Katheism

The Golden Compass has added itself to the list of popular media releases that have enraged Christians. So what’s the big deal?

My sincere hope is that people realize that behind every movie, every TV show, every book, is a philosophy, a worldview. Intentionally or not, every storyteller is selling an agenda.

That’s because a story, especially one told visually, and particularly one told well, has a unique ability to imprint its underlying philosophy on the hearer. Stories sink into us deep down, and stick.

That’s why a movie isn’t just a movie, a book isn’t just a book. That’s why it’s important to care about movies like The Golden Compass and The Chronicles of Narnia. We have to realize that, for better or worse, movies aren’t abstract works of art that play out in a vacuum. I don’t necessarily want to support one movie or decry another because it agrees or disagrees with my own opinion, but because I recognize its greater effect.

In this case it’s about more than a C.S. Lewis-wannabe pretending not to be. It’s about what the children who see this movie are going to walk away with. Inevitably many parents are going to inflict on their kids what is at best a potential source of deep-seated confusion. Some don’t see it as such a big deal. But in reality it’s an insidious burden that is too big for our children to deal with.