“The Golden Compass” movie, which opened last weekend in theaters across the country, has created controversy among Catholic schools and organizations for what many deem an anti-Catholic message. Many dioceses, including the Diocese of Providence, have taken steps to educate parents and students at Catholic schools about the message behind the movie and books. Bill Donohue’s Catholic League has even called for a boycott of the movie.
The movie, based on the “Dark Materials” trilogy by self-proclaimed atheist and well-known British author Philip Pullman, chronicles the journey of Lyra, played by Dakota Blue Richards, a young girl living in Oxford, England, as she has adventures across the world guided by a truth-telling compass that only she and a few others can interpret.
Along the way she encounters the glamorous scholar Mrs. Coulter played by Nicole Kidman, a talking polar bear with the voice of Ian McKellen, and many other adventurous characters. The story is essentially a good vs. evil fantasy intertwined with some anti-authority rhetoric.
Judging from the previews that show beautiful and fanciful scenery and spectacular special effects, including the huge, and nearly-human polar bear, the film is perfect family fare — engaging for both children and their parents.
So, what is the controversy?
Pullman’s atheism is the first component of the backlash against the books and the movie. It is not simply his disbelief in God and organized religion, which flies in the face of all Christian, and Catholic, teachings, that has sounded the alarms for Catholic educators and Church officials. The issue goes much deeper when the text of the three books, and not just the movie version, is considered.
During the build-up to war in the first book, “The Golden Compass,” “many negative remarks are made about the Catholic Church, specifically and the Christian faith, more generally,” according to Dr. Camille Brown, education coordinator for the diocese.
Pullman’s specific anti-Catholic plot lines are the second component of the backlash. In his books, and now in the movie “The Golden Compass,” the fight between good and evil is fought by Lyra and her cohorts on the “good” side and Mrs. Coulter and the Magisterium on the “evil” side. The Magisterium, while used in Pullman’s book as an extremely controlling governing body that kidnaps children, is actually the term used to describe the teaching authority of the Catholic Church. The Pope and bishops exercise the Magisterium when they teach on matters of faith and morals. The Magisterium of the Catholic Church is guided by the Holy Spirit leading the Pope and bishops as successors of the apostles in exercising their teaching authority. But, in the fantasy world created by Pullman in “The Golden Compass” the Magisterium is the embodiment of evil and the force that Lyra, the movie’s heroine, fights against.
A voice-over in the movie’s trailer further explains Pullman’s Magisterium: “This world is dominated by the Magisterium which seeks to control all humanity.” Brown comments, “The [movie’s] Magisterium is a tangle of courts, colleges and councils and the most feared of all the Church’s bodies.”
The anti-Catholic sentiment is toned down in the movie when compared to the books. “The way they do this movie I’m not really sure that children will say ‘Oh, are they talking about my faith?’ But, when children read the books, any of the books, it will be very clear that he’s talking about [their] faith.” said Brown. Without knowledge of the Catholic definition of Magisterium, she said, the movie’s anti-Catholicism is not blatant. Catholic school students would likely learn that term in high school theology classes, she added.
The diocese has not, Brown and Catholic schools superintendent Sheila Durante say, taken an absolute position against the books or the movie. Rather, they say, Pullman’s works could be used by parents as a “teachable moment.” “Parents have to help their children make choices,” Durante said. “If you tell children ‘do not see this, do not do it’ somewhere along the road they are going to see the film,” Brown said, adding that the movie’s release was an opportunity for parents to see it with their children and use it to start a conversation about the author’s beliefs and their own.
The Catholic Schools office sent a note home to all parents about the books and movie so they would be aware of Pullman’s beliefs and the books’ anti-Catholicism. The note aimed to “make principals, teachers and parents aware that the author has claimed that he‘s an atheist and that the plot in the series is to kill God,” Durante added.
There is no ban on the book or the movie from the Catholic Schools office or the diocese, Durante and Brown pointed out. However, they hope that their memo will help to educated teachers, principals and parents about Pullman’s books. “I would hope that principals are reading the books before the children have access to them,” Brown said. “The parents can decide for themselves,” she added, “I would never take away the parents’ right to be their child’s first teacher.”
