Pam works in customer service here. She came to see me a few days ago. “Dan, what’s going on with 'The Golden Compass'?” she said. “My son came home from school all freaked out over this movie. They’ve scared the kids half to death over it.”
You couldn’t avoid the warnings. The word spread in schools and from pulpits, from e-mails, faxes, and news reports in both Catholic and non-Catholic media: "The Golden Compass" and the trilogy of books behind it are anti-Catholic and anti-Christian, written by a God-killing atheist who wants to spread his atheism to our children. We must stop him and his kind. Our children must be protected.
In the midst of such strong feeling, and in a society where it often seems that the one who yells the loudest can claim some sort of victory,
Catholic Digest’s calmer, more measured response to the movie — “Should Our Family Watch 'The Golden Compass'?” (December 2007 and online
HERE) — struck some readers as a betrayal. “I am shocked and appalled that a Catholic magazine would recommend that movie. That movie is about killing God!” said one letter writer. “I thought you were supposed to be Catholic!” complained another.
A lot of readers understood what we were really saying, but I fear that at least a few misunderstood our intention and misread the article, and for them, I’d like to try to set the record straight.
Nowhere did
Catholic Digest endorse, recommend, or promote "The Golden Compass" books or movie. In fact, managing editor Julie Rattey came to me with a proposal to write about the movie because she had read all three books of the
His Dark Materials trilogy by author Phillip Pullman and was concerned about the anti-Catholic, anti-religious feeling that runs through them, especially in the second and third volumes.
In “Should Our Family Watch 'The Golden Compass'?” we clearly acknowledge the anti-Catholic content of the books. We certainly agree with Catholics who point out Pullman's anti-religious stance. We understand why Catholics would be offended by some of the things Pullman has said and some of the actions taken — and some of the statements made — by the characters representing the religious authority in the books.
Many Catholics have condemned the books and have urged people not to see the movie. That’s fine. We have no problem with people choosing to skip the movie or the books. We think parents have every right to protect their children from influences they feel will be harmful to them.
In terms of broad condemnations, however, our approach is a bit more nuanced. We don’t think condemnations and boycotts work very well. In fact, they often backfire and draw larger crowds. Even his staunchest critics have to admit that Pullman is a very good writer and storyteller, and that people have read and will be reading the books (they’ve been around for years), especially after they see the movie. As with the notorious
Da Vinci Code, whether we like it or not, some Catholics
will read the books and see the movie. They’ll want to make up their own minds about it.
Given this reality, our goal was to help these Catholics deal with what they’ve read and seen; we did
not tell them to embrace or even keep an open mind about Pullman’s atheism; our goal was to help them discern what is good and what is not in his stories, and what is true and what is not, and to foster discussions in their family that we hope can ultimately strengthen faith.
Every day we and our children meet and interact with people and media who do not share Catholic thinking or values — just look at the shows and ads on TV and the content and ads in many glossy magazines — and many of them are far less obvious and more seductive than Pullman’s blatant atheism. We all need to develop the skills to be Catholic in a non-Catholic society, and to pass those skills on to our children. Rather than issuing broad condemnations or encouraging our people to live in Catholic ghettos, we at
Catholic Digest believe in interacting with our culture, engaging it in myriad ways in daily life, and evangelizing it.
But we can’t evangelize what we don’t know. That doesn’t mean surrendering to anti-Catholic ideals, but it does mean looking at these ideals honestly, holding up what is good in them — only Satan is pure evil — challenging them when need be, and letting them challenge us as well. Catholics should never be afraid of challenges or different opinions. Responding to them can help us grow in our faith and strengthen us to be better disciples of our Lord.
