Over the past month or so my inbox has been inundated with emails urging me to explain to the students in my youth ministry that The Golden Compass, a movie based on the novel of the same name (well, in the USA at least, the UK version is The Northern Lights), is an evil perhaps only bested by Harry Potter. Now, some have emailed me out of genuine concern for their children or children in youth ministry, and I appreciate that. I want to be sure that I keep abreast of what is going on, and so getting the occasional reminder is a good thing.
Others have emailed me because they feel it is their mission to ensure that this movie does poorly. Many of the same arguments are used about The Golden Compass as were used against Harry Potter. As it turns out, the most insidious plot in Harry Potter was that Dumbledore happened to be gay, and that wasn’t even mentioned in the books at all. Hardly the evil witchcraft that I was assured would be present in the books.
As for the Golden Compass, I’ve talked with a few people who have read the book, and the trilogy – and they do tell me that the book is written by an atheist who has publicly said that he wants to use his books to promote atheist like the Chronicles of Narnia promote Christianity. I plan to read the trilogy myself sometime this December. I will, perhaps, have more to say at that point. In the meantime, I highly recommend this article by Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk. Well worth your time, and I agree with the points (well, most of them) he’s bringing up. We do need to engage with the material, even assuming that it is insidiously evil (read: trying to shove atheism down someone’s throat).
Random Bloggings 
Strangely enough there is a god in the stories. He’s senile and feeble and has seemingly been abandoned by the church in the books.
I’ve always wondered if the author wasn’t more disillusioned by a Church that he believed had left God behind, then he was truly an atheist. We always lash out at what has hurt us the most. Hmmmm
I completely agree with the notion of engage with “evil” material. We live in an evil and broken world, we essentially cannot escape evil.
Yeah this book may have evil undertones, but you know what? You are just as imperfect. We are an imperfect humans in an imperfect world all trying to seek the perfect Father.