Those nitpicking nitwits and their nettlesome facts

CBS News reports on the clash between Philip Pullman-ites and "conservative Christians" over the soon-to-be released movie, "The Golden Compass", and passes along some nuggets of wisdom:

Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, said the movie is about questioning authority, and that can never be a bad thing for children to learn. "There's nothing fundamentally wrong with that," she told Storm.

Exactly right. Which is why thoughtful, intelligent people are suggesting that movie-goers ask the question: By what authority does Pullman makes all sorts of silly statements about the Catholic Church?

"But even if you would succeed in getting people not to buy the books or see the movie, you can't censor the internet. Why are you focusing on a movie and these books when the whole world has books available on atheism that kids can get? It's good thing."

Oh no, we cannot censor the internet! We surrender! Our bad! So sorry.

"You know what, if they do [boycott the movie], tough," actor Sam Elliot said. "They're going to lose out. We're not going to lose out. They're going to lose out."

Hey, ease up on the devastating and elaborate arguments—you're hurting my pea-sized fundamentalist brain!

Meanwhile, The Times reports that author Pullman has waded in with an even more crushing round of dazzling, syllogistic smiting:

The British author Philip Pullman has attacked leading American Catholics as "nitwits" after they called for a boycott of The Golden Compass, which has its world premiere in London tonight.

Augh! No fair—he's using mean names. What's a narrow-minded bigot to do in the face of such overwhelming intellectual prowess? And he won't let up:

However, Mr Pullman hit back with a furious counter-attack on his detractors, denying that his agenda was anything other than attracting readers and urging people to be allowed to make up their own mind.

"To regard it as this Donohue man has said - that I'm a militant atheist, and my intention is to convert people - how the hell does he know that?" he said, in an interview with Newsweek magazine.

Uh, maybe he read some of your numerous interviews in which you said things such as:

• "So I have to consider myself an atheist."

• "But I find it impossible to believe. However, the corollary of that is that if there is no kingdom of heaven, we must have a republic of heaven. We can't have another king. We mustn't have another king. Worshipping the wrong thing is going to lead to trouble, so we have to have a republic, by which I mean that we ourselves in this world here in the physical universe where we know we live have got to make it as much like the traditional idea of heaven as we can."

• "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.”"

• "IV: Let's go into some of the actual nature of the book. The stories of the book, the use of vocabulary, the magesterium, the Board of Oblation; oblation isn't a word you run across very often. It's in the liturgy of course. The society of the work of the Holy Spirit. I mean, these are all taken from the Christian churches.

"PP: Well, they're made up titles, but they're sort of made up from bits, a kit of parts which the Catholic church has kindly prepared for us. Yeah, that's what they're intended to mean.

"IV: Ah, but these are the wicked lot.

"PP: They are."

And, finally, this from Pullman:

"Why don't we trust readers? Why don't we trust filmgoers? Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world."

And don't forget this one: "Why don't we trust Mr. Pullman?" (Hint: Because the evidence indicates he is not very trustworthy.)

Comments

[Ed Peters]

One of the interesting things about evil is how chronically self-destructive it is. These guys always unravel, and right about the time they make their big splash, crash, they dive. Not that they don't do a lot of harm along the way, they do. But it's as if, having served their underlord, the Beast tires of them, and he dumps them on the heap. That where this chap is headed, it's just soooo obvious.