L E T T E R S

October 29, 2007

I read the Golden Compass books to my children, 16/15/13/6 yrs. I need to read them again, to see if the hysteria over their attack on God is well founded.  I remember being confused if they were killing God or evil….  Evil is allowed into the alternate universe, unbeknownst to those who do it, until the very end and the main characters in the book make a huge sacrifice by choosing to live apart rather than continue to let the evil in.  So, I struggle with the religious rights attacks on the books – although, my 15 yr old said he didn’t think we should see the movie because of the books’ attack on God – he must have been listening more closely than I, as I read the books to them…

We have read all the Harry Potter books, nothing terrible happened to us, none of my children, as many predicted, believe they can conjure up spells or change their shapes with magic – my feeling is, the books are fiction, should be enjoyed for their literary quality and kept in perspective.  A fun, children’s story. 

Maybe you didn’t pay attention when the first Harry Potter books came out, but churches all across the country produced videos which were on TV and distributed to parishioners…condemning the HP books – our priest, at the time, condemned them, but Archbishop Chaput’s statement on them was something like this “fun, fanciful books, I see no harm in reading them”.  Duh, who hasn’t seen Bed Knobs and Broom Sticks, or Witch Mountain….Mary Poppins?

Don’t get me wrong, there is great evil in books and other sources – my kids played an on line game, which on the surface seemed harmless enough, but as they played, they developed some very strange behaviors, unusually bickering, sneaking on line, began to separate from the family….when another player stalked my daughter in the game, I put an end to it – it was as if a huge, black cloud lifted from our home and oddly enough the kids didn’t even argue, pout or complain when I ended their playing the game.  Just “okay” and they have never asked to play again.  Our family unit was restored, I just don’t find these problems with HP or The Golden Compass.

I read a book once, wish I could remember the name, but it was filled with evil intent – after a few chapters, I tossed it in the trash and felt great peace once it was out of my house. 

Sharon  Croghan
It's always good to be informed.  Check the following website, and decide for yourself:  http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp