A Dangerous Book?

So have you heard about the to-do involving The Golden Compass?

If you haven’t, let me bring you up to date. Quite a few Christian groups are warning believers to avoid the soon-to-be-released movie The Golden Compass, based on the children’s book by Philip Pullman. It goes without saying that the book and its sequels isn’t recommended, either, but it wasn’t until a big-budget feature film was announced that the book’s danger was recognized by religious and cultural leaders.

Danger Ahead

Yes, I said dangerous. I believe this is a dangerous book. Possibly the most dangerous book I have ever read, and one that I would not allow my children to read. It goes against most of my reading habits to make that statement, since I grew up being allowed to read anything I picked up at home or in the library. I did encounter a few age-inappropriate or morally flawed books, but I put those books down quickly because I felt an “alarm” inside telling me they were wrong. That’s been my guide ever since.

Initial Fascination

I read The Golden Compass a couple of years ago—as a former teacher, I like to keep up with new young adult fiction. I was immediately captivated by Pullman’s ability to create a world very much like our own (the story opens at a university in Oxford, England) but significantly different, too. The young heroine, Lyra, is being raised at the university where her uncle and guardian, Lord Asriel, occasionally stops by from his travels. The most noticeably different thing about this world is the daemons, in animal form, that accompany each person everywhere. The adults’ daemons are constant, while Lyra’s (and other children’s) daemons change into different creatures with their moods—until they reach puberty, at which point they stay in one form.

What an imaginative detail! I couldn’t read the book fast enough. Here was a completely original concept, a plot that plunges Lyra immediately into spying on her uncle, superb characterization and dialogue—yet by the time I finished the book, I had that small buzzing feeling of “something is not quite right.”

Which became a loud alarm when Lyra and the companions she’s met along her journey learn that their task is to KILL GOD.

What?!?

Yes, you heard me. At this point, Pullman tips his hand to reveal what he has openly stated in interviews: the purpose of these books is to kill the Christian God in the minds of his young readers. To do so, he’s used his considerable writing talent to create a fascinating, sympathetic young girl (and later a boy) with whom his readers can identify, and pits her against a shadowy, evil religious organization bent on gruesome experiments on children in order to rid the world of original sin. (This is Pullman’s analogy for religious education, I guess. I didn’t know I’d been gruesomely experimented on for all those years.) Behind it all is the God of the Bible, who must be killed. If ideas like these aren’t dangerous for those whose minds and moral compasses are still being formed, then I’d like to know what is.

What to Do?

I think my role as a Christian doesn’t require me to demand that the book be banned from schools or libraries. As an American who cherishes free speech, I don’t believe in banning books (I don’t want Christian books banned, after all!) I don’t think it should be taught in literature classes, and as I said, I wouldn’t let my kids read it. I think it’s my responsibility to let fellow Christians know my opinion, but keeping in mind that the fuss over The DaVinci Code made Dan Brown a very rich man, I would rather just let the hoopla blow over than protest enough to boost Pullman’s sales figures.

At the same time, I can’t help feeling glad that my decision to avoid this book and movie is based on direct experience rather than hearsay. Many of the people alarmed about this book haven’t read it. Many people alarmed about Harry Potter didn’t read those books, either, and they depict a much more moral universe than Compass. Maybe some don’t read such books because they fear challenging their faith. I’m glad I read the book, if only to find out that the alarm inside me still works.