More Golden Compass stuff A note o correction about my previous post. I’m not trying to belittle people who don’t believe, or say that they automatically become unable to write supernatural free fantasy. I think the person who said “this is the book atheists have been praying for” is
not a fantasy genre fan because it seems like they thought this was a –I don’t know- a non fiction book? And believes fantasy fans are flaming idiots.
Nice comments about Golden Compass from a cool liberal Christian I agree. It’s all about killing the false god- the harmful or abusive image. I just think that maybe Pullman wasn’t very good at making this clear, which is why the books are still not as good as they could have been.
If you gotta spend that much time explaining what you meant, you didn’t do it right.
Phillip Pullman in a dialogue with the Archbishop of CanterburyI was glad to see that, and yet worried and saddened too. I’m glad, because they were agreeing, and because Pullman is apparently not the frothing I Hate God and Christians And All Believers Are Morons kind of atheist a lot of people keep insisting he is. A lot of what they’re both saying makes sense. Sort of. And yet…
What I’m seeing is some very
good people. They genuinely consider themselves Christians. They don’t tell any real lies, they don’t abuse animals or other human beings, they don’t steal, they honor their parents, they’ve done the reading, they probably give to charity, they show up at church and participate, in short, they are doing everything Christians are supposed to do. Except believe. They don’t
believe.
Don’t get me wrong. Not believing but holding to the traditions anyway is great- it’s better than throwing it all away. The myths and rituals still have value. And since we can’t judge what goes on in other people’s heads at any given time, we can’t say “you don’t believe, you can’t play in this sandbox anymore.”
Now, I know I was raised according to a different sort of Christian tradition. So maybe this is just my POV…
But … they’ve forgotten about a clause in the uh-agreement- gentiles have with God. The most important thing God asks of us, the adopted chosen, is that we
believe. That’s what gets us in without having to do all the other stuff, because he knows we’re not good at the other stuff. You can know everything there is to know about Christianity and the Bible but if you don’t believe, everything you know counts for less. But of course, that also means that you don’t really know everything there is to know about Christianity and the Bible because you must have missed the gazillion times this point is
repeatedly made in the New Testament. I mean, there are anvils with the words “PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PART” landing all over the place and Perry Coma comes out and sings the Anvilania National Anthem.
The basic idea is “God doesn’t care how much you know or don’t know, he just wants you to sincerely believe in God and try to be a good person.” This is usually translated as either “Yay, I don’t have to know anything about my own religion as long as I refuse to budge on what I do know!” or “I have a doctorate from Harvard so you know, I don’t actually
believe but I’m obviously much better at this than you because of all the papers I’ve written on the subject.” And this resentful little war starts building up between the two groups, Group A thinks Group B is cold, and mocking them, and abandoning faith, while Group B thinks Group A is a bunch of gullible, weak minded, superstitious weirdos. But they’re both on the same side.
It’s… the bloody Susan versus Lucy debate
all over again. Still think “Narnia” is worthless and irrelevant? Phillip Pullman, C. S Lewis saw you coming before you were born. You two deserve each other.
In other late breaking and shocking news, it’s works
and faith
and knowledge- not an either/or situation.
Of course, the biggest issue I have with the Susan versus Lucy debate is that these two ways of looking at religion are not the only two ways in existence, despite what everyone keeps claiming. You can be a Peter, someone who isn’t always sure they really believe but who has decided that it doesn’t matter so much, because their loved ones believe and in the end, it’s about doing the right thing because it’s the right thing to do and you can’t let yourself do anything less. Religion is not a matter of faith or evidence, it’s a matter of duty. You can be an Edmund, faith, knowledge and duty are always an uphill struggle against the mountain of selfishness and self preservation.
In the end, being an Edmund is a lot more fun anyway.
another mostly reasonable post on the subject of PullmanI have an objection to one of the comments made though.
Of course Harry Potter wouldn’t convert kids to being witches. Not that I have a problem with witches, hello,
witch here and anyway “witchcraft” is not a religion, it’s a skill. Saying “you converted them to witchcraft” is like saying “you converted them to driving cars”. And anyone who has read the Harry Potter books should be able to clearly see that their magic is not dependent on a specific religion. But anyway, Harry Potter was never intended to get kids into witchcraft in the sense that I think the author of that post means it- for the last time, people!
Harry Potter was written by a Christian, who intended for Harry to be a Christ figure! @*&*%$#@!!! That is not just my opinion, that is Not Up For Debate
Fact.
weeps please, read book 7. please…this is physically hurting me.
The whole “HP is a Christian story” thing is, like I’ve said before, more aimed at the people who thought it was Satanic than the people of other faiths who were fans before book 7. There’s plenty of room for interpretations from other religious points of view… and after all, the religious part doesn’t even come in to play much for most of the series, but if I have to play up the Christian angle to get people to stop calling it evil, then I will.