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Pullman hits back at criticsPosted by Cookiemonster on November 28, 2007 at 4:27 amBBC: Philip Pullman has hit back at critics who accuse him of peddling “candy-coated atheism”, dismissing claims that the film promotes atheism and denigrates Christianity as “absolute rubbish”. “I am a story teller,” he said. ” If I wanted to send a message I would have written a sermon.” Read more.Pullman also spoke to the CBC in response to an Ontario school board’s review of the book’s position on its elementary school library shelves, “If you want people to read a book, then make a fuss about it, make it controversial. Tell your children they are not to read this book under any circumstances. What is more likely to make them go to the shelf and take it down and read it from there?” Read more. 
5 Comments:Post your own!Please keep comments on topic - we have a message board for general discussion.
Andy says:
The term Magesterium is the Catholic Church. If you make a group called The Magesterium the villian, you are saying it is the Catholic Churhc. The term Magesterium is the proper noun for the teaching authority granted by Christ to the Church. To say that this book/movie is like saying that a book/movie with bad guys being called Rabbi is not anti-semitic. November 28, 2007 10:14 pm | link
Leanne says:
I rather think Pullman is not denigrating any specific religion; more the sort of oppressive, mob mentality that can (and often has) been a feature in organised religion throughout history - and yes, that does include the catholic church, which has been responsible for some terrible acts against humanity throughout its existence. To deny this would be to lie about our history, and to disregard the sufferings of those who lived through (and died because of) the worst extremes of religious fundamentalist excess. But it seems to me Pullman is not speaking against RELIGION - rather against those who would use religion as an excuse to commit immoral atrocities in the name of (God, Yaweh, Allah, *insert deity here*). Surely that is a message that most reasonable religious folk can get behind? Furthermore, so what if Pullman WAS trashing the entire Judeo-Christian pantheon (which I don’t believe for a second that he is)? If people are strong in their beliefs, why should it bother them that someone dares to put forth a criticism of their religion? Freedom of speech is something to be treasured, and I fear to exist in a world where challenging widely held opinions is disallowed. If such debate were to cease entirely, simply because it upset some people…what would we become as a people? November 29, 2007 8:25 am | link
Andy says:
Why did he choose to use a proper noun for the evil force in his books? The Magesterium is the Catholic Church. Dictionary.com defines Magisterium as a noun for the Catholic Church. “The authority to teach religious doctrine”. I am sure it is just chance that the Magisterium is based at the Vatican in the books, and the leaders are Cardinals. C’mon he hates Catholics. As for the Church’s contribution. Yes, horrible things have been done in the name of the Church. Also, the Catholic Church is the source of literacy, government, hospitals, science, ltierature, art, and a host of other things that have shaped the western world. The Church built the first observatory ever, for Galileo. Without the Catholic Church, we would never know the works of Michelangelo, Galileo, DaVinci, and many others. If the bad guys were gay would you feel the same. I don’t care what this person writes, but don’t try and tell me that he is not Anti-Catholic. As a Catholic I reserve the right to “out” this book for what it is, pure hatred aimed at defeating the Church. I wonder why all of his fans are so eager to ignore this, are they afraid for the truth? Why isn’t he proudly proclaiming what he so thinly tries to hide. He is afraid his sales might suffer if his blatant prejudice and hatred is revealed to those that the studio is trying to dazzle with some CGI. November 29, 2007 9:16 am | link
twiks says:
Awfull, twisted, depressing, nasty, bloody and far too explicit!! Northing Lights is classed as a childs reading book!!! Disgraceful, My daughter is 9 years old and ive had to pull her out of her class as the teacher decided to read the book to her class aged 8 and 9 years old, If my daughter had had this book read to her it would have terrified her with the context, let alone the way it attacks the church!!! We are christians!! The teacher was asked to remove the book by another parent and the teacher refused as he felt the book was suitable. Yet the book discribes Lyra the 11 year old drinking alcohol until she is sick and smoking with the other urchings!! How can this be allowed to have got on the list of best book to read in school with such context and worse!!!! Im an angry parent at the whole situatuation with Mr Pullmans so called childrens book!!! November 29, 2007 10:19 pm | link Leave a comment |
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I’d be willing to bet everything I own that the writer of the first article has never so much as touched a copy of HDM or even heard of it before the movie.
I love Pullman’s quote in the second article. He’s right. The best way to make sure a book is read by as many people as possible, is to ban it. I bet a lot of religious people will see the movies or read the books just to see what all the fuss the fundies are making, is about.
November 28, 2007 1:42 pm | link