Pullman's 'god'mp3

This week, as The Golden Compass premiered in London, Philip Pullman has managed to pull off the rather unique trick of upsetting both Christians and atheists.

The Golden Compass is the film of the first part of Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. The book tells the story of Lyra, a young girl who evades the clutches of the dark and sinister Magisterium, which in the book is clearly identified with the church, though in the film the references to ‘church’ are reported to have been removed.

Despite this, the film has provoked the wrath of some Roman Catholic groups who have accused it of being deeply anti-religious. Other Christian groups have also expressed concern over how the book challenges the Christian story.

At the same time, however, secularist groups have complained about what they perceive to be a toning down of the real message in the film. Terry Sanderson of the National Secular Society said, “It was clear right from the start that the makers of this film intended to take out the anti-religious elements of Pullman's book. In doing that, they are taking the heart out of it, losing the point of it, castrating it.”

It would appear that he has a point.

In a Washington Post interview in 2001, Pullman said that his intention in the book was to, “undermine the basis of Christian belief,” adding that C.S.Lewis would think he was “doing the Devil's work." The question remains, then, why Pullman has agreed to allow his work to have some of its worst anti-religious bias excised.

In a 2004 interview, the director Chris Weisz seems to provide the answer: “New Line is a company that makes films for economic returns. You would hardly expect them to be anything else. They have expressed worry about the possibility of…perceived antireligiosity making it an unviable project financially.”

Is it possible, then, that Pullman allowed the rhetoric to be toned down for financial reasons? On his own website, he lists money and fame as the first two motivations he has for writing, noting his “desire to make some sort of mark on the world - to make my name known.” One conclusion that might be drawn from this is that for Pullman the ‘gods’ of money and fame are more attractive than the ‘god’ of atheism. I don’t know if this is the case, and maybe there are other factors that have driven him to allow the curtailment of the secularist message. The irony, though, is that in the trilogy Pullman presents God as a pathetic, impotent figure when in reality it seems that it is the ‘god’ of atheism that cannot quite stand his ground in the 21st Century.

All of this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to ensure that our own worship of Christ is not compromised by a desire for wealth and status. At the same time there is an opportunity to remind our non-Christian friends that ultimately none of the ‘gods’ of this world are worthy of our full allegiance. Perhaps in all the brouhaha that will accompany the launch of the film that is the most important and relevant message we need to share.

Justin Thacker, Head of Theology at the Evangelical Alliance

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