His Dark Materials Controversy

I’ve been receiving quite a few E-mails containing this link, calling for a Christian-wide boycott of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials books and the related movie. I thought I’d post my thoughts on all this.

I’ve read the books and, just for the record, despite what this article says, no female circumcision or castration actually occurs in these books. Occasionally, characters will briefly talk about castration happening elsewhere or in the past, using terms like “removing sexual organs,” but it doesn’t get any more explicit then that. But all the other facts in that article are pretty dead-on. The books are definitely anti-religious, in an obvious way. God is depicted as decrepit and, in fact, brain-dead, the Church as a corrupt, hypocritical, and tyrannical organization, and the afterlife as a grim, gray wasteland populated with sadistic harpies.

But why boycott it?

A boycott wouldn’t actually accomplish anything. I can confidently say that any religiously motivated boycott will have no noticeable effect on the sales of the books or the movie. It didn’t work on Pokemon, it didn’t work on Harry Potter, it sure as heck won’t work here.

Strangely enough, every religious boycott I’ve seen has been over a work of fiction. If the ideas in these books were presented in a purely philosophical form, I seriously doubt anyone would care. Some people would discuss it, but no one would try to boycott it.

The only reason I can see for this is that fiction, unlike non-fiction, tends to attract young readers. So, the offensive part must be in the fact that children and young adults are reading this stuff. I can understand why that would bother some parents with impressionable young children. But if you don’t want your kids exposed to that kind of material, then don’t let them read the material. It’s a simple as that.

Of course, it’s a different situation when you have no power whether or not your children are exposed to the books. But that’s still no reason to boycott the books themselves. If a teacher is reading the books to your children’s class, that’s not a problem with the books, that’s a problem with your school system, and you should deal with it on that level.

To me, the whole religious boycott thing reveals a disturbing trend among Christianity. When I find something that I don’t agree with, or that threatens or offends me, I analyze it in order to find out what about it disturbs me, why the parts that disturb me don’t make sense, and, if they seem to make perfect sense, what the error is in my thinking. I believe this process is called “learning.”

But when Christians feel threatened or offended, they make no attempt to figure out why. They don’t bother to figure out what exactly the errors are in the other’s thinking, instead giving in to emotions and trying to silence the offending material so they won’t have to deal with it. By doing so, they do not learn how to combat whatever offended them, they do not notice the sound points in its logic, and they do not figure out how to deal with the insecurities it brought to light. Criticism is a necessity for growing in any capacity, spiritual or otherwise, and if you just ignore or silence the criticism, you will not grow.

Well, that’s all. If you don’t agree with me, please leave me a comment telling me why. It’s the only way I’ll learn.