His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, better known as the Golden Compass series, is an exciting and imaginative tale of adventures, witches, prophecies, battles, magic and other worlds. It is an extremely well written and engaging book. With that said the rest of my review is not about the story itself or how well it was written, but about the underlying religious and political implications. The author Philip Pullman is a known atheist and the controversy around this series was ignited with the release of the motion picture The Golden Compass, the first book in the three part series. His Dark Materials has previously been compared to C.S. Lewis's series The Chronicles of Narnia. Now I haven't read all the books of the Chronicles of Narnia, but I know that they are children's stories that mirror the books and stories of the Bible.
After reading His Dark Materials, I am confused about Pullmans religious status. Atheist believe that there is no God or higher power at all, however His Dark Materials centers around the Christian religion. Instead of being an atheist (if the book truly mirrors his beliefs), he seems to believe in God, Angels, the Bible, and an afterlife. Of course his views are very skewed from what Christians believe in. For example, in the books God or the Authority, the ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven is not the creator. He is the first angel that came into being. Secondly, the land of the dead is a desolate place of nothing, where everything that dies goes... murderers, rapist, Christians, monks... everyone. There is no heaven or hell... only the land of the dead.
In the end, the main characters kill the Authority. I took this as a symbol for his desire to end all religion. Through out the books he makes the Church the "bad guys". Saying that the Church is always doing horrific things in the name of God, and the root of his justification for getting rid of religion all together.
This book is a great example of how people misconstrue religion, especially the Christian religion. I cant speak for what has been done in the past. The Church has definitely been in the wrong several times, and will most definitely be wrong again. But this isn't the work of God, it is people, and people are imperfect. Christians get a bad rep for the work of a few and that is not what being a Christian is suppose to be about.
I don't pretend to be the perfect Christian, in fact I am still learning what this really means and I have a long way to go. I haven't even read the entire Bible (which I think every Christian should do, because how are you going to say you believe in something when you don't even know what it is all about). What I do know is what Jesus was all about, and that is loving and caring for people, helping those in need and trying to make this world a better place... and I do believe in that. Being Christian is being bound by those morals that guide your faith and your life. I definitely don't lead the perfect Christian life, there are many vices that I choose to indulge such as drinking, partying, swearing occasionally... but I do try to live morally with my faith. If Philip Pullman, or anyone else for that matter, thinks this is in anyway wrong please indulge me. I would love to hear your argument, and that is not meant to sound sarcastic. I would genuinely like to learn your views.
Finally I would like to say that I am shocked this is considered a children's book, and that Philip Pullman would intend it in that way. It is a good story, but there are ideas in it that a child should not be exposed to. It takes away the innocent and unwavering faith that children possess, and I'm not talking about faith in God alone, but faith in all things... faith in angels, santa clause, ghosts, the tooth fairy... children don't think angels are real... they know with every fiber in their being. This book questions the very morals that faith is bound too. It questions what we have faith in, questions that shouldn't be asked until adulthood.
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