Golden Compass-Vaticans New Targetl

[Deuce Bigolo]

Bloody kill joys once again

Fair enough with their attacks on the da Vinci Code & mel gibsons
religious recent effort but this one leaves me thinking their losing the plot

Vatican slams 'anti-Christian' Compass
December 20, 2007 - 8:32AM
Source: ABC
The Vatican has condemned The Golden Compass, saying it promotes a cold and hopeless world without God.

In a long editorial, the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano also slammed Philip Pullman - the best-selling British author of the book on which the family fantasy film is based.

It is the Vatican's most stinging broadside against an author and a film since it roundly condemned The Da Vinci Code in 2005 and 2006.

"In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events," the editorial said.

The film, which stars Australian actress Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is an adaptation of Pullman's acclaimed novel Northern Lights.

The Vatican newspaper says "honest" viewers would find it "devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill."

In the fantasy world created by Pullman, the church and its governing body - the Magisterium - are linked to cruel experiments on children, aimed at discovering the nature of sin, and attempts to suppress facts that would undermine the church's legitimacy and power.

In the film version all references to the church have been stripped out, with director Chris Weitz keen to avoid offending religious cinemagoers.

Still, some Catholic groups in the United States have called for a boycott, fearing even a diluted version of the book might draw people to read the best-selling book.

The Vatican newspaper says the film and Pullman's writings show that "when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane."

The US-based Catholic League - a conservative group - has urged Christians not to see the movie, saying that its objective is "to bash Christianity and promote atheism" to children.

The Vatican newspaper calls the movie "the most anti-Christmas film possible" and says that it is "consoling" that its first weekend ticket sales were a disappointing $US26 million ($30 million).

New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc, had hoped the film would pull in between $US30 million and $US40 million.

It is doing better overseas, but New Line sold the foreign distribution rights to help cover the movie's cost.

The Golden Compass opens in Australia on Boxing Day.

- Reuters

[one eyed jack]

Some people should just shut the fuck up eat their stupid popcorn and enjoy the motherfuckin movie for what it is.

A motherfucking movie.

Well not that kind of movie really but you get my drift.

"In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events,"

Oh dear there was no redeeming value in having a godless movie to perpetuate childrens belief in something they cannot see and you cannot use as a weapon of influence.

Hurrah!!!!!!

The Vatican newspaper says "honest" viewers would find it "devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill."

Well given the lavish special effects I think kids can determine for themselves that the chill factor is part of the suspense and entertainment of the movie (which I havent seen I might add)

In the fantasy world created by Pullman, the church and its governing body - the Magisterium - are linked to cruel experiments on children, aimed at discovering the nature of sin, and attempts to suppress facts that would undermine the church's legitimacy and power.

Well the church can always interpret what it deems necessary when it suits them cant that? I mean 5 minutes of watching Bambi you can work out we live in a godless world when his mother is shot but then I think they forget about all the people they have slain in their crusades right.

I believe they still havent asked God fogiveness of that have they?

Still, some Catholic groups in the United States have called for a boycott, fearing even a diluted version of the book might draw people to read the best-selling book.

Yeah heavens forfend if someone should actually enjoy reading a book. let alone a movie.

I know some very nice religious folk who even denied their daughter seeing Harry Potter but i respected their decision but it does smack of ignorance by taking offence to a movie which is about sorcery and magic.

I thought I was living in the 21st century. With this kind of thought process it sometimes makes you wonder you can take the man out of the cave but not the cave out of the man.

I think as a species we have a long way to go. A very long way to go.

[one eyed jack]

Ok I've been banging on the evils of religion thing a bit and realise I'm becoming as bad those who ram it down your throat preaching it. So I'll shut up now.

[Deuce Bigolo]

Chances are very high that they have and never will watch it

making their claims far more ludicrous than i first thought

[Pervert]

Why? Your view is as valid as anyone's, Terry.

I'm old enough to remember the furore surrounding Life Of Brian, and ten years later The Last Temptation.

The former was a brilliantly funny film which took the piss out of blind followers and ridiculous factions, but not out of JC himself. The church and various groups throughout America and Europe wanted it banned and called for it to be banned, in spite of not seeing it themselves.

The latter was a decent attempt to reconcile the duality of Christ, the human side coping with the divine, and the perfectly normal desire to live out a life free from pain. It showed the insidiousness of the devil, whose view on half the world ("there is only one woman, with many faces") was contemptible. It showed Judas as a man willing to be damned by history to help Jesus achieve his destiny, and Paul as someone willing to ignore the truth to push his side. Christian groups despised it and demanded it be banned, without seeing it, focusing on Christ sleeping with Magdelene, then Mary and Martha.

These people have the same attitude of the mediaeval church, which insisted on the Bible being in Latin so that ordinary people could not read it and had to have priests to interpret it for them. Heaven help us, we wouldn't want people to think for themselves now, would we.

Maybe I'm stupid, but I read Pullman's books and treated them as well-written stories, so the Magisterium-Church analogy was probably lost on me. Since people can read whatever they want into stories (and songs and history), calling for a ban is rather stupid----like Ted and Dougal outside the cinema with their banners "No to this sort of thing."

The Vatican has never got over the fact that it's no longer able to order states around. It was never the church of Christ, just the executive of someone invested with the same kind of power, and arrogance, as a Roman emperor. The RC Church in Scotland still advises people on how to vote in election time---and ALWAYS says, "Don't vote for parties in favour of abortion." Few, if any, pay attention.

The church is inconsequential: one voice among many. Yes, it still causes misery and suffering in Africa and South America, for example, but Europe is no longer its plaything.

[Trumpton]

Caractacus wrote:

> I'm old enough to remember the furore surrounding Life Of
> Brian

Me too.

LOB is one of the funniest films (on various levels) ever made. CH4 are showing it on New Year's Eve at 21:00 as part of their 'Monty Python Evening'.

[one eyed jack]

Wouldnt it be nice for someone to say I've seen the light. I'm free from religion!!!! That has to be the biggest freedom of all.

You can have a wank without so much as that christian guilt that you have committed sin.

Better that than the hypocrisy you and double standards you get from Christians. I fell from grace in my teen years...actually way before even then when i couldnt picture God as a white guy with a flowing white beard in the sky and Jesus was this soft focussed painting holdig a heart looking softly into the sky. What for? Was it a nice day or what?

I laughed even back then.

In case the god botherers among you ask I dont believe in the Devil either. Good and Evil (God and the Devil ) if you prefer are the very permutations of our human psyche of which we are all capable of great acts of good and dastardly acts of evil.

Just take a look around you every day.

[Arginald Valleywater]

And the lovely Bishop of Carlisle, in his Christmas message slags off the Harry Potter novels, Phil Pullman, Dr Who etc etc. Look mate the Bible is merely a collection of short stories, some very good I admit, but fiction it is.

As for Catholics their usual choice of reading will be Choirboy Sodomisers Monthly.

[mrchapel]

Fucking Catholics. You notice they made a huge fuss over the chronicles of Narnia and how it similar to the story of Christ but didn`t mention Tolkien and Lord of The rings? Would have anything to do with Tolkiens son becoming a kiddie fiddling priest naaah. I`m fucking sick of Pope Palpatine declaring that Harry Potters the anti christ. This coming from the guy who headed up a cover up of the pedos before he became pope. I`d have thought they`d be into Harry Potter, gay old men rubbing wands with young boys?

Maybe when there`s no pedos hiding in the vatican, maybe when they`re using the vaticans vast wealth for helping the poor and less fortunate instead of spending six hundred million on settling out of court with kids they`ve abused. Fucking shame Bin Laden never crashed a plane into the Vatican