The Golden Compass, A Children's Film about a Godless Universe

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Introduction
In today's world, Atheism seems to be proliferating in literature, the media, academia and politics. It has become the "spirit of the age". The words of the 19th century German Philosopher and Atheist, Frederick Nietzsche "God is dead! God remains dead! And we have killed him!" have become the new motto of our ever-increasing atheistic society.

As a result, Hollywood, jumping on the band wagon, is launching yet another attack on Christianity. A film named the "The Golden Compass" is set to be released on December 7, 2007 in theaters nationwide.

The Golden Compass is a film from New Line Cinema based on the first book of a series, His Dark Materials, written by English atheist Philip Pullman.

The Story of the Book (Film)
The film is based on Northern Lights (released in the U.S. as The Golden Compass), the first in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy of children's books.

Pullman's book trilogy is the story of "a battle against the church and a fight to overthrow God". The Guardian, a British newspaper, describes the books as "metaphysical fantasies encompassing parallel worlds, the death of God and the fall of man...." (http://books.guardian.co.uk/whitbread2001/story/0,11169,639329,00.html).

The Golden Compass is set in an alternative world with a sinister Magisterium. It is about a girl named Lyra who sets on a quest in search of answers after her best friend is kidnapped. She travels to a parallel universe where everyone's soul is physically manifested into an alter ego, or "daemon", in animal form. These manifestations are known as "daemons", and Pullman says they help a person grow toward wisdom.

In the story, a malevolent governing body called "the Church", which answers to the "Vatican Council", is known to kidnap children for experimentation. With the help of a golden compass that reveals a coded answer to any question asked by the user, Lyra, by the trilogy's end, gets to the bottom of the missing children and kills a character called "God".

Also, an angel informs one of the main characters that "God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty" are really all just names the first angel gave himself in an attempt to set himself up as a divine being.

The novels also take a harsh view of the church, which is called the Magisterium and is depicted as an oppressive institution that appears to have fallen for the Authority's ruse.

The Atheist Author, Phillip Pullman
The author, who is an honorary associate at Britain's National Secular Society and supporter of the British Humanist Association, has also admitted that "His Dark Materials" is a response to Christian author C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia".

"I loathe the 'Narnia' books," Pullman said in a press interviews. "I hate them with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away" (http://books.guardian.co.uk/guardianhayfestival2002/story/0,,726818,00.html).

On his writing desk, Pullman has a note he wrote that says, "So: There is a God, but he is a liar and he's mortal," a sentence which does an excellent job of summarizing the spiritual message of his series. Pullman has not been reticent about whom he's targeting with that message: kids. "I wanted to reach everyone," he said, "and the best way I could do that was to write for children" (telegraph.co.uk).

About the fall of man in Paradise, Pullman says, "[It was] a fall into grace, towards wisdom, not something that leads to sin, death, misery, hell—and Christianity." And about Eve, he said, "Eve is my great heroine: She wondered what it would be like if she did as the serpent suggested and ate the fruit. Good for her. What a pompous little prig she would have been if she had said, 'No, I mustn't.'"

"I don't know whether there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say," Pullman said in an interview posted on his website (www.philip-pullman.com). "In his words, the church is wicked, cruel and child-hating; priests are sinister, murderous or drunk."

He said in a 2003 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald that 'My books are about killing God.'" British columnist Peter Hitchens has labeled him as "the most dangerous author in Britain."

The danger of this man is that he is willing to inflict his atheism among our children.

Conclusion
The movie has been positioned as a must-see in the pre-holiday season. It has been sanitized of its "Atheistic" theme and is being portrayed as another in a long line of fantasy movies that tell a wonderful tale. However, this story is a poisonous tale that will cause a large degree of spiritual confusion in the hearts of those who view it.

Pullman's goal is to persuade the most vulnerable among us – our children with dark fantasy and unbiblical ideas about God and His nature.

As Orthodox Christian parents we need to be vigilant knowing that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12).

We must be steadfast and immovable (1 Cor 15:58) against the tide of secularism being promoted by the media as fun and entertainment.

We must not allow its influence to manipulate the hearts and minds of our youth and more importantly our young children. May God protect us from these fiery darts coming our way from the spirit of this age; glory and honor are due to Him forever. Amen.