Golden Compass !
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Hello all,
There will be a new children's movie out in December called "The Golden Compass". The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is an atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of God that are portrayed in the Narnia series.
Clearly, Pullman's main objective is to renounce religions and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children ". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."
While "The Golden Compass" movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes religion as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman's hatred of religious mistakes.
"The Golden Compass" is set to premier on December 7, during the Christmas season (and staring Nicole Kidman), and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that enlightened parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas.
Please support the movie and the books. Also, pass this information along to everyone you know (especially learnt people). This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.
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this one caught my eye immediately
especially learnt people -
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Originally posted by eagle:this one caught my eye immediately
especially learnt people -
i'm looking forward to this excellent movie!
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Compass_(film)
Controversies
Several key themes of the novels, the rejection of organized religion and the abuse of power in a fictionalized Catholic Church, are to be diluted in the adaptation. Director Weitz said "in the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots" but that the organization portrayed in his film would not directly match that of Pullman's books. Instead, the Magisterium will represent all dogmatic organizations.[34] Weitz said that New Line Cinema had feared the story's anti-religious themes would make the film financially unviable in the US, and so religion and God will not be referenced directly. Attempting to reassure fans of the novels, Weitz said that religion would instead appear in euphemistic terms, yet the decision has been attacked by some fans,[35] anti-censorship groups, and the National Secular Society (of which Pullman is an honorary associate), which said "they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it",[36] "this is part of a long-term problem over freedom of speech." The changes from the novel have been present since Tom Stoppard's rejected version of the script,[23] and Pullman himself believes the film will be "faithful."[34]
On October 7, 2007 the Catholic League called for a boycott of the film.[37] League president William A. Donohue said he would not ordinarily object to the film, but that while the religious elements will be diluted from the source material, the film will encourage children to read the novels, which he says "denigrate Christianity" and promote "atheism for kids."[5] He cited author Pullman as saying that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."[38] The League hopes that "the film [will fail] to meet box office expectations and that [Pullman's] books attract few buyers."[39] Other evangelical groups, such as The Christian Film and Television Commission, are adopting a "wait-and-see" approach to the film before deciding upon any action,[40] as is the Roman Catholic Church in Britain.[41]
Pullman has since said that the books do not have a religious agenda, saying of Donohue's call for a boycott, "Why don't we trust readers? Why don't we trust filmgoers? Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world."[41] In a 28 November 2007 discussion with Donohue on CBS's Early Show, Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, said that rather than promote atheism, the film would encourage children to question authority, saying that would not be a bad thing for children to learn.[42] Director Weitz says that he believes His Dark Materials is "not an atheistic work, but a highly spiritual and reverent piece of writing",[35] and Nicole Kidman has defended her decision to star in the film, saying that "the Catholic Church is part of my essence. I wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic".[26]
Some commentators have indicated they believe both sides' criticism will prove ultimately impotent and that the negative publicity will prove a boon for the film's box office. -
the talk about whether the movie promoting atheism is particularly hot in US...
Well.. looks like atheism has been helped by this movie, nicole kidman and daniel craig -
I thought Nicole is a Scientologist?
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Caught the movie last night. Whether it promotes atheism or not, it sure is a very nice movie!
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wah... is she? Tom cruise is definitelt a sciencetology that i knowOriginally posted by LBKLK:I thought Nicole is a Scientologist? -
it's a great show manz... i watched it just now. and i sort of got it why it's a movie used to promote atheism...
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also... i tried inviting some friends to watch with me. well some of them are christians and after hearing such talks and many overseas forwarded emails about this movie being sort of pro-atheist, they back out...
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If they never talk about atheism and quarrel over the issue, people would not relate atheism when they see the movie and hear whta the actors speak.
I have seen some short clips and the things they say can be linked and related as if there were talking about setting people freedom from religion.
But you can choose not to think in such a way also. -
It's all the fault of idiotic extremists.Originally posted by january:If they never talk about atheism and quarrel over the issue, people would not relate atheism when they see the movie and hear whta the actors speak.
I have seen some short clips and the things they say can be linked and related as if there were talking about setting people freedom from religion.
But you can choose not to think in such a way also. -
Actually, even if golden compass does really suggest atheism, why are christian so uptight about it....
there are tons of religious movies and atheists dun go around asking atheists not to watch them. Atheist will probably become more atheistic if they watch religious stuff anyway. -
hahaha... true. what u said really makes sense.Originally posted by january:Actually, even if golden compass does really suggest atheism, why are christian so uptight about it....
there are tons of religious movies and atheists dun go around asking atheists not to watch them. Atheist will probably become more atheistic if they watch religious stuff anyway.
however on the other hand, people who are religious would also most likely become even more religious if they watch certain movies that are deemed controversial... like the DaVinci's Code for example.
i think the reason why some of them are uptight abt such things is because of the content that is, according to them, "shaking or wavering their faiths"... where as far as i'm concerned, it is a tragedy if one does not question faith, but instead, relying on blind faith like a crutch, without any shred of evidence.
if one is hooked on drugs and began seeing things that normal people do not see, then their hallucination or delusion needs a lot of showing up. -
The resemblance between the evil characters in The Golden Compass and the Catholic Church is striking.
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Originally posted by LBKLK:The resemblance between the evil characters in The Golden Compass and the Catholic Church is striking.
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I watched the movie and sad to say, it's a bad movie. I can't really recommend anyone watching it.
Watching the movie just because it supports atheistic ideas is akin to Scientologists watching Battlefield Earth because it's a scientologist movie.
I thought Chronicles of Narnia was pretty bad too. I didn't avoid it just because it was a movie that advanced Christian themes. But I told my friends to avoid it (not that they listened to me) because it was just a bad movie. -
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I beg to differ. The Golden Compass is not an atheistic movie but rather anti-authoritarian, especially certain religious figures who tried to silence the truth.Originally posted by Phaze:I watched the movie and sad to say, it's a bad movie. I can't really recommend anyone watching it.
Watching the movie just because it supports atheistic ideas is akin to Scientologists watching Battlefield Earth because it's a scientologist movie.
I thought Chronicles of Narnia was pretty bad too. I didn't avoid it just because it was a movie that advanced Christian themes. But I told my friends to avoid it (not that they listened to me) because it was just a bad movie.
Some how I feel that Dan Brown also drew his ideas in The Da Vinci Code from this movie. -
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reading the book now, it's really anti-christianity