Christian Response Released to Philip Pullman and his The Golden Compass of the His Dark Materials Series

Defender of the Christian faith Anthony Horvath, otherwise known as ‘Sntjohnny’ on the Internet, has also defended- even against other Christians- the Harry Potter series. Although he has taken a ‘wait and see’ posture towards the series because of some of Rowling’s latest revelations about Dumbledore, he feels no hesitancy at all in opposing Pullman’s series.

Philip Pullman is an avowed atheist who specifically cites his hostility to CS Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia” as a motivation for writing his own series. As a Christian contending that Christianity is objectively true, Anthony recognized the many atheistic arguments embedded in Pullman’s series. Pullman, Horvath says, is actually employing tactics that many atheists have in recent years.

Horvath explains, “There is a tendency today to try to argue that even events that would normally have been considered a miracle, and therefore evidence for the supernatural, are being reinterpreted in naturalistic terms. For example, a recent atheist on my forum argued that even given the miracles of the Bible- like Jesus walking on water or raising from the dead- you still wouldn’t be justified in believing in God. Rather, you would just revise your views on what the laws of nature are.”

Horvath continues, “You see the same trend in shows like NBC’s Heroes. In a recent episode the characters discuss whether or not they are ‘gods.’ After all, they can read minds, fly, heal themselves, heal others, pass through walls, travel through time, and more. Though the show hints in the mouths of some characters that these are gifts from God, the show contends that there is an evolutionary explanation for these abilities. In fact, if something like that really happened we would normally have automatically and reasonably inferred that God was at work. According to the new thinking, you just revise your understanding of science, and you can happily remain an atheist.”

Horvath makes the connection to the Pullman series, “In The Golden Compass and the larger series, there are many things that he allows to happen in some universe that he denies is possible in our own. In fact, most atheists ridicule even the very notion. For example, in the Golden Compass there are talking animals. Because Pullman makes use of the many-worlds hypothesis which allows for unlimited universes in which evolution manifests itself in unlimited ways, he is able to propose any fantastic thing that he wants and still cling to a naturalistic framework to explain them.”

Horvath gives other examples, too, including people living to great ages, there really being a place of the dead, and there really being angels, among other examples. Horvath expresses concern that Christians commenting on the series will not notice the real trend at work.

“I think it is easy to look at how Pullman has his characters aim at killing God and focus just on Pullman’s obvious hostility. Or, Pullman has witches, and the ‘symbol reader’ which sounds all the world like a ouija board, so a Christian may leap to jump on the ‘pagan’ elements the way they did with Harry Potter. In fact, Pullman has a very bad understanding of the Christian God and no interest in promoting paganism. The real threat is his desire to show how any so-called mystical or magical or supernatural event- even if it really happened- can be explained in naturalistic terms, which is precisely what atheism maintains.”

Anthony’s extended Christian response to the Pullman series is located at http://sntjohnny.com/front/archives/126 where it can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed out for the reader’s convenience.

Anthony Horvath has been on the web debating these issues for more than a decade. His website is http://www.sntjohnny.com. He is also an author writing his own fantasy fiction. “Fidelis” is available in both hard and soft cover from http://www.birthpangs.com where he also maintains a fantasy role playing game. The RPG is located at http://www.birthpangs.com/rpg.