organized religion. A quick Internet search turns up a 2004 essay he wrote deploring "theocracies" for a newspaper in his native Britain, and his own Web site states that he thinks it "perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it." His "Dark Materials" features a sympathetic character, an ex-nun, who describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake," while "The Amber Spyglass" concludes with the two child heroes participating in the dissolution of "the Authority," a senile, pretender God who has falsely passed himself off as the creator of the universe.

The movie has been sanitized so as not to blatantly offend America's Christian audiences. However, there is no doubt that the movie will popularize the more scurrilous books. Christians should vote with their wallets and not view the movie. If The Golden Compass fares well at the box office, Hollywood will no doubt gauge this as encouragement to wage a more open war on faith.