Golden Compass

Antone else familiar with His Dark Materials
Should take note. You've been reading evil, evil hate speech.

From: http://www.catholicleague.org/catalyst.php?year=2007&month=October&read=2306

The Catholic League wants Christians to boycott this movie precisely because it knows that the film is bait for the books: unsuspecting parents who take their children to see the movie may be impelled to buy the three books as a Christmas present. And no parent who wants to bring their children up in the faith will want any part of these books.

For starters, why are Catholics afraid of children reading these books? Surely, if the books cause some sort of crisis of faith, the local priest will be able to answer any and all of the issues the books might raise with factual, obviously truthful answers. Oh, right. Facts aren’t their thing.

We are launching a major educational campaign designed to alert the public to Pullman's game plan. To that end, we have prepared a booklet, "The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked." It contains snippets of what reviewers have said about the film and the books, as well as revealing comments made by Pullman himself; it also contains a synopsis of the trilogy. In short, the booklet is not what we are saying about Pullman's work—it is what he and others have said about it.

Or at least what you want them to hear about it. I’m sure if anything is said that conversely affects the point you are trying to make (because I’m almost certain there is a point to this),it will be included in this informative, unbiased pamphlet.

Pullman represents the new face of atheism: it is aggressive, dogmatic and unrelenting. It is also fueled by hate—by a crusading hatred of all religions, but most especially of ours. His side is counting on our side to lie down and die. He may have experienced little resistance in England, but it's a different story here.

Ah, yes. The “new atheism” is aggressive, dogmatic and unrelenting. So unlike the Catholic League, who believe in tolerance, open-mindedness and meekness And there is nothing wrong with hatred when its justified. Sorta like hatred of the perpetrators of countless Crusades, holy wars, jihads, and ethnic cleansing. Wait, that is religion. And if Catholicism happens to be the form of religion Pullman happens to be most familiar with, what of it? And yes, Catholic league. You are far more aggressive, dogmatic and unrelenting than the English. Congrats.

The reason we are starting our protest early is because it takes time to get the word out, and besides, the media love it when we give them something to chew on. The booklet is being mailed to thousands of influential persons, including film critics and Christian leaders.

May the campaign against the film do for it what the campaign against "Married with Children" did for that series.

While Roman Catholicism is the evil force in Pullman's writings, his real goal is to put a positive face on atheism, getting children to buy his message. Thus, we expect more than Catholics will join our protest.

Because if it doesn’t support Religion, it ain’t free speech.


Anyone who's read the book will also note that they don't kill God. They just kill a Being who built the church, and falsely claimed to have created the Angels and the Universe. In fact, they didn't even kill him. They basically unplugged his life support machine and let the poor guy finally die, he was miserable being alive. Which, oddly enough, is what the Atheist movement is trying to do. Unplug God's life-support machine.


Addendum:

Anyone else find it ironic that the book condemns exactly the same thing what the American Catholic League is trying to do - involvement of religion in politics and personal affairs?

Finnish Idiot.

A young fellow in Finnland has gone rather stark, raving mad, and shot up a school. In his Manifesto, available as a .doc on his site (for how long I don't know), goes on about natural selection, the strong ruling over the weak and destroying them, and other such nonsense.

This young fool proclaims himself a "godlike Atheist." Despite the ironic contradiction in terms, I'm sure the religious media will snap this up and run with it like a crack-addict and a hundred-dollar bill. This psychopath has done more damage to the atheist cause than any other current individual in contemporary times.

It appears he has killed seven people, but lacked the good grace to off himself. Sometimes, I wish I was religious, so I could relish the idea of this guy burning in hell.

Sources:
http://www.albaani.org/~ilmari/Tuusula/ - his school Page. Contains Manifesto and Attack information, as well as pictures.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2206630,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21669167/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7082795.stm

Damn crazy Aussies.

Look at this. Don't they know they'll go to hell? Tsk tsk.

The JW's is coming!

That title makes me [sic]. But anyway.

This is the standard argument I use when attempting to deconvert a Jehovah's Witness, and it has met with limited success.

The consensus among JW's, currently, is that the End will come before the death of the generation of people including those currently 75-80 years old. After the rapture, 144,000 of their version of the 'Chosen Ones' prophecy*, whom they call the "annointed" will acend to heaven. all other followers will age normally (or in reverse, as the age may be) into about their late twenties. THen all will live in harmony.

What I see as the downfall of this argument, is that there will be no more children. I ask them; How can God, fount of all kindness, goodness, and fluffly feeling of every sort, take away the fundamental human joy of having and raising children. Children, I argue, are the true source of happiness in the world. How can paradise be without them?

This generally leads to them leaving rather quickly, but, as those of you familiar with this particular will know, that is sort of the point. I don't like talking God at six in the morning, at my door, in my underwear, with a bunch of creepy smiley people. It has, however, caused a small few to challenge their beliefs and alter to a more progressive or mild form of Christianity, and in one case I've become friends with, created a true, blue Atheist.

* I've found that most Cults and major religions(slightly larger Cults) have some version of this 'Chosen Ones' prophecy(I use 'prophecy loosely). Keeps the Flock hopeful, I suppose.

Defining Atheism

I'd like to clear up my definitions of the various forms of atheism. These aren't definitive in the traditional sense, but they are the basic distinction, as I see it, between various forms of Atheism.

• General Atheism: A non-theistic view of the world
• Hard Atheism: The strong disbelief in God's existence in any way. Also: Scientific Atheism.
• Militant Atheism: A form of Hard Atheism, this is the doctrine dictating active de-conversion of Theists to Atheism, but, unlike militant theists, militant atheism does not resort to any sort of actual martial force.
• Soft Atheism: The non-belief in God as defined in popular religion
• Mild Atheism: The default position of the Theist-Atheist debate, neither a negative or positive assertion. Also: Agnosticism, Skeptical Atheism

Addendum:

• Terminal Atheism: The end-stage form of Atheism, for which there is no known cure. The belief that there is no evidence for God to had, anywhere, ever. An awful state to be in, but an unfortunate side affect of intelligence in the modern age. I'm afraid I'll die an atheist.