_It makes me sad to think that it’s no surprise that some Christian groups are calling for a ban on the movie version of Phillip Pullman’s “The Golden Compass.” The last major children’s media sensation, the Harry Potter series, is one of the most hated works of literature in the Christian community. My guess, as to the reason Christians would actively try and ban this sort of literature, is that it targets the impressionable youths of the community, and not the fully realized, god fearing adults.

_Phillip Pullman is an avowed atheist and has said some pretty anti-Christian things, but his books might be the most brilliant attack on Christianity ever. The reason being, it is clearly less of an attack on Christianity than it is an attack on dogmatic institutions of any sort. What Pullman himself might not realize, although I wouldn’t know, having never talked to the guy, is that many Christians would not be upset by the books.

_It is comforting to think that many of the ideas in these books are becoming more widly accepted. It is also strange to think that someone who, according to the article I linked to above, has almost no concept of what it means to be spiritual, wrote a book that is incredibly spiritual at its center.

_Without giving away too much, the basic premise is that the entire institution of God, the religions of the world and the angels themselves, have come to rule without God’s consent, using religion as a weapon against others. Throughout the series the main characters are moved towards a world where there is no god, no religion, just something they call the Republic of Heaven, as opposed to the Kingdom of Heaven. This Republic of Heaven is meant to be a world where people are free from the tyranny of religion. Pullman, being the atheist that he is, wished it to be a world where there simply wasn’t any religion, but I think it’s more of a world where people are free to find their own beliefs on their own terms. This is one of the many ways in which Pullman has effectively failed (since it’s open to interpretation and therefore not 100% atheistic), but ultimately triumphed, since the suggestion of something better than an existing hierarchy is much more appealing than the fact that there is only one way to exist, and that is without God.

_These books were the first books I read that really challenged my faith. That is to say, they were the first books that made me wonder if what I considered my faith in God to be was really faith, and not just learned belief. I found out that it was about as sincere as the words “From: Santa.”

_That being said, it makes me glad that I have doubted, do doubt, and will doubt in the future. I would hate to end up like the people from Westboro Baptist (who are currently picketing the funerals of those who were shot in the Midwest), who are 100% sure of their faith. God can be a slippery person and He’s awfully hard to find sometimes. It’s good to remember that sometimes He’s as small and fleeting as Dust.

- Kid