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Michael Giltz: Defending The Golden Compass
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
APRIL 5, 2009
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This Story to DiggDefending The Golden Compass
Posted November 16, 2007 | 04:21 PM (EST)
Read More: Atheism, Atheists , Bigotry , Books , Catholic League , Christianity , Daniel
Craig , Evangelical Christians , Faith , Fantasy , Golden Compass , Movie Reviews ,
Movies, New Line , Nicole Kidman , Original Sin , Philip Pullman , Religion , Religion And
Film, Reviews , Sin, The Golden Compass , The Golden Compass Review, Breaking
Entertainment News
New Line's movie The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig opens on
December 7, bringing an acclaimed best-selling fantasy trilogy by author Philip Pullman to its
widest audience yet. And after years of accolades and unstinting praise, Pullman is finally getting
his wish for controversy: the far right is attacking his work as pernicious, evil, anti-God andbasically the kiddie version of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.
The attack, such as it is, is being led by William Donohue, the blustering, bigoted head of the far-
right political group Catholic League. This group poses as a defender of the Catholic faith but
devotes itself to partisan political attacks against anyone opposed to a right-wing, Republican
agenda. Donohue insists the books are virulently anti-Catholic, and is organizing attacks on the
film (which he sees as a Trojan horse to encourage kids to read the books - making it the most
expensive book promotion campaign in history), and demands that schools and teachers ban the
books and not teach them to anyone. If you assign these books to your students, Donohue will
insist you are an anti-Catholic bigot and should be denounced, if not driven from your job.
First, let's look at the charge that the books are anti-
Catholic and then question whether Donohue is areasonable spokesperson for the Catholic Church thatshould be given legitimacy by the traditional media.
The Golden Compass is the first book in a trilogy by
Pullman entitled His Dark Materials. It is easily the most acclaimed fantasy work in many years
and looks set to take its place alongside landmarks like The Lord Of The Rings and The Chronicles
Of Narnia, both also written by Oxford scholars like Pullman and both of which he would puckishly
take issue. In short, it's the story of a young girl named Lyra who lives in an alternate universe
quite similar to ours but filled with witches, an all powerful Magisterium and armored talkingbears. Lyra (and her daemon -- sort of a personified soul) finds herself on a scary adventure in theNorth and ultimately in other worlds that involves missing children, sexuality and the fate of theworld.
Pullman was greatly inspired by Milton's Paradise Lost, another work that has been alternately
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Michael Giltz: Defending The Golden Compass
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
The End Of
What Are You
SNL: Madonna And
Reality Star Jadepraised and condemned over time but is now one of the landmarks in epic poetry. Paradise Lost
features the Devil as its central, sympathetic protagonist, mixes in pagan symbols with religious
icons, and grapples mightily with sexuality. It is also taught in virtually every academic institution
in the Western world and any serious student of theology or literature must grapple with it at one
point. If Donohue objects to His Dark Materials, he must object to its equally scandalous
inspiration and immediately call for a ban on Milton's Paradise Lost and insist that anyone who
reads it or teaches it is an anti-Catholic bigot.
But is His Dark Materials full of hate for Catholicism or Christianity in general? Pullman himself
is most certainly an atheist and no fan organized religion in general. But his books are most
scathing towards dogmatism and unquestioned authority, not any one faith. There are brave (gay)
angels in later volumes -- which must have thrown Donohue into conniptions if he got that far --not to mention the death of a God-like figure, and a church that is kidnapping and torturingchildren in an obsessive desire to rub out the "sin" of sexuality. It's bold and compelling andultimately very challenging indeed - just like most great literature. As a practicing Catholic, I foundthem enthralling, fascinating and have shared them with friends, neices and nephews and theirparents.
Among the many people of faith who have found the book's serious grappling with issues of
sexuality and belief worthwhile is no less than Rowan Williams, the head of the Anglican Church
and that religion's equivalent to the Pope. If the head of one of the world's major religions canchampion these books, along with countless other people of faith, literary critics, scholars andmere fans of excellent fantasy fiction, then clearly it cannot be denounced out of hand as evil orinappropriate to read and discuss. Parents are always responsible for deciding what books areappropriate for their children at what age. But anyone who would ban or denounce His DarkMaterials and try to keep it and The Wizard of Oz and the Harry Potter books and The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn and Catcher In The Rye and Are You There God, IIt's Me Margaret and
countless other classics from everyone else and insist these books are dangerous or evil is justfoolish and ignorant.
