The Golden Compass Review

As I watched the movie I found myself looking for anti-Christian imagery or dialog and I had a hard time spotting anything.

1. Now I know the Magisterium is supposed to represent the church but I could just as easily use it as an illustration in one of the lessons as the gay-rights agenda, church liberals, or any other group that is fighting to have what they want at any cost; I could even label the Magisterium as representing atheists. I wonder how Phillip Pullman would like that?
2. According to Pullman the mysterious "dust" is supposed to represent sin and he contrasts Adam and Eve not as a great fall but as liberation, which means "dust" (or sin) is a good thing. But by watching the movie there's no clue given that dust and sin are the same thing. It's just made clear that something about the mysterious dust holds the key to something important.
3. I find it rather interesting that the author who claims to be an atheist and who wrote "His Dark Materials" out of his hatred for God (the one true God; the father of Jesus) would pull from other religions (mostly cults actually) for inspiration for his fantasy, whether it was intentional or not.
   

Maybe the fact that I haven't read the book is where I'm missing some important information. Or perhaps it's because Pullman's agenda for "killing God in the eyes of children" doesn't begin to really appear until the second book (as I've read from many reviews) that this first movie doesn't truly have an anti-Christian feel to it.

What I do know is this. . .

1. Those of us who are Christians need to learn that it's okay to have faith and ask questions.
2. That authors such as Pullman are most likely less dangerous than a high school teacher that loves Walt Whitman and teaches Whitman's personal philosophies; or countless other authors that are being held in high regard and taught in high schools across our country.
3. If Christians start banning the Golden Compass (as I've read the Catholic League is demanding of Catholics and many evangelical churches are suggesting to their congregations) then they are actually sounding a good bit like the Magisterium from the movie. No wonder some of the un-churched see the church as totalitarian dictator over the souls of people condemning them to hell for any wrong action.
4. Christians need to stop being so loud about what they're against, because most people don't really know what we're for.

Lastly. . .it wasn't all that great of a movie.