Souless, demented and seriously retarded: Christian zealots on the move again...

I recently received an email calling for a boycott of the Golden Compass movie and the "His Dark Materials" series of books it's based on. I'll post the entire email here without any email addresses of course...together with my reply. I'll leave everything untouched. I even reread my respnse and found some typos and missing words but I'll leave it as it is.

Have you read the books? I don't agree with this completely.

Although the series of books depict a certain "church" as the enemy, it doesn't refer to THE church. In my opinion the book expresses the oppression of certain religions. Just like when Ruta Skadi said that the church tries it's best to suppress our natural impulses and when it can't cuts it off. That isn't entirely wrong. For all the church's glory, it isn't infallible. If we're comparing this to the christian church, the SAME church that killed thousands of Muslims during the Crusades. The SAME church that believed slavery was acceptable. The SAME sexist church who never places women in position of honor and power. The SAME church where early popes were lechers and would be emperors who decided wars and the fate of nations. The same church that DID NOT defend against racism until the revolution. For all it's glory, the church isn't infallible and this is what the book sets out to expose.

The killing of a god who has come astray does not culture atheism, it only teaches the people who read the books to start learning for themselves. Some of us grow up blind to real theology. Being born Christian is not exactly a good starting point. When you grow up christian, you grow up with so much religious bias that your faith starts to blind you from the questions that should be asked.

Regarding the books being a slight at CS Lewis, have you guys tried to discern the hidden plots in all seven books of the CHronicles of Narnia? CS Lewis is a racist and a chauvinist pig to boot! He just writes so well and expresses the teachings of a single, all-powerful and benevolent god that we all think he's christian and he's good. Stupid much?

I'm not saying kids should throw away their fate but if god intended us to truly have freedom and free will then aren't we supposed to make the choice ourselves? If religion...or christianity to be exact, is the only way to salvation then I pity all the children who die of hunger in Africa all day. The same kids who die unbaptised and without ever hearing the so-called good news of god. What happens to them then? Do they get straight down to hell? Do they get thrown in limbo? Just because they were unfortunate enough to be born in a continent that did not INTEREST the Spanish missionaries as it did the Philippines?

What "His Dark Materials" is aiming at is the pride and pretentiousness of todays religions. Saying they are the only way to salvation. If this is the case, then we only have to look at the statisitcs and we could all eliminate a lot of people who wouldn't be going to heaven. This is the exact reason I personally frown upon christians who cringe everytime they hear the word "Jihad". Are they so stupid that they didn't know the sins of their forefathers when Knights sought out to kill every single Muslim during the Crusades? I believe that religion is important but the church is for the weak. We should all read the bible or Koran or whatever, and learn stuff our own way. We should stay away from being force-fed censored truths about what is good and not. The church for all it's glory is made up of humans as well. Humans who are bound to make mistakes. It's just that when the Pop makes a mistake, we can all say that "godd intended it so..."...MY FOOT! I believe in a god it's just not the god the the church portrays. I couldn't bring myself to worship a god who drowned out an entire population during the great flood just because they were sinners and then goes and sends HIS son to preach about love and forgiveness. Please...that is just too much hypocrisy for me to stomach.

So go out and read the books then maybe, just maybe, we all start to ask the difficult questions that should be asked. I don't pretend to know the reasons behind this email but it certainly comes from a standpoint lacking in evidence. The world has bigger problems than a movie and a series of books that may actually promote progressive thinking.

Thanks!
Joey Sta. Agueda
(0917)5777491

----- Original Message ----
Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2007 5:34:01 AM
Subject: [wamu4d] The Golden Compass

Subject: Fwd: book & movie boycott

For anyone with kids, grandkids other relatives or friends who this may concern, I have checked it out at snopes.com and it is true. http://www.snopes. com/politics/ religion/ compass.asp

There will be a new children's movie out in December called "The Golden Compass" starring Nicole Kidman. The movie has been described as "atheism for kids" and is based on the first book of a trilogy entitled "His Dark Materials" that was written by Phillip Pullman. Pullman is a militant atheist and secular humanist who despises C. S. Lewis and the "Chronicles of Narnia". His motivation for writing this trilogy was specifically to counteract Lewis' symbolisms of Christ that are portrayed in the Narnia series.

Clearly, Pullman 's main objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. Pullman left little doubt about his intentions when he said in a 2003 interview that "my books are about killing God." He has even stated that he wants to "kill God in the minds of children". It has been said of Pullman that he is "the writer the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed."

While "The Golden Compass" movie itself may seem mild and innocent, the books are a much different story. In the trilogy, a young streetwise girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle to ultimately defeat the oppressive forces of a senile God. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." In the final book, characters representing Adam and Eve eventually kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH. Each book in the trilogy gets progressively worse regarding Pullman 's hatred of Jesus Christ.

"The Golden Compass" is set to premier on December 7, during the Christmas season, and will probably be heavily advertised. Promoters hope that unsuspecting parents will take their children to see the movie, that they will enjoy the movie, and that the children will want the books for Christmas.

Please consider a boycott of the movie and the books. Also, pass this information along to everyone you know. This will help to educate parents, so that they will know the agenda of the movie.

Gen