Catholic League warns of "Atheism for kids" movie, book series

Oct 11, 2007 / 09:00 am

A new movie starring Nicole Kidman will belittle Catholicism and promote atheism to children, warned Catholic League President Bill Donohue.

The movie The Golden Compass is being produced by New Line Cinema and Scholastic Entertainment.  It is based on the first volume of the His Dark Materials trilogy of books, written by the militant English atheist Philip Pullman.

“Atheism for kids. That is what Philip Pullman sells," said Mr. Donohue.

He continued:  "The trilogy, His Dark Materials, was written to promote atheism and denigrate Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism. The target audience is children and adolescents. Each book becomes progressively more aggressive in its denigration of Christianity and promotion of atheism."

Mr. Donohue cautioned that a watered-down version of the film will deceive people into buying the books for children.  "The movie is bait for the books," he said.  "To be specific, if unsuspecting Christian parents take their children to see the movie, they may very well find it engaging and then buy Pullman’s books for Christmas."

The Catholic League is conducting a nationwide two-month protest of Pullman's books.  It has also prepared a booklet titled "The Golden Compass:  Agenda Unmasked" for those concerned about the movie.  Its website is http://www.catholicleague.org