My two cents

We watched 'The Golden Compass' tonight. Now, I know this movie (and book the movie is based on), has received a lot of bad press due to the 'religious' undertones. I've heard people call it 'poison for children' and have gone as far as to say that it is used to brainwash children in order to keep them from believing in God.
These kinds of claims drive me up the wall.

I haven't read the books, (Philip Pullman is the author) but I do plan to. I don't care that he is an athiest, I don't care if his beliefs, or lack there of are present in his novels. We all have a choice to look for the 'good' or 'evil' in everything. I can't believe that watching this movie or reading this book would shake someones faith to the point where they feel it must be boycotted in order to save the minds of our children. PLEEEEASE!

It might comfort some people to hide in a bubble of their spirituality but what does that REALLY accomplish? We can hide from things that scare us, or challenge us, or we can deal with them. What does it teach children when we bury our heads in the sand when we think something is scary, or we don't agree with or understand it? Why not teach our children to use their brains to tell the difference between fantasy and reality? Why not give our kids the tools they need to weigh what they see, hear, experience etc so they can work through what they believe?
If its important to believe in God, I happen to think think its important to know why and what we believe. Hiding teaches us nothing.
Just because someone points at something and calls it 'bad' it doesn't make it true.

In my opinion, this is just another movie about the ever present battle between good and evil... not that different from the Chronicles of Narnia, or The Lord of the Rings trilogy. (I personally wouldn't watch any of them with young children because they all have scary bits that are just too much for little ones). I really enjoyed it. I found it very interesting and entertaining.

My opinions are never popular so I don't doubt that a lot of you will disagree with me. I'm ok with that. One great thing about growing up is that I've realized that I can believe what I believe and let you believe what you believe. We don't have to agree on everything in order to be friends.

That's my rant for today... now its time for bed :) Goodnight all.

Here's a short clip so you know what I'm talking about if you've never heard of this movie...