gsp Thoughts From A Diva: The Golden Compass

Thoughts From A Diva

Random images and thoughts from a misplaced Minnesota Diva trying to survive in Wisconsin.

Saturday, December 08, 2007

The Golden Compass

This morning, my mother sent my a link to this article in the Yakima Herald. It talks about the controversy surrounding the movie. In the article, they mention a pastor at a local church that is holding a discussion group about the movie. What a wonderful idea! I thought his approach was so great, I sent him an email:
Good morning.

I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you how happy I am that you are holding a discussion group about the movie "The Golden Compass." I am not a member of your church (actually, I live in Wisconsin), but I read your interview about the movie in the Yakima Herald.

I have read the books, but have not seen the movie. It has been very disturbing to me that so many people are condemning this movie without even seeing it. The story itself is a great fantasy and a wonderful read.

As a child, I read "The Chronicles of Narnia" and enjoyed them very much. It wasn't until I was a teenager and someone pointed out the similarities between the book and the Gospel that I realized how Christian the books were. The same goes for "The Golden Compass"; if no one tells a child it is about the fall of the Christian God, the child is not going to realize it. They are just going to know it is a great story.

In the books, if you know the orders of angels and the words used by the Catholic Church for their leaders, then you can pick up on the anti-religion theme. But if you are not familiar with those things, you will probably not understand.

I don't see the books as anti-Christian at all. I see them as anti-organized religion. The first book especially tells you to question everything: everything you see, hear and read. That's not such a bad thing.

Thank you again for being open to discussing this with your congregation. I think that is an admirable action to take.

We'll see if he responds...

Update: He did send me a nice note saying he had gone to see the movie. He thought it was a great movie and a great way to open a discussion with kids about religion. I'm impressed.

1 Comments:

At 12/10/2007 6:43 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree about condemning something you haven’t seen. How can anyone?

 

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