It all comes down to how you practice your faith. If, like Donohue, you want people to unthinkingly
accept whatever they are told, then anything that encourages thought and debate is dangerous. If
you believe that an unexamined faith is meaningless, if you believe that in fact it is your duty to
question your faith and yourself and how to practice that faith in the world today, then no movie,no book, no CD will be anything other than an opportunity to talk, discuss and contemplate what itmeans to be a person of faith.
William Donohue would have none of that. An angry, bullying, bigoted figure, he resembles
nothing so much as the notorious anti-Semite Father Charles Coughlin. Donohue has denounced
Hollywood as "controlled by secular Jews" and says "Hollywood likes anal sex." He calls
homosexuality the "gay death style," spews venom and hate at anyone who talks about the horrificchild abuse scandals that continue to rock the Church, blaming it mostly on gays and the mediaand deep-pocketed lawyers and even accuses people of lying about being abused to cash in. Checkout the Today show clip where he is so angry and nasty and unhinged compared to the calm,
reasoned guests also on the air.
It's remarkable that Donohue is still invited on TV after so many blow-ups on air. But whatever you
think about his politics, Donohue simply doesn't comport himself in a Christian manner. Hebullies, he yells, he mocks, he spews hate - he does everything in fact except behave with Christianhumility and compassion. TV producers who keep booking him because he "makes good TV"should be ashamed of themselves.
If you want to know more about why Donohue hates The Golden Compass so much, he'll gladly sell
you a copy of his 23 page booklet for only $5 each. (If it's so dangerous, why not simply post his
pamphlet online for free?) Or you could simply buy the entire "His Dark Materials" trilogy on sale
at Amazon for $13.50. Since the United States is not yet a theocracy, happily the choice is stillyours.
Comments for this post are now closed
Email
Print
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Michael Giltz: Defending The Golden Compass
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
Michelle Obama's Clothing
Has Sean Hannity All Out OfSorts
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View Comments: Newest
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Quaoar See Profile I'm a Fan of Quaoar permalink
I hadn't heard of the movie before, but the very fact that Bill Donahue doesn't like it makes me want to
see it and read the books as well. Is there a list of movies and books opposed by the Catholic League?It might make for some interesting reading and viewing.
SRegnet See Profile I'm a Fan of SRegnet permalink
My family have greatly enjoyed Phil Pullman'sseries. A riveting story, really. It's fair topoint out that Pullman is not respectful toreligion, to put it mildly. This is not aChristmas story, by any means. If anything,just the opposite, if that's possible. But,*millions* of readers around the world adorethese books.
There's an interesting analysis in this month's Atlantic:
'Pullman"s books have sold 15 million copies worldwide, although it"s difficult to imagine adolescent
novels any more openly subversive. The series, known collectively as His Dark Materials, centers onLyra Belacqua, a preteen orphan who"s pursued by a murderous institution known as "the Magisterium."Or to use the more familiar name, "the Holy Church." In its quest to eradicate sin, the Church sanctionsexperiments involving the kidnap and torture of hundreds of children"experiments that separate body
Computers
India
Barack
Obama
Michelle
Obama
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Books by this author
A cabin of one's own: New
England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine)
by Michael Giltz
Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein. In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... (The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine)
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Flag as abusive Posted 10:26 PM on 11/16/2007This Blogger's Books from
Michael Giltz: Defending The Golden Compass
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
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Comments are closed for this entryfrom soul and leave the children to stumble around zombie-like, and then die.'
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/religious-moviesThe animosity toward 'Magisterium' occurs in
a parallel universe inhabited by Lyra 'Silvertongue' (& her inseparable 'daemon' Pantalaimon), not in ours, where the Church is seemingly more malevolent than our own. Perhaps the American church has trouble with
the likelihood of multiple universes, which is at the heart
of what Pullman's works are about.
The 3 novels in the series tell a truly amazing story. And
one can only hope the movie(s) will tell the story as well
as Phil Pullman conceived it.
akoop See Profile I'm a Fan of akoop permalink
Read Pullman's trilogy when I was over forty. Imaginative, provocative, impressive, just the type of
challenge in which young minds can immerse and older ones can revel. Just the type of thing that
would rile Donohue's ilk.
