pearwaldorf | (no subject)

And so it begins: Catholic League calls for boycott of The Golden Compass movie. Apparently the Catholic League is joined by Focus on the Family in encouragement of this boycott. FotF also encourages people to avoid the books as well. I wonder where they were when His Dark Materials was published. (Because things are never a threat until they receive widespread mass media attention, and apparently books don't count until they're made into movies.) The most curious and eloquent defense of the books I've seen, and something I hadn't really considered (I always thought the books advocated a sort of naturalistic pantheism), is by a Catholic professor of religion (there be large spoilers):

These books are deeply theological, and deeply Christian in their theology. The universe of "His Dark Materials" is permeated by a God in love with creation, who watches out for the meekest of all beings - the poor, the marginalized, and the lost. It is a God who yearns to be loved through our respect for the body, the earth, and through our lives in the here and now. This is a rejection of the more classical notion of a detached, transcendent God, but I am a Catholic theologian, and reading this fantasy trilogy enhanced my sense of the divine, of virtue, of the soul, of my faith in God.

—Donna Freitas, "God in the dust"

Apparently Freitas also has a book out about the trilogy. I look forward to seeing what she has to say about it.