October 9, 2007

"THE GOLDEN COMPASS” SPARKS PROTEST

Catholic League president Bill Donohue discussed the league’s reaction to the upcoming movie, “The Golden Compass”:

And I here "register" my discontent with the 'reaction:'

“New Line Cinema and Scholastic Entertainment have paired to produce ‘The Golden Compass,’ a children’s fantasy that is based on the first book of a trilogy by militant English atheist Philip Pullman. The trilogy, His Dark Materials, was written to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism.

And your God cares because???

The target audience is children and adolescents. Each book becomes progressively more aggressive in its denigration of Christianity and promotion of atheism: The Subtle Knife is more provocative than The Golden Compass and The Amber Spyglass is the most in-your-face assault on Christian sensibilities of the three volumes.

And you're afraid Catholic parents are too stupid to teach their children the truth?

“Atheism for kids. That is what Philip Pullman sells. It is his hope that ‘The Golden Compass,’ which stars Nicole Kidman and opens December 7, will entice parents to buy his trilogy as a Christmas gift. It is our hope that the film fails to meet box office expectations and that his books attract few buyers.

And did the farm-owner say, "Pull up all the weeds our enemy planted, and thus ravage half of the crops we need"? I don't think so, but maybe the Catholic Bible put those destructive words in Jesus's mouth.

We are doing much more than hoping-we are conducting a nationwide two-month protest of Pullman’s work and the film.

Here's an idea: host a book-/film-burning, then–forgetting what it was that got you so mad–buy all the books and films again, grow enraged, burn them all again, then–forgetting what it was that made you so mad ...

To that end, we have prepared a booklet, ‘The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked,’ that tears the mask off the movie.

“It is not our position that the movie will strike Christian parents as troubling. Then why the protest? Even though the film is based on the least offensive of the three books, and even though it is clear that the producers are watering down the most despicable elements-so as to make money and not anger Christians-the fact remains that the movie is bait for the books. To be specific, if unsuspecting Christian parents take their children to see the movie, they may very well find it engaging and then buy Pullman’s books for Christmas. That’s the problem.

The solution? As would be suggested by The Neverending Story's 'Gmork,' ban all reading not assigned by the federal government, and bow to the power of 'The Nothing' (a.k.a. "The Invisible Hand.")

“We are fighting a deceitful stealth campaign on the part of the film’s producers. Our goal is to educate Christians so that they know exactly what the film’s pernicious agenda really is.”

I'll tell you all the 'pernicious agendi' right here. The author wants to place a reality in the open. He, other writers, the publishers and the producers would also like to make money in the process. 'The Catholic League' wants to retain its power over the stupid ... Preach on Catholic Wizards!

Kiera M. McCaffrey
Director of Communications
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
450 Seventh Avenue
New York, NY 10123
212-371-3191 212-371-3394 (fax)

Thank you , Kiera, for helping Bill feel important.