Discovering Who I Am

Few films have created so much excitement in the Christian community as The Golden Compass. There has been much discussion about the clear anti-religious agenda of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and the effect it could have on unsuspecting children who read the books or watch the film. I agree that there is cause to be concerned and we, as Christians, need to be pro-active in countering aggressive anti-Christian propaganda. However, the majority of articles, TV interviews, radio programs and commentaries I have seen do not well represent our Christian faith.

The average atheist or secularist who might read some of the doomsday warnings about The Golden Compass coming out of main-stream Christian circles would have to dismiss them as knee-jerk, over-reactive, religious extremism. The reason I say this is because there is very little real engagement of the authentic concerns about religious authoritarianism expressed by Pullman or acknowledgment that those concerns have some basis in reality.

We, as Christians, should be taking advantage of the opportunity to authentically engage these concerns, instead of reacting with violent, poisonous, wholesale condemnation of what is obviously a common rejection of God by individuals who have been hurt by the hypocrisy of men.

An excellent example of this kind of authentic engagement can be seen in the articles written by Tony Watkins, the Managing Editor of CultureWatch.org. I highly recommend reading all the articles written by Tony Watkins, as well as his interviews with Philip Pullman. We damage our credibility when we do not approach controversy of this kind with intellectually honest debate. Let’s educate ourselves and turn these cultural crises into opportunities.

Here are links to the articles and interviews by Tony Watkins:

• Heading the Wrong Direction
• His Dark Materials
• Northern Lights
• Pullman: not as cynical as we think?
• Philip Pullman: the most dangerous author in Britain
• Interview with Philip Pullman
• The Magisterium and the Authority
• Interview with Philip Pullman (part two)
• Talking about . . . storytelling
• Agenda squabbles
• Navigating life