So I'm a catholic and I've been told not to purchase/read/watch "The Golden Compass"

[Clintonista2]

...And I just got home from the Library with a copy of the novel. :)

[annabanana]

1. I've got the audiobook on my ipod

If I like it I might just go for the whole trilogy!

[goddess40]

36. I love the book and really enjoyed the audio version

they use an entire cast with the author doing the narration.

[meegbear]

2. So you spend a couple more days in Pergatory ...

go for it!

[YOY]

8. Purgatory was an invention to get us (Catholics) to pay indulgences

One of Martin Luther's gripes.

Just like they disallowed priests marriages to ensure that they don't inherit fiefs. Look at what that has got the faith...

Antiquated BS with political/financial motivations.

[meegbear]

14. Fine ...

Lirwin2 go straight to Hell. Do not pass GO. Do not collect $200.

[Native]

38. Fiefdoms

Knew about the purgatory deal and the bogus "don't eat meat on Fridays" as ploys to funnel more money to the church (fish was cheaper than meat then, so you'd have more money for the basket on Sunday), but never heard about the fief issue. Can you explain it further for me?

[Tesha]

41. Royalty in most of the world was hereditary.

> but never heard about the fief issue. Can you explain it further for me?

Royalty in most of the world was hereditary.
The First Earl of Armpit begets the Second
Earl of Armpit and so on.

The Church took some steps to ensure that
bishop's mitres didn't descend down through
the ages in that same way.

Tesha

[Kutjara]

3. Step right this way, please.

Your place in Hell is ready.

Enjoy the book. I read the trilogy several years ago and loved it. I only hope the movie doesn't screw it up.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Then go back to the library and get Pullman's other two books in the series!

[uppityperson]

5. Indeed, asking questions and thinking about things rather than just believing can be dangerous.

Though I am all for questioning, thinking, making up my own mind (hence uppity)

[Clintonista2]

7. The church is really great at recommending books

I didn't read Harry Potter either, until the church told me not to read it.

[hisownpetard]

17. I love a rebel!

[phantom power]

6. I've never understood the appeal of catholicism.

The entire outfit seems like a perpetual insult to the intelligence of the parishoners.

[YOY]

11. Why do you think so many of us are "Cafeteria Catholics"/Agnostics/Atheists now?

It's still a family traditional things to many of us though and partially a cultural identity (for me at least.)

Most religions tend to insult their parishioners' intelligence in all fairness though.

[yellowdogintexas]

39. or recovering Catholics, who are now Methodists. nt

[YOY]

44. Jumping from one brand of BS to another IMHO

but that's your right...

[Tesha]

42. You understand it just fine. (NT)

[txaslftist]

9. Nice to be told. What you can and can't read, that is.

All the best books are banned.

[Postman]

10. Can you imagine the US gov't telling you to boycott a movie

about the US invasion of Iraq because it's anti-American theme of portraying the US as an imperialist, natural-resource grabbing, aggressor will dissuade children from understanding that the US is altruistic.

[onehandle]

12. Who told you that? nt

[Clintonista2]

15. In Canada (where I live), some catholic schools are pulling the book of the shelves

And churches are telling parishoners to boycott the book/movie. Here's a link: http://www.thestar.com/Speakout/Voices/article/278999

[yellowcanine]

13. Details? Local priest, bishop, or just a busybody?

U.S. Catholics in recent years haven't been into book burning/banning - of course there is the old saying "Banned in Boston" - not sure if that was a Catholic thing or not or even how much of was real and how much hype. Actually I looked it up - apparently it was real but may have been as much from Puritan influence as Catholic (Irish).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_in_Boston

[Clintonista2]

16. It's happening in Canada (where I live)

Link: http://www.thestar.com/Speakout/Voices/article/278999

[onehandle]

18. Googled it. This is based on crap from the "Catholic League." They are Not the Catholic Church.

They are a fundie group that does not speak for the church itself.

Meaningless.

[Clintonista2]

19. I'm talking about the situation in Ontario (where I live)

Where Catholic schools are TAKING THE BOOK OFF OF SHELVES.

[onehandle]

21. That article names one school. nt

[Clintonista2]

24. It's a school district. n/t.

[CountAllVotes]

20. lol! I'm a lapsed Catholic myself

where do I go to get this and :wtf: is it? Any good? :rofl:


:kick:

[Tesha]

43. The "Golden Compass" is a children's book that provides negative views about organized religion.

The Golden Compass is a children's book that provides negative
views about organized religion. It's part of a trilogy called
His Darm Materials; the last book apparently openly
espouses a (gasp!) atheist world view (haven't gotten there
yet).

As such, certain religious figures think it should be
declared anathema; we can only have children's books that
espouse their preferred worldview (such as The Chronicles
of Narnia).

Tesha

[silverweb]

22. My dad loved the banned book list.

When he was a boy back in the 1930s to 1940s, he and his friends (Catholic or not) would periodically check the banned book list posted in the back of the local Catholic church for new additions.

That list would instantly become the new "must read" list. :rofl:

Authoritarian banning didn't work then and it won't work now!

[yellowcanine]

27. Yep, the publisher is probably behind it and book sales are soaring.

Forbidden fruit will do that.

[silverweb]

29. I don't think the publisher had to do much.

Just quietly let slip to a couple of the right people that a movie or book is "anti-christian" or "anti-religion" and the maniacal censorship nut cases will take off and do all the rest all on their own!

