IT IS CLEARLY EVIDENT THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY RESIDING IN THE REVELATION. THE DEVIL IS BUILDING HIS ARMY AND HE IS TRYING TO GET STRONG AND BOLD. HOWEVER, GOD'S ARMY IS EVEN STRONGER AND WILL NOT (I REPEAT) WILL NOT ALLOW THE ENEMY TO PREVAIL. THIS IS A TEST OF GOD CHILDREN STRENGTH AND COURAGE TO FIGHT. STAND UP AGAINST THIS DARK FORCES. THEY ARE ATTACKING OUR CHILDREN!

I'd like to Commend Marno K on a fantastic comment.. There is some real insight there and it's brilliant.

I would just like to...If I may, correct a couple of inaccuracies.
Pullamn does not imbue that there is in fact no God, He merely writes that the figurehead that people worship ( the tall guy in white robes with the long beard if you will) is an imposter. Many times..moste notably in the final book he makes reference to a even higher power, a 'Creator'. and that is ( if I'm not mistaken) whom christians worship. The 'god' in His Dark Materials is nothing more than someone with a bit of an ego.

 I'd also oppose the view that he is trying to teach that religious institutions are evil... He is not a teacher here, he is an entertainer. Writing for the enjoyment of the masses. He is not against people having faith, he's against people trying to force others to think a certain way. He's promoting free thought, everyone making their own choices raher than blindly following someone else. The final paragraph in the third book illustrates this idea perfectly when Pull man talks of 'The Republic of Heaven' as opposed to the Kingdom, a place with no 1 ruler, a place where everyone is welcome and if that is not a worthy goal in the best interests of all people.....christian or otherwise... I don't know what is.

YOUR JUST A BUNCH OF DUMBASSES TRYING TO MAKE A STAND FOR WHAT YOU "BELIEVE" IN WHEN YOU KNOW NOTHING! KILLING GOD IN A MOVIE OR BOOK IS JUST WRONG!!!  OUR BIBLE IS NOT A COLLECTION OF LUDICROUS FABLES, BUT IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. WE THINK THAT THIS MOVIE AND THE BOOKS SHOULD BE BANNED BECAUSE THEY ARE EVIL AND ARE SLAMMING WHAT WE BELIEVE. WE HAVE A RIGHT TO DISAGREE WITH ATHEIST OPINIONS AND ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT SHOULD SHUT THE HELL UP. 

YOU ALL SAY THE GOD DOES NOT DIE BUT THE "AUTHORITY" DOES... WELL YOU KNOW **** WELL THAT PULLMAN WAS REFERING TO GOD WHEN HE WROTE THE BOOKS. AND FOR YOU THAT SAY "ITS JUST A FILM" WELLM ITS NEVER JUST A FILM AND YOU **** WELL KNOW IT. CHILDREN WATCH AND THEY REMEMBER AND OFTEN TAKE ON THOSE VIEWPOINTS AS THEIR OWN.

ALSO, IN INTERVIEWS PULLMAN HAS HIMSELF SAID THAT HIS BOOKS ARE ABOUT KILLING GOD!!! WITH THAT BEING SAID HOW IN THE HELL CAN YOU SAY THAT GOD ISNT KILLED. YOUR JUST PLAIN STUPID...

I own the "His Dark Materials" trilogy - I bought the books as they became available in South Africa as a child and I really commend Philip Pullman for this brilliant work of literature.  I must admit (as a Christian fundamentalist myself) that I was quite apalled at the notion that Pullman was using the platform of children's literature to try and teach that there is no God and that religious institutions are the true evil of the world.  Many of the people in this blog have pointed out that Pullman DOESN'T kill God in the books - it's far worse.  He claims that the one worshiped by Christians is an impostor; in effect that there is no God to kill in the first place. 