The Catholic League, a national Catholic civil rights organization, and its president, Bill Donohue have urged Catholics to boycott the movie and the books on their web site. In a pamphlet prepared by the league and available online “The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked,” they delineate the many anti-Catholic statements and references made by Pullman in the books and in interviews.
The pamphlet cautions parents from being seduced into buying his books and seeing the movie version with their children. “Though the movie version of The Golden Compass promises to walk very carefully on the subject of religion, the fact remains that parents may be seduced into buying Pullman’s books, thinking they are innocuous. They are anything but,” the League says. They go on to say: “We feel confident that the more informed parents are, the more they will reject his message.”
Brown also warns parents against letting their children read the books: “The trilogy...is almost certainly an anti-Catholic and anti-Christian statement of faith by Mr. Pullman. Finally and certainly, no one can deny Mr. Pullman’s right to compose or publish these texts. However; Catholic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim parents should be aware of the anti-faith and extremely atheistic sentiments that are posited throughout these texts.”
In a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, Pullman addressed the controversy and Donohue’s boycott: “To regard it as this Donohue man has said – that I’m a militant atheist, and my intention is to convert people – how the hell does he know that? Why don’t we trust readers? Why don’t we trust filmgoers?” He continued, “It causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world.” toned down in the movie when compared to the books. “The way they do this movie I’m not really sure that children will say ‘Oh, are they talking about my faith?’ But, when children read the books, any of the books, it will be very clear that he’s talking about [their] faith.” said Brown. Without knowledge of the Catholic definition of Magisterium, she said, the movie’s anti-Catholicism is not blatant. Catholic school students would likely learn that term in high school theology classes, she added.
The diocese has not, Brown and Catholic schools superintendent Sheila Durante say, taken an absolute position against the books or the movie. Rather, they say, Pullman’s works could be used by parents as a “teachable moment.” “Parents have to help their children make choices,” Durante said. “If you tell children ‘do not see this, do not do it’ somewhere along the road they are going to see the film,” Brown said, adding that the movie’s release was an opportunity for parents to see it with their children and use it to start a conversation about the author’s beliefs and their own.
The Catholic Schools office sent a note home to all parents about the books and movie so they would be aware of Pullman’s beliefs and the books’ anti-Catholicism. The note aimed to “make principals, teachers and parents aware that the author has claimed that he‘s an atheist and that the plot in the series is to kill God,” Durante added.
There is no ban on the book or the movie from the Catholic Schools office or the diocese, Durante and Brown pointed out. However, they hope that their memo will help to educated teachers, principals and parents about Pullman’s books. “I would hope that principals are reading the books before the children have access to them,” Brown said. “The parents can decide for themselves,” she added, “I would never take away the parents’ right to be their child’s first teacher.”
The Catholic League, a national Catholic civil rights organization, and its president, Bill Donohue have urged Catholics to boycott the movie and the books on their web site. In a pamphlet prepared by the league and available online “The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked,” they delineate the many anti-Catholic statements and references made by Pullman in the books and in interviews.
The pamphlet cautions parents from being seduced into buying his books and seeing the movie version with their children. “Though the movie version of The Golden Compass promises to walk very carefully on the subject of religion, the fact remains that parents may be seduced into buying Pullman’s books, thinking they are innocuous. They are anything but,” the League says. They go on to say: “We feel confident that the more informed parents are, the more they will reject his message.”
Brown also warns parents against letting their children read the books: “The trilogy... is almost certainly an anti-Catholic and anti-Christian statement of faith by Mr. Pullman. Finally and certainly, no one can deny Mr. Pullman’s right to compose or publish these texts. However; Catholic, Christian, Jewish and Muslim parents should be aware of the anti-faith and extremely atheistic sentiments that are posited throughout these texts.”
In a recent interview with Newsweek magazine, Pullman addressed the controversy and Donohue’s boycott: “To regard it as this Donohue man has said – that I’m a militant atheist, and my intention is to convert people – how the hell does he know that? Why don’t we trust readers? Why don’t we trust filmgoers?” He continued, “It causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world.”
