Why won't the movie industry call these people on their bullshit? Greed and fear.

The leader of a conservative Catholic watchdog group is imploring people not to see The Golden Compass - a children's fantasy based on the first book of British author Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Pullman's work, says William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, promotes an atheist agenda that is profoundly anti-Church.

True, he hasn't seen the movie, which comes out Dec. 7, and he has little reason to doubt the filmmakers' claims that it considerably waters down the book's more controversial aspects. But the possibility that the movie could persuade some unsuspecting parents to buy the book for their children makes him furious.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/movies/news/bal-to.compass24oct24,0,5108746.story

OK, what have we learned here? We've learned that it's perfectly OK to indoctrinate when it's Pro-Jesus, even if the media in question is ultra-violent, but not when the media questions authority. "This movie is anti- Christian, so we should try our best to control it so it doesn't see the light of day." So what about the millions of children around the world who aren't Christian, or who might already be atheists? Is it OK to try to indoctrinate them with the narrow world view of the Catholic church?

Why shouldn't the author and the producers have an "atheist agenda" that is "profoundly anti church"? Why won't Hollywood step up and and say as much rather than mamby-pamby-ing about how the anti-establishment content isn't as pronounced as that of the book? Why isn't the league more furious about the priests who were caught with their pants down in front of these kids they so ardently want to protect?

_The Passion of the Christ_ had an R rating. It was not marketed to children. This one will be.

You're comparing apples and oranges.

So it's not OK to market a film to children because it might have an atheist message? Sure you're on the right board?

I don't know where you were during the Passion's release, but I recall church admins urging to take their children to see the movie despite the graphic violence. It has nothing to with their marketing strategy, it's the hyocrisy of the church and the willingness of the movie industry to cowtow to them that is at question here.

Sorry, but so much for your "one thing". I don't appreciate your tone one bit. It's no better than the Catholic league's.

Thanks for sharing.

And churches should be free to tell their members that the books have an atheist message.

:)

they have as much right to put out the message - "Don't believe in God"
as much as they have the right to put out the message - "Believe in God"
ratings are irrelavent
besides "The Passion..." was R because Gibson loves gore and torture

What these insecure, belligerent and narrow-minded people don't understand is if you don't want people to see a movie or read a book you either ignore it or ENCOURAGE people to read it.

go see it. I don't think I've ever agreed with William Donohue, but he hasn't suggested the movie be banned, so far as I know. His statement in the article doesn't suggest the books be banned either--he only hopes they don't sell.

From the article, it sounds like the producers chose to significantly soften the books critique of the church ...

The Church is going around performing cruel and fatal experiments on children, and the girl's dad (who is a child murderer) declares war on God, who is portrayed as a doddering, senile old man.

I can see why he's encouraging Christians not to go see it. :shrug:

That being said, it's one of my favorite books. :)

There's a difference between trying to control it vs. saying it should be boycotted by Christians.

Even as someone who has no use for the Catholic Church, I just don't see why it's a problem for a Catholic to be telling people to avoid this movie because it's anti-Catholic.

Evidently, the idea of a far-right dictatorship that uses lies and fundamentalism to control the populace cut a bit too close for their comfort:

In the United States, several conservative Christian groups were critical of the film's negative portrayal of Christianity and sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality and Islam. Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, called V for Vendetta "a vile, pro-terrorist piece of neo-Marxist, left-wing propaganda filled with radical sexual politics and nasty attacks on religion and Christianity". Don Feder, a conservative columnist, has called V for Vendetta "the most explicitly anti-Christian movie to date" that "combines all of the celluloid left’s paranoid fantasies". Film critic Richard Roeper dismissed these sentiments on the television show Ebert & Roeper saying that V's terrorist label is applied in the movie "by someone who's essentially Hitler, a dictator." Meanwhile, LGBT commentators have praised the film for its positive depiction of gays, with writer Michael Jensen calling the film "one of the most pro-gay ever".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_%28film%29#Reception


From Dr. Ted Baehr:

It has only been two weeks since the Oscar ceremony celebrated left-wing politics and anti-Christian bigotry with such movies as "Brokeback Mountain" and "Syriana."

Today, Time Warner is continuing that policy by releasing "V for Vendetta" – a vile, pro-terrorist piece of neo-Marxist, left-wing propaganda filled with radical sexual politics and nasty attacks on religion and Christianity.

(snip)

The whole movie, in fact, is a thinly veiled attack on the War on Terror now being waged by Prime Minister Tony Blair in Great Britain and President George W. Bush in the United States. The movie's story was actually updated from a graphic novel that attacked the conservative administration of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, one of the greatest political leaders of the 20th century.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49317

Here's some Front Page Mag/Don Feder "War on Christmas" bullshit:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID={500DE155-66E2-41DE-97DA-D1AC113DF9A8}