I agree that it isn't the best course of action to boycott this particular film - the whole notion smacks of inconsistency.  A myriad films have come out in the last months and years that attack the church, discredit God and deliberately propone behaviour that is directly opposed to biblical teaching.  Why attack this one piece of literature?  Having said that, a film is never just a film.  Films are imbued with worldviews and philosophies that subliminally and overtly influence those who watch them.  As far as I'm concerned, the best thing about this "Don't watch the Golden Compass Movie" scare (and I'm sure many of the people who have signed up to boycott it will land up watching it anyway) is that it will at least make people more wary of what they take in when they go to watch it. 

To those atheists and other religious people who have seen fit to turn this blog into a mud-slinging match - you are all equally guilty of forcing your views down each other's throats, as am I.  Stop blaming each other, you're being hypocrites.

As a fan of all Pullmans work (In particular: His Dark Materials) and the owner of just about every His dark materials reference ever published ( and some unpublished) I just wantot mention a few things....

The first is my most important so forgive the bold print but.: GROW UP!!!!!!!!!
It's a FILM it's not real... I'm in no way a christian.. I'm more of an agnostic than an athiest but still... I'm not the only agnostis in the world... Yet you don't see me putting up petitions to try and stop people reading the bible do you? The number of pro-religion films that are produced every year with little to no comflict from anyone outside of that religion and here you go... one tiny thing you don't like and BAM 'We must boycott this film... Don't read this book... YOU MAKE ME SICK!!).
As the son of a father who in recent years has swapped his children for religion Ihave seen exactly what religion and 'faith' can do to a person..... Doesn't the bible preach acceptance of other peoples religion and faith?
I think you'll find it does...... Yes I have read the bible.. shock horror.

Also about His dark materials specifically:
If any of you had taken the time to READ the books and not just slate them you'll find that yes there is some anti-CHURCH messages in there not anti-religion, and no GOD does not die.... but The Authourity does.
Now I'm going to explain this as I know some of you arn't the brightest sparks.. so here we go. 

People on here ( some not all) seem to spend their lives trying to control others and convert others to their way of thinking... their god. All well and good, but if someone turned around to you christians tomorrow and told you that another religion's god was dead.... .would you REALLY care?... Of course not... it's not your god.... great! So the fact that this is not  your GOD but a fictional character from a fictional world and suddenly it's against your religion?

And just as a final comment.... Nicole Kidman ( Play's Marisa Coulter, one of the lead characters) is a Devout Roman Catholic... she states in interviews that if this film had any reference to god or the killing thereof she would NOT be in it... Yet she is.... So While I think that's disgraceful that they've potentially completely changed the plot of the trilogy to suit 1 actress, I also throw back to you she would not be in it if it were anti religion.

Oh, I almost forgot..... Last but not least... Get you facts right and WATCH IT BEFORE YOU SLATE IT!!!!!!!!

 Joe

Dagnabit! I thought I was registering and ended up actually signing this abomination of a petition!

 

I find the following quote extremely ironic: "In the book, the church has become extremely powerful and has becoming the governing body over the main character’s society. The church as governing body causes problems throughout the story, and eventually is overthrown."

This has caused an uproar? And yet, you repugnant bunch of self-important, superstitious control-freaks are trying to get the book banned from schools, trying to impose your views on the rest of society and dictate what my kids should or shouldn't be able to read! I think it's high time the government put all of you religious nuts, no matter what denomination, in your proper place and forbade schools from cowing to your idiotic and oppressive demands.

 

As a devout atheist (a former forced-catholic who, even as a child, recognized the bible as the collection of ludicrous fables that it is), I am sickened every time some religious group tries to force their idiotic beliefs and opinions on others.

 

Do I offend you? Then write a letter to the pope, as I don't care. Perhaps you can have a law passed to deny atheists their freedom of speech....buffoons.

In reply to Jennifer P.: My intention in amalgamating the names Yahweh and Allah was first, to indicate that there is no perceptible moral difference between the god of the Bible and the god of the Qur'an, and second, to poke fun at the idea that there is any sense in attributing a particular name to a non-existent entity. I am sorry that this went over your head. In future, I'll simply follow the example of 160 million Russians, and refer to the alleged deity as Bog.

I'm glad to hear that there are some people who make up their own minds about books like The Golden Compass and the Harry Potter series; but remember that the purpose of this petition site is to urge people not to do their own reading and thinking, a purpose I find utterly repugnant and evil, and which I will do my best to combat in whatever way I can.

