Why is the book "The Golden Compass" banned from Catholic schools?

Question

I've heard from other people that the Catholic school board is banning the Golden Compass. I have a couple of questions. Why are they banning the book? Just because it has magic in it, like Harry Potter, or is there something in the story that's bad? And why are they banning it now, when the movie's coming out? Was it not important enough of an issue until now?

Answer 1

They're banning it now because it has a real chance to reach the common masses. Before the movie came out, the only people likely to be exposed to it would have been the people who believed in the possibility of the premise in the first place...or at least were open to it.

They're banning it because it's about the quest to "kill God".

The really ironic thing is that by banning it, they're only going to succeed in heightening the curiosity to find out more about it. How many Catholics would never have known about it if there wasn't so much controversy surrounding it now?

Answer 2

Golden Compass Banned

Answer 3

I would say that they are considering banning the book not only because it involves Magic and a search for Truth, but because in the base world of The Golden Compass, people's souls are not inside their body, but outside. So the soul becomes a separate entity.

Of course, there are probably a good many reasons. As for the timing, more people will READ the books now, so now is the time to ban them, apparently.

Answer 4

Ugh, this is the problem with society, we want to move forward without looking backwards, it's not possible. Censorhsip will be the death of an informed society. My point is this, whilst I do not condone the word we have to recognise that there was a time when this sort of practise existed. Not so we can revert to those times, but rather so we can move forward. Should we forget that the holocaust ever happened? Gawd no! So we do we discuss it when it was such a horrible thing, moreover why do try to understand how the holocaust happened? In short, so we can never do it again.

Answer 5

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Maybe you should READ the book To Kill a Mockingbird. Seriously, maybe you should read the book. If you find the use of it in that book offensive, I hope to hell you're doing something about rap music, because at least Mockingbird discusses the fact that the word is a slurr, not something to call a FRIEND. "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks."-Scout "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it - whenever a white man does that to a black man, no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash. "-Atticus and don't forget that IN the book, when Scout uses the word, Atticus tells her NOT to, because the word is "common," a word he's using in the perjorative, to mean coarse, vulgar and inappropriate. When the word appears in the book, it's because it's historical fiction, and that word GOT USED historically. The word is hurtful in the book, spoken by hatefilled men, and they SHOW what kind of people use that word! You think it's better your kids not know what they are being called when-god forbid- that word gets used on them?

Answer 6

Throughout the books, the Church (called the Magisterium in the books) is depicted as an evil ruling body and is sponsoring experiments that turn innocent children into little zombie-soldiers. God is also a character in the books and is killed at the end of the childrens' quest agains the Magisterium. In addition, it is argued that the books contain a scene depicting "original sin" between two characters who are children.

In all of these senses, the His Dark Materials trilogy is sort of the anti-Narnia works (which were blatant Christian allegory). The Catholic Church probably has a problem with all of the above.

Answer 7

The author's whole point in writing the book was to try to prove that there is no God. My understanding is that someone kills God.

It's not just the magic...it's the whole premise of the book.

They're banning it now because people are talking about it, and more are considering reading it, due to the movie release.

Answer 8

I think people like that are absolute kooky, especially so when a movie is coming out! I think movies are great encouragements to get kids to read nowadays - we (schools, parents, etc) need to start becoming more accommodating and accepting of that fact. Movies will get kids to read. Perhaps that may not be the teacher's overall goal (rather, it may be the topics/issues addressed in a certain text), but we need to make that start to work for our advantage. At least that's how I see it.

Answer 9

The author of the book is an atheist with a vehement hatred of the Catholic Church. The movie based on the book has subtle atheistic messages in it, and is also a primer for the author's books that drive home the anti-Catholic, anti-God message even harder. His aim is to "convert" children to atheism while their young using the most popular medium of our time - the movie.

The Catholic school board is most likely a private school, which means they retain the right to allow or ban whatever book, movie, pamphlet, etc., that they want. It's their school. They run it according to the teachings of the Church and no one has the right to make them do otherwise.

Answer 10

The best way to get a kid to read a book is to ban it.

Actually, the book raises questions too deep for little kids minds. If they get too many questions like that, they might start raising their hands in class and asking WHY? That makes the teachers stop and think and that makes their jobs harder.

A shepherd can't lead his flock if all the sheep are thinking for themselves where they want to go.