:rofl:

[Warpy]

23. The Legion of Decency "Condemned" list was my reading list

when I was a kid in Catholic school, which is how I read "God's Little Acre" at the age of ten. I also discovered Bertrand Russell courtesy of that list. I learned how to recognize and discard porn pretty quickly, it was trite and repetitive. I didn't have the money to go to the movies, so I had to catch up on those when video stores appeared.

I will always be grateful to the prunefaced Bishops who came up with that list.

[JackintheGreen]

25. Jesus is *my* golden compass.

so there!

[sueh]

26. I read it a long time ago, and I'm a Catholic...

oh, wait, when I read it the pope was...John Paul II.

[Fresh_Start]

28. lol, i gave the series to my then 11 year old

he's looking forward to the december movie release

[LibDemAlways]

30. Just makes it of greater interest to those who might not

otherwise have heard about it/read it. The Catholic League book banners aren't very bright.

[frazzled]

31. Well, just watch the trailer then.

The preview for the movie happened to be on the DVD we watched last night ... and I swear, it was so long I felt like I already saw the whole movie. THough I couldn't understand the plot for the life of me. Looks a bit corny ... but great sets and special effects. Cute little girl.

[fadedrose]

32. This book fared even worse....

JESUS AND THE RIDDLE OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS by Barbara Thiering (U of Austrailia) wrote a book over 10 years ago that fared worse. Even the Protestant churhes panned it. It was published by Harper (SF) and was unfavorably reviewed in Biblical Archaeology magazine, no doubt to pacify its Christian readers. I liked the book.

I first heard about it when they had a couple of specials on it on the Discovery Channel.

What is THE GOLDEN COMPASS about?

[silverweb]

48. It's the first of a fantasy trilogy.

Synopses _here_.

I bought the boxed set at Costco for abou $20 and am reading the first book right, enjoying it thoroughly and looking forward to the rest of the set. Highly recommended.

[Cheap_Trick]

33. how pathetically weak is their faith

if it's threatened by a book, movie, questions or criticism.

[RebelSansCause]

34. go church? those books literally helped shaped and

define me, so amazing. one of my favorite series ever to read as a kid. ah i love them, i think i might go and read them again right now. i can't wait for the movie even though i am terrified that they are going to ruin and distort my beautiful books.

[regnaD kciN]

35. Curious, because the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops...

...just gave the film of that novel a recommendation.

:shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. If you read the review...

you'll also notice they applaud censorship in the film.

[Clintonista2]

45. Vatican blasts "The Golden Compass"

http://www.nowpublic.com/entertainment/vatican-blasts-golden-compass-godless-hopeless

[tigereye]

37. Pullman has said that the book is much more about authoritarianism overall

than about religion.

It's an excellent book - they are amazingly complex. Enjoy!


Censorship is always bad, no matter who is saying it.

[LWolf]

46. I saw the movie today.

There were only 2 other people in the theater. I don't know if that's because it was a Friday matinee (school is out), or because the boycott is working in my area.

It was decently done. Two issues: it rushes so quickly through the story that I wondered if anyone who hadn't read the book would understand what was going on. Also....the ending is absent. Really.

Without giving too much away,







I'll just say that the final scene in the book delivers a final shock, and sets the stage for book 2. It is completely absent in the movie. The movie ends with the resolution of the "gobbler" crisis.

[silverweb]

47. I'm reading the book now.

Just started it the other night and am about a third of the way through. It's fascinating reading, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.

Lyra's a delightful character, just stubborn and rebellious enough to not simply believe everything she's told -- expert at gleaning additional information from those around her and putting all the puzzle pieces together for herself.

I've already decided to skip the movie since I've heard it's a watered-down, dumbed-down version of the story, and I just hate it when movies ruin good books.

[LWolf]

49. The book is definitely better.

You also don't have to wait for the rest of the series to come out; you can read all 3 books straight through.

:hi:

[silverweb]

50. Exactly!

I bought the boxed set at Costco recently and the next two volumes are right here on the shelf awaiting my pleasure.

:hi:

[Sequoia]

51. A friend said she was going to send us the whole series.

I never read it as a kid so guess I'll have to now.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

52. I'm an Episcopalian, and I've just recently started reading The Golden Compass

I'm to the point where Lyra is en route to the North on the ship.

It's been on my "to read" list ever since I saw how popular the series is in England, and as luck would have it, somebody left a copy at my local coffee shop's "book exchange" shelf.

So far, I don't see what the moaning and groaning by conservative religious types is all about. It's a fantasy novel, and a very creative and well-written one.

The world portrayed in it is fully imagined, but not described in exhaustive detail. You just get little hints that its history diverged from real history at some unspecified point in time, leading to interesting differences, such as Dutch settlers in England's fens or North America being the land of the Skraelings (Leif Ericsson's word for Native Americans).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

53. Addendum:

I went to a choir rehearsal this evening, and one of the other women had a copy of The Golden Compass under her chair. During the break, someone asked her about it, and thus ensued a lively discussion among some of the (church-related) choir members who had read it or were reading it.

[silverweb]

54. I recently read the whole trilogy.

Definitely not "children's" books. Definitely entertaining and very well done.

And the "god" they go to war against is actually a being who is not the Creator. You don't learn that until the end, though.

I haven't seen the movie and don't intend to. It sounds like it was oversimplified and "dumbed down" a great deal.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

55. I haven't read the whole trilogy; I'm about 80% of the way through Golden Compass

(after the battle of the rivals for the position of king of the bears), and I haven't seen the movie, but if any book would ever have been perfect as an anime, this one would have. I'd love to see what Studio Ghibli could do with the shape-shifting daemons, the city visible in the auroras, and the travels in the balloon.