for something, anything that will have some popular appeal to some positive impulse in people. To even try to do this they have to lie, lie, lie in their claims at least by implication and often overtly that all kinds of broad themes such as spirituality, redemption, sacrifice, etc are specifically christian.

Miller, and her adopted surrogate Goldthwaite, have missed the point about the Christian message in the Narnia Chronicles. As an avid C.S. Lewis fan (both the Narnia books AND his theological works), I can tell you that the Christian message looks so unrecognizable to Miller because she's operating with a narrow-minded view of what it means to be a Christian, and what it means to write a work of fiction as a form of Christian allegory.

First off, Lewis never intended for the Narnia Chronicles to substitute for the gospels. Lewis intended to take certain very specific gospel themes and illustrate them using the world of Narnia as a venue. He did this not only in the Narnia books, but in his science fiction works (the Perelandra series) and his direct allegorical works ("Till We Have Faces" and "the Great Divorce"). To suggest that Lewis's works are only Christian if they contain a complete and definitive statement about what Christianity is is to create a straw man -- a ridiculous standard that no one should legitimately expect anyone to meet or take seriously.

Second, Miller's myopic view of Christianity fails to make room for the fact that not every Christian believes the same things about the universe. Lewis was a writer in the mid-20th century in England, and a devout member of the Church of England, known here as Episcopalianism. Episcopalianism bears about as much family resemblance to the evangelical Christianity that most liberals associate with being "Christian" as a Kobe steak does to a MacDonald's hamburger. Sure, they're both beef, but beyond that they occupy completely different culinary spheres. Many branches of Christianity over the years have had cosmologies that bear no resemblance to Goldthwaite's assertions of what "real" faith should hold out as true.

Indeed, it is precisely this issue that Lewis addresses in the last book in the Narnia series, "The Last Battle." In that volume, many Narnians take up the worship of "Tashlan," a false god who is not Aslan the lion. Ultimately, the hero of the story comes to the realization that God by any other name is still God, and worshippers of Tashlan may have had a misunderstood who God was, but none of that negates the validity of their faith in the divine. It's a theory commonly called universalism in theological circles. It's a concept that was well-accepted in many mid-20th century churches, but is considered anathema to American evangelicals and fundamentalists.

The point of all this is to say that for anyone to claim that Lewis's work must embrace a certain form of Christianity in order to be Christian understands neither Lewis's work or Christianity itself.

I am both a liberal and a Christian -- a fact which stymies many on the left. And it's articles like this that point out why the left seems to continually stumble in their attempts to win voters of faith: so long as they buy into the religious right's premise that one may only be a Christian if they ascribe to a narrow, misguided, myopic version of the faith, they will continually miss the opportunity to reach out to the vast numbers of believers. These believers know instinctively that Christ is bigger than the hate-filled preachings of Jerry Falwell and his ilk, and would gladly accept a political platform that is based on truly caring for your neighbor as yourself if only the left could stop thumbing their nose at Christianity long enough to communicate it.

why would they be offended by criticsm of it.

If the books stand on their own as incredible works of fantasy, then why on earth should it matter if they can also be read as Christian allegory? No child is going to realize that without an adult telling them. Besides, I don't even see that many of the tales (aside from a few obvious bits) have Christian parallels. What gospel story is the Dawn Treader supposed to mirror? Or the Silver Chair?

I'm an atheist and was raised without religion. I love the Chronicles. I loved them as a child and have re-read them countless times. If the Chronicles can be thoroughly enjoyed without reading any Christian message into them, I don't see why anyone should care what the author's intentions were.

Ironically, the only religious impulse I've ever had in my life was when, as a child, I used to pray to Aslan that he would open a door to Narnia for me. I was completely ignorant of the religious overtones of the book. I just wanted to visit Narnia more than anything, and Aslan was clearly the one to implore.

if they knew that the movie's director, Andrew Adamson, has an interview posted on SuicideGirls.com (http://suicidegirls.com/words/Narnia+director+Andrew+Adamson)? Do the benefits of a Christian-themed movie outweigh acceptance of the director's Christian-questionable interview affiliations?

Things just get so tricky when you mix black and white and end up with a blurry grey middle.

This sort of pious nonsense never fails to make liberals look bad, as well as much more like the religious right than either group would like to admit. What do you care if the Chronicles of Narnia is embraced by the religious right? And why do you even have to wonder whether you can still enjoy the books and not embrace the Christian allegory? These anxieties are puritanical nonsense that would make any evangelical who frets about his admiration of secular music proud. Do you worship Greek gods and view prowess is war as a cardinal virtue? No? Better put down the Iliad. Are you a conservative reactionary? If not, then there goes Yeats, Eliot, and a host of other great Modernists (as well as the tired, historically ignorant notion, only really formed in the 1960s, that great art is a leftist phenomenon.) I guess only a Stalinist can appreciate Pablo Neruda. Do you see how ridiculous all of these stances are? We need to forget our puritanical hang-ups and realize that good art is not predicated on good politics, that "Imagine" is quite possibly the worst song John Lennon ever wrote, and we shouldn't feel guilty for liking something just because our political opponents embrace it.