If the screenplay is anywhere near the quality of the books, it (they) will be block busters.
You must be logged in to reply to this comment. Log in or
Golden Compass
Movie Reviews
Movies
New Line
Nicole Kidman
Original Sin
Philip Pullman
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Religion And Film
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The Golden Compass
Review
Favorite
Flag as abusive Posted 05:41 PM on 11/16/2007
Favorite
Flag as abusive Posted 04:36 PM on 11/16/2007
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
APRIL 5, 2009
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This Story to DiggDefending The Golden Compass
Posted November 16, 2007 | 04:21 PM (EST)
Read More: Atheism, Atheists , Bigotry , Books , Catholic League , Christianity , Daniel
Craig , Evangelical Christians , Faith , Fantasy , Golden Compass , Movie Reviews ,
Movies, New Line , Nicole Kidman , Original Sin , Philip Pullman , Religion , Religion And
Film, Reviews , Sin, The Golden Compass , The Golden Compass Review, Breaking
Entertainment News
New Line's movie The Golden Compass starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig opens on
December 7, bringing an acclaimed best-selling fantasy trilogy by author Philip Pullman to its
widest audience yet. And after years of accolades and unstinting praise, Pullman is finally getting
his wish for controversy: the far right is attacking his work as pernicious, evil, anti-God andbasically the kiddie version of Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses.
The attack, such as it is, is being led by William Donohue, the blustering, bigoted head of the far-
right political group Catholic League. This group poses as a defender of the Catholic faith but
devotes itself to partisan political attacks against anyone opposed to a right-wing, Republican
agenda. Donohue insists the books are virulently anti-Catholic, and is organizing attacks on the
film (which he sees as a Trojan horse to encourage kids to read the books - making it the most
expensive book promotion campaign in history), and demands that schools and teachers ban the
books and not teach them to anyone. If you assign these books to your students, Donohue will
insist you are an anti-Catholic bigot and should be denounced, if not driven from your job.
First, let's look at the charge that the books are anti-
Catholic and then question whether Donohue is areasonable spokesperson for the Catholic Church thatshould be given legitimacy by the traditional media.
The Golden Compass is the first book in a trilogy by
Pullman entitled His Dark Materials. It is easily the most acclaimed fantasy work in many years
and looks set to take its place alongside landmarks like The Lord Of The Rings and The Chronicles
Of Narnia, both also written by Oxford scholars like Pullman and both of which he would puckishly
take issue. In short, it's the story of a young girl named Lyra who lives in an alternate universe
quite similar to ours but filled with witches, an all powerful Magisterium and armored talkingbears. Lyra (and her daemon -- sort of a personified soul) finds herself on a scary adventure in theNorth and ultimately in other worlds that involves missing children, sexuality and the fate of theworld.
Pullman was greatly inspired by Milton's Paradise Lost, another work that has been alternately
Popular Stories on HuffPost
Fashion Face-Off!
Michelle Obama And
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
Finally Meet In
France (VIDEO,
PHOTOS, POLL)
*Video, poll and slideshow
(to...
Levi Johnston TalksSafe Sex With Tyra
Banks (VIDEO)
***UPDATE*** 8:30pm:
People.com is reporting
that Sarah Palin hasissued...
Oscar de la RentaSlams Michelle
Obama's Buckingham
Outfit As MajorDesigners Feel
Ignored
While Michelle Obamahas made lesser...
Verena von Pfetten 7
Lessons To BeLearned From Carla
Bruni
So here's the thing.There's no shortage ofarticles dedicated to that
certain je ne...
Huff TV Arianna
Discusses MichelleObama's "Fantastic"
Madonna Jets Out Of Malawi
More in Entertainment: 'Fast' Rakes In
$72.5M... Madonna Tot's Dad Found...
Farrah's Son Arrested...
Farrah Fawcett Is Hospitalized
Michael Giltz: Defending The Golden Compass
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
The End Of
What Are You
SNL: Madonna And
Reality Star Jadepraised and condemned over time but is now one of the landmarks in epic poetry. Paradise Lost
features the Devil as its central, sympathetic protagonist, mixes in pagan symbols with religious
icons, and grapples mightily with sexuality. It is also taught in virtually every academic institution
in the Western world and any serious student of theology or literature must grapple with it at one
point. If Donohue objects to His Dark Materials, he must object to its equally scandalous
inspiration and immediately call for a ban on Milton's Paradise Lost and insist that anyone who
reads it or teaches it is an anti-Catholic bigot.
