The Church of Matches,

[kalidascopeeyes]

Anointing ignorance with gasoline.

The Golden Compass pulled from Calgary Catholic school's Library

Comments

[moogielion]

I enjoyed the books (mostly just the first one) but I found them offensively age-inappropriate. The extremely negative views against the church verge on propaganda when placed in a fictional children's book. I'm not talking about a balanced viewpoint, but a very one-sided look. Do kids this age really have the philosophical and historical context to frame these ideas

[yonihamagid]

I've not read the books, but from the descriptions I've seen, the books are not critical of the Catholic Church, but openly hostile. I can certainly understand a Catholic school choosing not to put it in their library.

[kalidascopeeyes]

Perhaps I am it remembering differently. In the first book, the one they are removing from the library (for review, they have not chosen to ban it yet). The main character is a young girl living in a monastery, with monks. The monks, at the time of reading struck me as old guys that were sorta superstitious. I never saw anything that I would consider hostile. But I did read the book several years ago, and may be misremembering things.

[yonihamagid]

The specific things I've heard is that the bad guys of the series are the hierarchy of the church.

[sinisteragent]

Only the members of the church who kidnap and torture children in order to promote their own agendas. The books are not set against the church per se, but against the corruption, cruelty and hypocrisy that ignorant and overzealous churches feature. All the negative characters are realistic people with human strengths as well as weaknesses, and one of the heroes of the book works for the church, too. Nobody is 'just a villain' and nobody is hated simply for supporting the church or religion. The books are full of love and admiration for the very same qualities that catholics are supposed to espouse, barring religious faith. And on top of all that, even if the book were somehow harmful, censoring it is the stupidest thing anyone could do, especially in a Catholic school. You might as well put it on a shelf with a sign reading "THIS IS SO AWESOME

[moogielion]

Id have to look more closely to be specific, but the basic plot of the third book is the overthrow of the kingdom of heaven and repeating the fall of man, with Will and Lyra as Adam and Eve. It's the third book that's the most objectionable.

[kalidascopeeyes]

Oooooh. Yeah, I never got to that one. =)