God is cut from film of Dark Materials

The Times (UK) ^ | December 08, 2004 | Sam Coates

[eno_]

No, http://www.westons.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Eno_2204.html#a0088542

[eno_]

He WOULD make a great Metatron.

[bmwcyle]

Another movie I won't see.

[Drawsing]

any arbitrary establishment that curtails the freedom of the individual

You know what kind of "freedom" he is talking about here. The freedom for people to indulge every glandular urge without being reminded of the short and long term consequences. Some freedom.

"You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."...quote from Jesus Christ. The truth that Jesus speaks of here is that sin itself is what enslaves people. Following Jesus does not mean enslaving yourself to a man-made institution. If you believe that God is the creator then you must acknowledge that he knows what is best for his creation. Trying to live apart from God is like pouring orange juice into your gas tank.

And God does not want "religion" as it is designed and organized by men. He wants relationship. The fellowship of like-minded believers is the church. A high degree of organization has some benefits for outreach and service, but it has a lot of dangers too.

[Eepsy]

It sort of help when an author come out out and explicitly says he was trying to write the anti-Narnia.

At least, that's what tipped me off.

[Aquinasfan]

Fruit salts.

[BibChr]

Many comments could be made on this. I'll just say that's a rare editing direction, heartening in spite of the petty rationale given.

His Dark Materials was created, I have read, as an antidote to C. S. Lewis' timeless, wonderfully positive, Christian series The Chronicles of Narnia. It was an anti-Christian vision. Assuming that's an accurate assessment, it's sad if you're disappointed that the film won't be as vitriolically God-haunted.

Dan
Biblical Christianity web site
Biblical Christianity message board
Biblical Christianity BLOG

[eno_]

Cures flatulance.

[Little Ray]

Pullman is an evil man. I suspect that removing the references to God was not entirely voluntary.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_5_54/ai_83591416

[Foxfire4]

His Dark Materials’ perceived anti-religiosity

Perceived?? Um, you mean the part where the heroine kills God? The part with the assorted flavors of whacked-out angels? The whole trilogy and its "everything Christians hope for is a lie at best and a repressive plot at worst"? Yeah, I tend to perceive a little bit of a bias there.

in plainspeak: the revived Christian voice will boycott the film and it will be box office poison

I'm not gonna see it; Pullman annoyed me sufficiently with his interviews alone that I decided against putting any money in his pocket. Too bad; I enjoyed the first book and parts of the second, but never bothered with the third.

[Aquinasfan]

Hmmm...

[MEGoody]

"I just don't see how they can do it?"

It's about money. They know it would fail otherwise. (It sounds like it will anyway.)

[CaptRon]

Apparently there is a character named Coulter in the series!

[BibChr]

Thanks very much for that link. It accords with everything I've read or heard of the series.

From it:

Philip Pullman is made of more strident stuff. He wants, he once told the Washington Post, "to undermine the basis of Christian belief."

Dan

[BibChr]

Why does everyone here seem to think that books are specifically anti-Christian?

Check posts 29 and 34.

Dan

[valkyrieanne]

I actually read through the entire Dark Materials opus last summer, and was thoroughly disgusted by it. If I were an atheist, his puling and whining about the Big Bad Evil Church would embarrass me to no end.

He didn't even have the *guts* to do a proper ending; instead, he put in some namby-pamby pander-to-the-library-associations plot snarl that was just *stupid.* The author gave up his integrity *long* ago, before he ever signed a movie contract.

I'm sure the film will be a special-effects fest and a great success. Unfortunately.

[valkyrieanne]

Too bad; I enjoyed the first book and parts of the second, but never bothered with the third.

Oh, then you missed the *best* parts, then. The third was one long screed that, at the end, completely lost its nerve and reverted to the worst conventions of "young adult" fiction.

[Foxfire4]

Oh, then you missed the *best* parts, then. The third was one long screed that, at the end, completely lost its nerve and reverted to the worst conventions of "young adult" fiction.

So I've heard. I liked the first one purely for the concept of daemons (does it ever say what creature Pan winds up as?) but wasn't terribly impressed with the rest. I ended up rereading Diane Duane's original Young Wizards trilogy to get the bad taste out of my head. :-) (I don't think she's Christian, but the end of Deep Wizardry makes me bawl nonetheless.)

[Eepsy]

Is that the whale one? I loved that book when I was a kid! And, yes, it made me bawl, too :)

[cricket]

"The freedom for people to indulge every glandular urge without being reminded of the short and long term consequences. Some freedom."

. . .yes, a freedom that in reality is an enslavement to ones senses. Also, that kind of 'freedom'; is a choice; you are free to join a Church or not; to live by a 'faith' or not. . .

OTOH. . .the reality of enslavement ie totalitarian enslavement to a religion or political idiology does not seem relevant here. . .

Amazing the delusions these Libs live with. . .I mean just for starters; who do they think invented the great mind/social control of political correctness?