Wherein I become a total Fundie

[aeditimi]

So my thoughts on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which includes The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.

First, I can't believe this, but it's true: I've finally found a series of books that I would recommend people not read for religious reasons. I don't mean like Narnia and Left Behind, which are Christian

Comments

[pykors]

*bites tongue

[aeditimi]

no need to bite your tongue. If I didn't want to foster discussion, I wouldn't put ideas out into the blogosphere (or I'd disallow comments at least

[pykors]

> I think, basically, that if there's a god-- not a person, but a

[aeditimi]

It's a helpful point of view to consider, coming at it from another angle, so thank you for pointing out another way to consider it. If it can serve to lead people to a healthier view that I guess that's something.

I'm not really seeing it that way, because I'm responding to what I perceive as a lot of anger and pain on the author's personal part being viacariously vented through the destruction of God, the Church, and all things religious and authoritarian and hurtful to him. It almost feels like he's trying too hard to move to a healthy place the he can't yet go. I hope there's a better resource for free thinkers and atheists and non theists and non religious people out there, but I don't know what it might be. Not something I've spent much time looking for. But I hope this isn't as good as it gets.

[pykors]

I think that to help someone who is feeling that kind of pain you first have to show a deep understanding for it before you can try to lead them out of it. If you want to know how intercission feels, try imagining what it would be like to be an 8 year old child desperately trying and failing to convince themself that God exists and then deciding to pretend they believe anyway since they can't stand alone against everyone they've ever met. That's the kind of person who needs these books. There are certainly plenty of books available that avoid the initial negativity, To Sail Beyond the Sunset comes to mind, but I think that it's helpful to explicitly show people what their pain and anger is like and how it's really not worth darkening their spirits with it. It, like The Authority, should be allowed to peacefully dissipate so everyone can get on with their lives