The Golden Compass: A Must See Children's Movie

The Golden Compass, a children's movie is causing a stir in the Christian community. It's fascinating how much negative publicity the Golden Compass has gained in such short amount of time. Christians are desperately making an attempt to have the movie removed from theaters, which is not likely to happen. Some churches have even gone as far to send pamphlets out to their congregation warning fellow Christians to not allow their child to watch The Golden Compass. However, negative publicity, is better then no publicity at all, and The Golden Compass is expected to be a box office hit.

The Golden Compass was written in a trilogy of children's novels called " His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. Northern Lights or The Golden Compass as it is called in the United States features a street wise orphaned girl who travels through multiple worlds. During her journey she discovers worlds populated by witches, armor plated bears, sinister assassins, and more in order to defeat a senile God. It's a world of make believe, and magic, like so many other children's books and movies produced yearly.

The "His Dark Materials" trilogy has sold over 15 million copies worldwide. Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the US) won the Carnegie Metal for children's literature in 1995. In 2007 Northern Lights was awarded the Carnegie of Carnegie's, for the best children's book written in the past 70 years. The last book of the " His Dark Materials" series, The Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread Prize in 2001 Making it the first ever children's book to do so. Perhaps it's the fact that "His Dark Materials" trilogy features an ex-nun who describes Christianity as a very powerful, and convincing mistake, that has the Christian community on edge.

Even though author Philip Pullman has been described as a proud atheist, by the Christian community, and as a satanist by some, he doesn't claim to be either. In fact this is what he has to say about God. "I don't know whether there's a God or not. Nobody does, no matter what they say. I think it's perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don't know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it's because he's ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they're responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I'd want nothing to do with them".

Philip Pullman was born in Norwichin in 1946, according to the information provided on his website. At the age of 25 he became middle school teacher, and published his first book. Pullman is very passionate about education. Over the years he has published nearly 20 books, and has written several short stories, or as he calls them "fairy tales". In his free time he enjoys drawing, working with wood, and playing the piano, even though he admits to not playing piano well. Overall, he seems like your average person, excepts he has a big imagination, and a passion for writing unforgettable books. For more personal information on Philip Pullman you can visit his website at Philip-Pullman.com

Children learn at a very early age of what is make-believe, and what is real. His novels, and movie are both fiction, and not to be taken seriously. If we ban imagination from our youth, then they will loose their creativity. Creativity is what inspires us to become the adults we are today. I believe if a child is raised Christian, or any other faith for that matter, then a movie will not change their opinion on their beliefs. If nothing else, all the negative publicity has done for The Golden Compass is created curiosity amongst the community, and we all know what that means, more movie sales.