Oct 4th, 2019, 4:46 am
Major spoilers, obviously, don't read any further if you don't want it spoiled for you (assuming you haven't read it).

When the movie came out, the religious community in the U.S. was bitching about the atheism of the books. I read the first one, and it was about declaring war on God. How is that atheist? It's flat out stating that God exists, even though the characters want to kill him.
Oct 4th, 2019, 4:46 am
Oct 4th, 2019, 7:50 pm
Maybe if I just rearrange your sentences to this: "When the movie came out, the religious community in the U.S. was bitching about the... characters want to kill...God." They were probably angry about that.

All smarting aside, I can't wait for the new show being created from the books on cable. The CGI looks pretty rad.

Let's not also forget that the religious community also put there hell forks into SpongeBob SquarePants. Who knows why they don't like Sponges or books. But I guess its better than them coming after me with a pile of wood and fire for being a vampire/witch/mermaid/bigfoot/hillary clinton's third cousin/a fresh stalk of broccoli/demonic goose. ;)
Oct 4th, 2019, 7:50 pm
Oct 5th, 2019, 2:10 am
The later books, particularly the Amber Spyglass, address this much more directly. Without any spoilers, there is a clear atheist point of view to certain characters, and the way that religion and God is addressed accordingly. Great books, and am looking forward to the TV show and the newly released book.
Oct 5th, 2019, 2:10 am
Oct 24th, 2019, 3:24 pm
The issue wasn't really atheism vs deism, it's that the books portray religion (particularly the thinly veiled version of christianity/catholocism that appears in the books) as evil. And we all know, churches never do anything bad to children... :/
Oct 24th, 2019, 3:24 pm
Nov 12th, 2019, 2:30 pm
yeah, what sirjonk said. it's pro-science and enlightenment and anti-traditionalism. he frames that very specifically in terms of "organised religion bad/thinking for yourself and trying to better humanity good" pretty clearly in the books, especially the Amber Sypglass. the author is a prominent atheist and humanist, and speaks out against organised religion and the indoctrination of children it results in.

the movie however, downplayed all this (it also wasn't as obvious in the first book that it is an adaptation of), probably at least partly to avoid this kind of criticism, but oh well. it didn't do well so they never made the sequels.

I don't know, I re-read the trilogy last summer and it was lovely, but then I read the first Book of Dust (the 2nd came out in Oct 2019) and I wasn't into it. the series will be good, I hope.
Nov 12th, 2019, 2:30 pm