The Golden Compass

(an email by Dave)

I am writing this email in response to the four emails that were forwarded to me warning me not to watch "The Golden Compass" because it was supposedly anti-religious and anti-Christian. First, the movie is excellent--I can't recommend it highly enough. Second, as Mark Twain noted, “censorship is like telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.” Third, for me there is little more enticing than telling me that I can’t handle a movie, and I am sure I am not alone in this. Fourth and finally, I do believe in God and Jesus Christ, and the movie absolutely did not call those beliefs into question.

To anyone who chooses not to see a movie merely because they are told that it will challenge their beliefs, and to anyone who forwards email messages telling people not to see a movie because they have been told that it will cause them to question their beliefs, I invite you to please think for yourselves.

The movie advocates questioning. Questioning is an essential part of our natures and of our faith (I think everyone getting this message is LDS). Joseph Smith would not have seen God if he hadn't questioned. If he hadn't asked, he would not have received. Questioning is not easy, but it is essential. Every day, I go to law school and, admittedly, every day I hope that I am not called on. I go to my classes with what I think is a workable answer--a way that I have made the law make sense. I dread being called on because my teachers use the Socratic method, and I do not want my comfortable conclusions to be questioned, examined, or tested, because what if I am left with no answer? Even so, every day we question. And every day we get closer to the essential. And although it is terrifying and difficult, I have decided that no answer is better than the wrong answer. Because with no answer, at least there is room for the right answer.

"The Golden Compass" is definitely anti-manipulation an anti-control. If you equate religion with manipulation and control then the movie for you would be anti-religious. The author obviously sees religion as manipulative (it is hard to miss his blatant symbolism), and in large part he is probably right on the money. But how does that make this movie bad? The author disagrees with manipulative religions. Don't you? I do. But my faith was never threatened by this theme because I do not believe that my religion is manipulative. I saw nothing of my God in the movie's horrible antagonists. Of course, I am not naïve. I have no doubt that some individuals in every religion--even my own--have used faith to manipulate (think John C. Bennet, and other less egregious examples), but I have known very few of them. And the leaders of my religion, Christ himself being the chief cornerstone do not lead by control or compulsion.

My God is not a God of manipulation or control. He is a God of freedom. (D&C 121:34-46; see also Alma 42:27). Isn't that what we believe that the whole war is about?--don't we agree with the beautiful witch in the movie: "the war is about nothing less than free will." We are here to think and to act for ourselves. We are here to learn to think and make our own decisions, not just to learn to obey--I am sure that we could have done that without coming here. The author opposes any organization that stifles thought and freedom. So do I. And not to play the trump card lightly, but so does God, doesn't he? Isn't that what we so often refer to as "Satan's plan?"

Oscar Wilde said, “The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” People worried that "The Catcher in the Rye" would have their kids cursing like sailors, the same kind of people worried that "Huck Finn" would make kids into lazy miscreants--both of those books were about looking past the superficial and seeing genuine goodness, but angry parents missed that message precisely because they were stuck on the superficial. And so I am not surprised that people have made such a fuss about this movie filling kids heads with all kinds of questions--the irony here, just like with those others, is that the people who tell you not to watch are playing right into the hand of the movie's author: those people are trying to control thought. They argue that the author misrepresents religion by portraying it as controlling, and then they send emails telling people to boycott a movie. Brilliant.

I cheered for "Lyra" the whole time. I despised the mission of "the magisterium" the whole time. And I never once wondered whether I could reconcile the movies powerful and important theme with my faith. I didn't have to. If the message of our faith is that we are essentially free and that we must fight to protect that essential freedom from those who seek to control us, then "The Golden Compass" is not anti-religious at all. It is inspiring.

Trailer:
http://movies.aol.com/movie/the-golden-compass/23389/video/trailer-no-2/2001800