I find it very funny that people are just so DEFENSIVE and want to immediately scratch our eyes out for our belief. That just makes me laugh. Anyway, about the books and the movie. I don't plan on seeing the movie but I had planned on that when I had first seen the ads for it. It's a textbook movie and it looked like a regurgitation of every other epic movie from the last few years.  The books are another story. I would be interested in reading them and making my OWN opinion (yes, for you atheists out there who think that we Christians are mindless lemmings just following each other blindly are, surprise of all surprises, actually WRONG about something). I loved Harry Potter even after all of the hub-bub about Rowling wanting to create an army of witches. The books were too enjoyable for me to say that they were evil.

 

Bottom line: Books and movies should be made for our enjoyment. Can we please stop making EVERY MAINSTREAM MOVIE an issue? Why does EVERYTHING have to make a statement? 

 

Oh, and I find it quite funny as well about Andrew v.'s posting. Do a little research on our God's name. In order to be so against something, I really think that you should know the other side. That's my motto in life. Always has been, always will be.<>

This is a reply to Alicson C.'s posting below. You say, "I pray our innocent children are allowed to keep their innocence." This may be difficult to accept, but there are some of us who think that it is a violation of children's innocence to teach them that certain (textually dubious) ancient books are "infallibly true" and "divinely inspired", even though there is no evidence whatsoever for these statements. And even if it could be indiputably shown that these books are in fact what they claim to be, it is a further violation of children's innocence to encourage them to worship the God they depict. His autobiographical writings show Yahwallah to be cantankerous, abitrary, partisan, self-contradictory and cruel. He also follows the time-honoured totalitarian practice of making laws that no-one can be expected to obey, thus keeping his subjects in a constant state of fear. I'm referring here to the idea that only those who believe that Yahwallah sent his son Jesus to save us from our sins will get to heaven: the rest of us will wail and gnash our teeth in hell. Belief is not a choice: for example, I can't will myself to believe in unicorns. To make the entry condition for heaven something over which people have no control is hardly the mark of a merciful being. (And even if it were possible to choose to believe something, the fact that the motive for doing this in this instance is fear makes it seem somewhat ignoble, I would say.)

You urge people to boycott The Golden Compass and not to read the books. If the basis of your religion is so tenuous that it can be undermined by a fantasy movie and a trilogy of fantasy novels, then perhaps you need to re-examine your faith very seriously.

You pray that "no seeds of doubt is sown into their hearts and minds". Every good thing that has ever been achieved in human history has been brought about because people had the courage to doubt the established orthodoxy -- think of the American revolution, the emancipation of slaves, the extension of civil rights to women and blacks, and the discoveries of cures for innumerable diseases. Doubt and questioning are good: it is faith that is the problem.

sure good idea. ignore everything that aginst our opinion! boycot everything. good way to go.

There is so much wickedness in this world, its up to all of us, God's children, to reach out to the lost, to help them find their way home before its too late, I pray for those who don't believe.  I pray to our Heavenly Father, that every person that reads this thinks twice about going to see this movie, and signs the peition.  I pray our innocent children are allowed to keep their innocence.  Peace, Love and Compassion follows them everyday of their lives, that no seeds of doubt is sown into their hearts and minds.  

Dear Heavenly Father, walk with us in this fight against this movie, let us protest, shout from the roof tops to stop this movie being shown, there is no problem, circumstance or situation greater than You, every battle is in Your hands to fight.  Let us spread Your Word in all Your Glory.  In Your Precious Sons Name I Pray Amen.

It doesn't surprise me that the prince of this world will do his best to corrupt even the young minds of children with these kinds of movies; but God is just and willing to forgive even those who despise and mock Him.

WOW!! They kill the bully in the sky?! Are you sure its God they kill, and not Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy or The Easter Bunny?! Does Jebus make an appearance at all?! I have GOT to see this!! I really hope they make the Amber Spyglass as a movie as well, that would be fantastic!!

 

P.S. Roger dies lol