Irregular Books

In what ought to be an embarrassing reminder of its attempts to censor the birth of science during the early Renaissance, a small group of Roman Catholic extremists are trying to silence a voice of religious dissent. Author Philip Pullman has been writing great books for years, and has been a good source of materials for his publishers, but now, a group that calls itself the Catholic League is trying to force Scholastic to stop carrying the book The Golden Compass, which is appearing as a movie in American theatres in a little over a week.

The Catholic League complains that The Golden Compass contains ideas that disagree with Catholic theology, as so ought not to be offered by Scholastic. It’s a bold reassertion of the idea that Catholics ought to be able to control what ideas even non-Catholics are exposed to.

Fortunately, many Catholics are rejecting the Catholic League’s attempts to censor The Golden Compass. Teacher P.S. Naumann, for example, writes, “Teaching English for thirty odd years in a Jesuit high school, I kept looking for a contemporary novel that could, would, and should provoke questions and discussions. Philip Pullman’s book is an eye-opener and window-opener that can bring kids, parents, and teachers together to talk. The windows in our own minds, and in our own Church, open onto a secular society and a multi-cultural world, as Pope John XXIII knew. How to deal with that? Sooner or later students will open windows for themselves; it’s part of growing up. If they don’t ask any questions in the process, we may have lost our opportunity. The Golden Compass will help in that direction, and if the book brings kids and parents together to discuss important ideas, think of the good it is doing.”

Honest thinkers don’t need censorship to protect them. Their minds are strong enough to distinguish worthwhile ideas from trash. The consensus seems to be that The Golden Compass contains a worthwhile presentation of ideas. Perhaps that’s what bothers The Catholic League so much.

What can be done to counter this attempt at suppression of non-Catholic ideas?

The most effective thing to do is to vote with your pocketbook. Don’t let the censors of the Catholic Church control what books you read, what movies you see, and what ideas you think. Show Scholastic Books that most people support its decision to contribute to the publication of Philip Pullman’s books.

- Buy the Golden Compass book.
- After you’ve read the book, go to see the Golden Compass movie.
- After you’ve read the book and seen the movie, tell a friend about them.