Bumping this thread with two quotes from the author addressing his atheism and the books:
From:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21595083/
How do you respond to the claim that your books are anti-Catholic and promote atheism? Lyndsay Petersen, Parkersburg, Iowa
Hello, Lyndsay: In the world of the story — Lyra’s world — there is a church that has acquired great political power, rather in the way that some religions in our world have done at various times, and still do (think of the Taliban in Afghanistan). My point is that religion is at its best — it does most good — when it is farthest away from political power, and that when it gets hold of the power to (for example) send armies to war or to condemn people to death, or to rule every aspect of our lives, it rapidly goes bad. Sometimes people think that if something is done in the name of faith or religion, it must be good. Unfortunately, that isn’t true; some things done in the name of religion are very bad. That was what I was trying to describe in my story.
I think the qualities that the books celebrate are those such as kindness, love, courage and courtesy too. And intellectual curiosity. All these good things. And the qualities that the books attack are cold-heartedness, tyranny, close-mindedness, cruelty, the things that we all agree are bad things.
Is there an underlying message for atheism in your book or did you simply want to write a fantasy story, like Tolkien? Kim Mapstead, Friday Harbor, Wash.
Hello, Kim: What I was mainly doing, I hope, was telling a story, but not a story like Tolkien’s. (To be honest I don’t much care for “The Lord of the Rings.”) As for the atheism, it doesn’t matter to me whether people believe in God or not, so I’m not promoting anything of that sort. What I do care about is whether people are cruel or whether they’re kind, whether they act for democracy or for tyranny, whether they believe in open-minded enquiry or in shutting the freedom of thought and expression. Good things have been done in the name of religion, and so have bad things; and both good things and bad things have been done with no religion at all. What I care about is the good, wherever it comes from.
------------------------
Quotes from:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20071105/29957_%5C'Golden_Compass%5C'_Author_Denies_Promoti ng_Atheism_in_Books.htm
In his appearance on the “Today” show Thursday, Pullman implicitly denied that his work is selling “atheism for kids” when ”Today” host Al Roker brought up the accusations made by the Catholic League.
“Well, you know, I always mistrust people who tell us how we should understand something. They know better than we do what the book means or what this means and how we should read it and whether we should read it or not,” said Pullman.
“I don’t think that’s democratic,” he continued. “I prefer to trust the reader. I prefer to trust what I call the democracy of reading – when everybody has the right to form their own opinion and read what they like and come to their own conclusion about it. So I trust the reader.”
Donahue's response:
“The last thing Pullman trusts is the people,” Donohue said in a statement Thursday. “That is why he tries to sneak his atheism in back-door to kids. If he had any courage, he’d defend his work, but instead he continues to do what he does best – practice deceit.”
“We at the Catholic League never had to run from our work,” added Donahue. “How pitiful it is to see a grown man slip kids his poisonous pill and then pretend he trusts the reader.”
------------------------
Friends of my girlfriend's recently advised her not to see the movie (they're relatively devout catholics), which I thought was simultaneously funny and kinda sad.