Catholic Group Boycotts "Atheist" Movie

[Prometheus]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/compass-disappoints-victory-catholic-group/story.aspx?guid=94FD72BF-82E0-4A02-B66C-AF59401CEA18

Has anyone seen this movie? Is it good? Does it really promote atheism? What about the books it's based on?

Perhaps we should organize an "anti-boycott"! Atheists: go out and see this movie at least once, and buy the books too! Let the religious kooks know they can't bully Hollywood into towing the religionists' line!

[sthomson]

I have heard that the book The Golden Compass is relatively anti-religion (not just atheist), and that the film is significantly toned down from the rhetoric of the book.

Miriam Burstein, an professor of 18th century victorian literature, argues that the movie can be viewed as an unintentional attack on Catholicism (http://littleprofessor.typepad.com/the_little_professor/2007/12/the-golden-comp.html).

[VulcanWay]

I don't know about the books (I haven't read them) but the movie was not anti-religious. Nowhere that I recall was the word "god" or any synonomous diety even used. Nor was religion.

The bad guys are a Thought Police type group who appear to be a kind of ruling class and who dress like clergy. They want you to believe the truths that they put forward and discard any others with no consideration. I could tell you more but that would ruin it.

If any religious group protests it, they're seeing the shoe and deciding that it fits them a little too closely...

[Abe_the_Man]

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/compass-disappoints-victory-catholic-group/story.aspx?guid=94FD72BF-82E0-4A02-B66C-AF59401CEA18

Has anyone seen this movie? Is it good? Does it really promote atheism? What about the books it's based on?

Perhaps we should organize an "anti-boycott"! Atheists: go out and see this movie at least once, and buy the books too! Let the religious kooks know they can't bully Hollywood into towing the religionists' line!

I wouldn't worry to much. Remember the religious folks got all in a tizzy about Harry Potter, trying to pull the books from schools and calling for boycotts for the movies. We've all seen how well that worked.

[Tanstaafl]

I saw it and thought is was pretty good. I doubt that the protests had a big effect, but there must be some Christian parents that are afraid to let their kids see it now. On the other hand, I might not have ever seen it had it not been for Donohue's bluster.

The online reviews I saw about it were rather telling, I thought. I saw about six of them, five were very favorable, and the sixth was a rant from a Christian who obviously hadn't seen it. Nothing in that review actually referenced the film at all, it was just a general rant about those horrible atheists in Hollywood always turning out anti-Christian filfth, etc.

[Cosmo]

I've read the trilogy and saw the movie on opening night. I agree with VulcanWay - no obvious references to the Church were present in the movie, though there were a few
subtler references that you'd really only catch if you had read the books.

The book was rushed and fast-paced because it had to set up the whole universe and explain a whole bit of things. The movie was rushed and fast-paced, but didn't do quite as good a job explaining things.

[petra10]

Theres nothing like a good christian boycott to get people to go and see the movie. :)

[Madalch]

Nowhere that I recall was the word "god" or any synonomous diety even used. Nor was religion.

Some people would actually call that "anti-religious"....

[VulcanWay]

Some people would actually call that "anti-religious"....
More like non-religious.

[Madalch]

More like non-religious.
Did I say they were reasonable people?

[JoeEllison]

Maybe the movie isn't any good, and they should have hired someone who can actually produce a hit, instead of Nicole Kidman?

The books are flying off the shelves... so, it is clear that the Catholic League goons have utterly failed.

[HENTAI DOUKYUSEI JP]

haven't seen it myself yet, but it may have been done that way to get free publicity from x-tians.