But is His Dark Materials full of hate for Catholicism or Christianity in general? Pullman himself
is most certainly an atheist and no fan organized religion in general. But his books are most
scathing towards dogmatism and unquestioned authority, not any one faith. There are brave (gay)
angels in later volumes -- which must have thrown Donohue into conniptions if he got that far --not to mention the death of a God-like figure, and a church that is kidnapping and torturingchildren in an obsessive desire to rub out the "sin" of sexuality. It's bold and compelling andultimately very challenging indeed - just like most great literature. As a practicing Catholic, I foundthem enthralling, fascinating and have shared them with friends, neices and nephews and theirparents.
Among the many people of faith who have found the book's serious grappling with issues of
sexuality and belief worthwhile is no less than Rowan Williams, the head of the Anglican Church
and that religion's equivalent to the Pope. If the head of one of the world's major religions canchampion these books, along with countless other people of faith, literary critics, scholars andmere fans of excellent fantasy fiction, then clearly it cannot be denounced out of hand as evil orinappropriate to read and discuss. Parents are always responsible for deciding what books areappropriate for their children at what age. But anyone who would ban or denounce His DarkMaterials and try to keep it and The Wizard of Oz and the Harry Potter books and The Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn and Catcher In The Rye and Are You There God, IIt's Me Margaret and
countless other classics from everyone else and insist these books are dangerous or evil is justfoolish and ignorant.
It all comes down to how you practice your faith. If, like Donohue, you want people to unthinkingly
accept whatever they are told, then anything that encourages thought and debate is dangerous. If
you believe that an unexamined faith is meaningless, if you believe that in fact it is your duty to
question your faith and yourself and how to practice that faith in the world today, then no movie,no book, no CD will be anything other than an opportunity to talk, discuss and contemplate what itmeans to be a person of faith.
William Donohue would have none of that. An angry, bullying, bigoted figure, he resembles
nothing so much as the notorious anti-Semite Father Charles Coughlin. Donohue has denounced
Hollywood as "controlled by secular Jews" and says "Hollywood likes anal sex." He calls
homosexuality the "gay death style," spews venom and hate at anyone who talks about the horrificchild abuse scandals that continue to rock the Church, blaming it mostly on gays and the mediaand deep-pocketed lawyers and even accuses people of lying about being abused to cash in. Checkout the Today show clip where he is so angry and nasty and unhinged compared to the calm,
reasoned guests also on the air.
It's remarkable that Donohue is still invited on TV after so many blow-ups on air. But whatever you
think about his politics, Donohue simply doesn't comport himself in a Christian manner. Hebullies, he yells, he mocks, he spews hate - he does everything in fact except behave with Christianhumility and compassion. TV producers who keep booking him because he "makes good TV"should be ashamed of themselves.
If you want to know more about why Donohue hates The Golden Compass so much, he'll gladly sell
you a copy of his 23 page booklet for only $5 each. (If it's so dangerous, why not simply post his
pamphlet online for free?) Or you could simply buy the entire "His Dark Materials" trilogy on sale
at Amazon for $13.50. Since the United States is not yet a theocracy, happily the choice is stillyours.
Comments for this post are now closed
More in Entertainment...
Style On CBS'
"Washington
Unplugged"
Arianna was on CBS'
"Washington...
Huff TV Arianna
Appears on ABC's
"This Week"
Roundtable With
George
Stephanopoulos(VIDEO)
Arianna was a guest this
morning on...
"BRUNO" TRAILER!Calamity, African
Babies, Chase
Scenes And More
(NSFW VIDEO)
IT'S HERE! The trailer forthis July's Sacha Baron
Cohen...
NATO Leaders Focus
On Afghanistan, ButMost Reject Obama's
Plea For Troops
(SLIDESHOW)
STRASBOURG, France— On the eve of the
NATO...
First Lady Fashion At
Friday's NATO
Concert (PHOTOS)
Another night, another
fashion opportunity for
NATO leaders and their
spouses! See...
Diana Palin, Sarah
Palin's Sister-In-Law,
Arrested For
Breaking Into Home
ANCHORAGE, Alaska —Police say Alaska Gov....
