The Golden Compass

If you've been to the movies lately it's possible that you've seen the previews for New Line Cinema's December 7, 2007 release of The Golden Compass, which is based on Phillip Pullman's Carnegie Medal winning book Northern Lights.
What you may have seen if you follow the entries at St. Blog is the controversy being generated by the sale of what is an obvious anti-Christian/anti-Catholic movie to our children. As more than one person has pointed out, how many clueless parents who have never heard of Phillip Pullman, a supporter of the British Humanist Association and an Associate of the National Secular Society, will take their children to see the movie, and not seeing the subtle anti-Christian message in the movie, will procure for their children the His Dark Materials trilogy, with its blatant anti-Church message?
The third book of the trilogy depicts the afterlife as a Hell for all the dead, who at best can look forward to a eastern religion like "oneness of/with the universe" as the best fate possible. Pullman, through his characters, calls the establishment of the Church a mistake and the Christian view of the afterlife a lie. One of the main characters in the later books is Mary Malone, an ex-nun turned atheist, whose job is to be the second serpent, corrupting the new Adam and Eve, Pullman's main characters Lyra Belacqua and Will Parry, except in Pullman's universe this is a good thing.
One of the few Christian leaders who seem to have no problem with Pullman is the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury , who has suggested His Dark Materials be used in religious education. Consider the source.
I would recommend that any parent who thinks there are reasons to have their children read these books read them first. If you feel your children are mature enough in their faith to allow them to read this book then be prepared to discuss it with them. In any case I would never recommend that young children be exposed to this kind of indoctrination. So if your children are old enough to drive themselves to The Golden Compass they are probably old enough to understand that this movie is nothing more than secularist propaganda. If they are not old enough to drive themselves they should probably skip this movie until they are older.
In the long run it is probably better to skip this movie all together, whatever the age of your children. Why should we want to reward New Line Cinema for making this kind of movie?