Golden Compass anti-religious?

Infotainment!

I didn't like the books, so I won't see the film.

I am so glad this has been made into a film and am eager to catch it at the theatres. I loved the book & the rest of the trilogy. Philip Pullman stimulates my thinking about life and spirituality in a way that can only strengthen real religious life and practice of whatever kind

As a Christian I will not be taking my child to see this movie, but I can't dictate to other parents what they wish to do.

I have a link that influences my decision to do this. I'm not permitted to post links here but will share it with anyone who is interested, and before someone says I can't judge something before I've seen it, I believe a person can benefit from others' wisdom and experience without having to personally participate in an activity, for example I don't need to do heroin to know it's bad for me.

I too am a practicing Christian and I can't wait to see the movie! I'd like to think that my faith is strong enough to withstand ideas in a fantasy movie. I enjoyed the Harry Potter movies and books with my son and they had no impact on my beliefs and values despite the controversy surrounding them. I expect the same to be true for this movie. As Debbie Elliott Friedan says "You can have faith and ask questions". I guess the problem for some detractors is that they might not like to be questioned about their beliefs because they might not feel comfortable with the answers they come up with.

You know, it's funny. Last time I checked we were living in a country that promotes freedom of speech to ban a book is just ignorant. Even if you are religious what's the big deal? It is a sign of weakness of one's faith if you are afraid to read a book because it contradicts what you have been taught. Aristotle once said "The hallmark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it".

Having lectured on Pullman's book for a lecture series on popular culture last year at King's, I'd say it is rather silly to be pulling the book off the shelves only after the film is about to come out, even though it has been in libraries for a number of years. While I am sympathetic to Pullman's unease with religion and interested to see how successful the adaptation to film will be, I don't think religious critics of the book and film should be overly concerned, nor should those fans who are worried that the film tones down the criticism of institutional religion. In the end, it's a children's book, and not the most sophisticated critique of Christianity--read Hume instead if you want that. As a work of literature, it hardly stands up to Milton's Paradise Lost (its inspiration), nor even the best children's literature (far too much in the sequels about particle physics and reconstituting Genesis, all a bit new-agey if you ask me). The storm of controversy will hopefully soon blow over, except for the fanatics who feel threatened by the Satanic Verses, the Da Vinci Code, and this trilogy.

Apparently open mindedness is something these movie critics are trying to replace with censorship. Since when do all movies have to promote christianity? don't we want a society where diversity is celebrated? Isn't that what canada is all about?