John Oliver Explains
The Real Reason YouNever Touch TheQueen (VIDEO)
Jim Cramer Declares
The Depression"Over" (VIDEO)
On Thursday's episode of"Mad Money" host Jim
Cramer declared that the
depression...
New Jay Leno Show
Rejected By NBC
Affiliate In Boston
BOSTON — Boston'sNBC affiliate says it will aira local newscast instead
of...
Ice Bridge Ruptures
In Antarctic (VIDEO)
An ice bridge linking ashelf of ice the size of
Jamaica to two islands in
Antarctica has
Scientists FindRocket Fuel
Chemical In Infant
Formula
ATLANTA — Traces of a
Michael Giltz: Defending The Golden Compass
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
Michelle Obama's Clothing
Has Sean Hannity All Out OfSorts
Cenk Uygur: Have WeReached the Tipping Pointon Guns?
RICHARD POPLAWSKI,Pittsburgh Gunman, Kills 3Police Officers
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld: DoesIran Harbor Osama binLaden?
Comments 7 Pending Comments 0
Christian America:
NewsweekReading? Angelina In
Weekend Update...Goody Buried In
Lavish...
HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now
Ads by Google
The Golden Compass Cheats
The Golden Compass Cheats & Codes All Cheats
Walkthrus ten usd per mo
CheatVideoGames.Net
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being
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View Comments: Newest
First Expand All
Quaoar See Profile I'm a Fan of Quaoar permalink
I hadn't heard of the movie before, but the very fact that Bill Donahue doesn't like it makes me want to
see it and read the books as well. Is there a list of movies and books opposed by the Catholic League?It might make for some interesting reading and viewing.
SRegnet See Profile I'm a Fan of SRegnet permalink
My family have greatly enjoyed Phil Pullman'sseries. A riveting story, really. It's fair topoint out that Pullman is not respectful toreligion, to put it mildly. This is not aChristmas story, by any means. If anything,just the opposite, if that's possible. But,*millions* of readers around the world adorethese books.
There's an interesting analysis in this month's Atlantic:
'Pullman"s books have sold 15 million copies worldwide, although it"s difficult to imagine adolescent
novels any more openly subversive. The series, known collectively as His Dark Materials, centers onLyra Belacqua, a preteen orphan who"s pursued by a murderous institution known as "the Magisterium."Or to use the more familiar name, "the Holy Church." In its quest to eradicate sin, the Church sanctionsexperiments involving the kidnap and torture of hundreds of children"experiments that separate body
Computers
India
Barack
Obama
Michelle
Obama
Sports
Olympics
Housing
Crisis
Fox News
Cars
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES
»
Books by this author
A cabin of one's own: New
England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine)
by Michael Giltz
Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein. In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... (The national gay &lesbian newsmagazine)
by Michael Giltz
Atheism
AtheistsBigotryBooksCatholic LeagueChristianityDaniel CraigEvangelical ChristiansFaithFantasychemical used in rocket
fuel were found in
samples of...
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
Bloggers Index
Read All Posts by
Michael Giltz
Related Tags
Favorite
Flag as abusive Posted 10:26 PM on 11/16/2007This Blogger's Books from
Michael Giltz: Defending The Golden Compass
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/defending-the-golden-_b_73063.html[4/5/2009 8:25:33 PM]
HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING GREEN STYLE WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY FUNDRACE
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Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | Archive | User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type
Comments are closed for this entryfrom soul and leave the children to stumble around zombie-like, and then die.'
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/religious-moviesThe animosity toward 'Magisterium' occurs in
a parallel universe inhabited by Lyra 'Silvertongue' (& her inseparable 'daemon' Pantalaimon), not in ours, where the Church is seemingly more malevolent than our own. Perhaps the American church has trouble with
the likelihood of multiple universes, which is at the heart
of what Pullman's works are about.
The 3 novels in the series tell a truly amazing story. And
one can only hope the movie(s) will tell the story as well
as Phil Pullman conceived it.
akoop See Profile I'm a Fan of akoop permalink
Read Pullman's trilogy when I was over forty. Imaginative, provocative, impressive, just the type of
challenge in which young minds can immerse and older ones can revel. Just the type of thing that
would rile Donohue's ilk.
If the screenplay is anywhere near the quality of the books, it (they) will be block busters.
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Flag as abusive Posted 05:41 PM on 11/16/2007
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Flag as abusive Posted 04:36 PM on 11/16/2007