These “action” groups that think they’re being moral watchdogs really need to get a life. (Or pay attention to the one they are neglecting by getting all up in arms about this “story written by an avowed atheist”).
After calls from the New York-based Catholic League to boycott the film, the church’s official reviewing office gives it a thumbs up.
The writers don’t deny author Philip Pullman’s atheism, or the story’s “anti-clerical subtext.” But they echo what we’ve heard from other sources:
“Most moviegoers with no foreknowledge of the books or Pullman’s personal belief system will scarcely be aware of religious connotations. . . . Leaving the books aside, and focusing on what has ended up on-screen, the script can reasonably be interpreted in the broadest sense as an appeal against the abuse of political power. . . . Rather than banning the movie or books, parents might instead take the opportunity to talk through any thorny philosophical issues with their teens.”
Some people aren’t happy with that advice, including Fr. Tom Euteneur, president of Human Life International, a Catholic pro-life organization.
“I really do believe these guys should be fired,” he told LifeSiteNews.com. “Whatever happened to rejecting Satan and all his empty work and empty promises?”
To read more, check out LifeSite’s story and the review at CatholicNews.com.
United Methodist Reporter Blog: A new ‘Compass’ wrinkle
Are these people going to investigate their entire viewing schedule for evidence of ungodly perspectives in the works of their writers? Do they investigate the activities of Bush, Cheney , and Rove and Company (the answer to that is NO). Do they eschew the “articles of the constitution” because the theologies of the “founding fathers” are anything BUT the kind of fundamentalist orthodoxy they seem to consider necessary for all content providers? No, just the opposite. It’s necessary , in fact, to insist that just the opposite is the case in order to underwrite their misguided melding of American Civil Religion. The “Founding fathers” were not the same stripe of “God fearers or God-trusters that THEY would require of other content providers (even then, MANY of the content providers they do give a pass are less deserving of such a pass).
