In his series of books called His Dark Materials (the title comes from Paradise Lost, the epic poem), Pullman shows how the church is portrayed as corrupt, power hungry and fearful of any knowledge. Ideas or intelligence outside of its own, particularly ideas that do not confirm their own beliefs and power.

Some Catholic and Christian churches are purportedly angered by this because… well, I can not really tell, to be honest. History shows it to be an accurate portrayal. Think about Copernicus, Galileo and the fact that they feel the need to boycott this movie (Golden Compass), ban their children from it and urge others to stay away from it.

The church emphasizes obedience and demonizes ambition and thinking for one’s self. This is shown by Pullman?s main characters Lyra and Will representing Adam and Eve, who ate from the tree of knowledge and created the first sin, a yearning to understand and move forward; a disobedience.

There is only one defense for ever, ever burning books. This is when one is stranded in an arctic wasteland and are forced to light a treasured copy of Sophie?s World on fire in order to warm yourself and survive. (Yet another reason to read Harry Potter’s Goblet of Fire).

I believe another major issue Pullman has with the church is its constant debasement of human nature. I read a lot. Some people say too much. I read everything – poetry, chapter books, plays and a large amount of crime reports. I still believe in the decency and downright kindness of the average human.

To make this world better we do not need people sneering and preaching on how ?morally corrupt? mankind is and the world’s ?wicked nature?. We need people willing to get up and make things better. We need people to listen and we need to speak. We need people to volunteer outside of their high school requirement. We need people to be that angel for someone lost. Yes, we need people to put down their picket signs and pick up a paintbrush, hammer and nails.

Only faith requires you to close your eyes. That is why it is called blind faith. Open them and consider all the possibilities, then decide. If your faith is true, how can a book or movie threaten it anyway? If it is the only true path in life, why do you constantly need to rein your children in and make decisions for them?

Embrace truth, your rights and the values that exist naturally in yourself because you are a miracle.