Chris Weitz<\/a> is quoted as saying, \u201cI don\u2019t happen to believe that His Dark Materials<\/i> is an anti-religious or anti-Catholic series of books. I think that Philip Pullman is against the abuse of religion, the abuse of God for political power.\u201d<\/p>\nNothing personal against these guys, whose work I have often admired. But I am so<\/i> tired of hearing this line of argument. It simply doesn\u2019t work. And here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
Suppose I write a memoir about my father and how he brought me up, including the bits of discipline that no child likes but which, in hindsight, you realize were necessary and appropriate. Then suppose that someone else writes a novel about my father which exaggerates those bits, adds some more, and generally makes my father look like an abusive swine \u2014 all while using his name, or the various nicknames I gave him in my memoirs. Then suppose that I object to this novel, and then suppose that the author of the novel replies, \u201cThe book isn\u2019t against your father. It\u2019s against bad parenting. In fact, the fictionalized father in my book reminds me of a really abusive parent I know down the block, or a nasty uncle I once knew who wasn\u2019t actually a parent per se<\/i>, but still, he was a grown-up and he did some bad things\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, would anybody really<\/i> expect me to just roll over and accept that answer? Would anyone really<\/i> expect me to just ignore the fact that my<\/i> narrative has been hijacked by someone else<\/i>, and in a way that profoundly distorts the person I was describing?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
They\u2019re at it again: The director and co-stars of The Golden Compass have told the Globe and Mail that their film is not \u201canti-religious\u201d, even though, in the book at least, all the religious characters are evil and, in the sequels, God himself is depicted as a lying, decrepit angel who needs to be killed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Why the "it's not anti-religious, it's only anti-abusive forms of religion" meme doesn't fly.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"They're at it again: The director and co-stars of The Golden Compass have told the Globe and Mail that their film is not "anti-religious", even though, in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/11\/why-the-its-not-anti-religious-its-only-anti-abusive-forms-of-religion-meme-doesnt-fly.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why the "it's not anti-religious, it's only anti-abusive forms of religion" meme doesn't fly.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They're at it again: The director and co-stars of The Golden Compass have told the Globe and Mail that their film is not "anti-religious", even though, in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/11\/why-the-its-not-anti-religious-its-only-anti-abusive-forms-of-religion-meme-doesnt-fly.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-11-27T11:03:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/R0xtdZ46v1I\/AAAAAAAAA3Y\/N429vnBSBLg\/s400\/goldencompass-danielcraig2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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<\/a>