[Buddha-l] Driving to Religion

[Joel Tatelman]

> On 24-Dec-07, at 11:00 AM, Bruce G. Seidner, Ph.D. wrote:
>> ...my 5th grade daughter came home from school this week having  
>> been warned of the anti-Christian movie Golden Compass. Several of  
>> her peers had entire Sunday school classes devoted to this  
>> malignant menace posing as a harmless children's fantasy movie  
>> ahead of the Christmas break. (It is called Christmas break by  
>> these folks because they are blissfully ignorant of any other  
>> cultural expression that celebrates the solstice and more  
>> sunshine, ahem, the coming of Light.) The parents of this  
>> evangelical tribe have also been beating the jungle drums  
>> imploring fellow parents, for the love of god, to boycott the film.
>>
>> Of course we had to go and it is great good fun as these things  
>> go. Kind of like if Heisenberg had a whimsy and decided to write a  
>> Narnia of his own. I just saw that the Vatican has condemned the  
>> movie as anti-Chrisitan as well but I just think they are envious  
>> of Magisterim's digs. They make the Vatican look like a road side  
>> attraction.
>>
>> Bruce
>>


I haven't seen "The Golden Compass" movie yet, but I've read the  
entire trilogy--twice--and it's a real work of art, a superb  
adventure yarn, and a thought-provoking tale that raises a whole  
range of ethical, religious, scientific/scientistic, political and  
other issues.

By way of comparison, I've read the entire Harry Potter series, too-- 
and greatly enjoyed it--but in both the realms of literature and of  
ideas, the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, of which "The Golden  
Compass" is the first volume, is in another league entirely.

And, yes, the local Catholic school board has yanked the "His Dark  
Materials" books from school libraries. Pathetic.

I'll be seeing the movie soon (with my 15-year-old daughter, who's  
also a huge fan).

Joel.

>
>