Letters to the Editor
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You Know You're Fine...
Donna,
You are clearly comfortable in your skin, and have lots of proof here on why and how you feel the way you do, and will hopefully convince the powers-that-be you need.
After years in Catholic girls' schools, both my unanswered and unanswerable questions caused me to feel that I was an "agnostic Catholic". At no point did I feel myself an atheist, but the ongoing questions-with-no-answers drove me nuts till I gave up.
Years later when the peace and serenity of my daily BUDDHA-based advanced meditation led me to reconcile with the church, I realized that I could both have faith and enjoy the traditions I had been raised on, without agreeing with the church's man made teachings (I do not agree with its teachings on divorce, abortion, alternative lifestyles, premarital sex, etcetera). Teachings, you will note, that are subject to change depending on which pope is in charge.
At the same time, I have agnostic and atheist friends. Their lack of faith doesn't bother me because I don't feel that faith is a choice. I feel that faith is a gift and, therefore, I don't blame people for not having something they haven't been given. In other words, we all get along great. Any disagreements come more from "some" fellow churchgoers who try to convince me to feel differently about the church's man made teachings. I don't.
Today, I continue the advanced meditation (it has been indispensable to me), but also visit the Catholic church weekly, and a nondenominational spiritualist centre as well.
Donna, despite disagreements with "some" of my fellow churchgoers, I have no trouble with my similarities and differences in faith, and it is clear from your article that you do not either. Take comfort in the fact that conservatism the world over is on the decline, and that you are a human being who is free to study, question, comprehend, and express. Enjoy.
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Heh, they should pull C.S. Lewis too, if that's their worry
My personal path to atheism began and ended with C.S. Lewis. The Narnia books started me thinking about god and worship and how we can tell which god to worship; and a later book of his that argued that Christians must believe in Hell persuaded me of the essential differences I had with that religion and my atheistic epiphany occurred.
It's a weak belief system than can be threatened by other's ideas. A resiliant system would have answers rather than censorship.
And it's amazing how many atheists come to their views via reading the Bible itself. Better ban that too. Actually, didn't the insistence upon Latin essentially do that in the Middle Ages? My history isn't particularly good, but I vaguely recall that it was near heretical to print the Bible in the vulgar languages.
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well
I've read the books and they certainly don't challenge my faith in any way. They're not really my favorite pieces of literature, theological or otherwise... though the first book is by far the best.
It doesn't trouble me that Pullman kills 'God' in his book (since his god looks nothing like the real one) or that he calls the Big Evil People the Magisterium.
But are we supposed to do something less than take the author at his own words? He has said himself that this is his atheist response to C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. He said of the trilogy that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."
Regardless of whether he is successful, and despite the books' theology, it's hard to honestly say that they were intended to be theological.
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Not theological?
Rosenkavalier wrote:
"He said of the trilogy that he is "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."
"Regardless of whether he is successful, and despite the books' theology, it's hard to honestly say that they were intended to be theological."
Surely a book that tries to undermine the basis of a religion is *essentially* theological -- in exactly the same way that a book arguing for anarchy is essentially political?
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P.S.
I am not suggested that the book be banned or that parents should stop their children from either reading the books or seeing the movies. I'm just saying that it seems odd to assume that the author isn't being honest when he speaks about his own works.
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Don't deceive yourself.
I took this quotation directly from phillip-pullman.com.
But organised religion is quite another thing. The trouble is that all too often in human history, churches and priesthoods have set themselves up to rule people's lives in the name of some invisible god (and they're all invisible, because they don't exist) – and done terrible damage. In the name of their god, they have burned, hanged, tortured, maimed, robbed, violated, and enslaved millions of their fellow-creatures, and done so with the happy conviction that they were doing the will of God, and they would go to Heaven for it.
That is the religion I hate, and I'm happy to be known as its enemy. (emphasis mine)
There is no way to read this as anything but a condemnation of the Catholic Church (and any other religious organizations). His works have a religious theme, they may even be soaked in spiritualism. You may feel that, as you interpret his writing, that it is actually, and unintentionally, enlightening. But don't kid yourself, it is explicitly anti-Church.
You are of course free to try to reconcile your faith with your love of a book that condemns your religion. But don't pretend that the book is really just misunderstood. Post-modern interpretations of texts doesn't allow you to simply fabricate the meaning of a work so that it suits your pre-existing preferences.
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A Divine Paradox
Ms. Freitas has discovered, thanks to the works of Pullman, the wondrous world of heresy, and needs only, as a good Catholic (and a good person, yet another paradox, perhaps), to refer to the words attributed to Jesus in the stories (pardon, the Holy Bible), to whit: "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you." Or something like that, since I doubt a guy who spoke Aramaic Greek would have minced words that way. But it serves the purpose.
And when and if they do come for you, they will have first to come through me and my pal, Jaques Demolay. Hope you don't mind a couple more heretics brining their spears to the festivities.
Meanwhile, enjoy the weirdness of the moment. It has to come to this in order to move forward.