Where does the compass lead?

For nearly twelve years now a dark and insidious force has been preying on our children. A book so evil it has been derided with awards and accolades. Yes ladies and gentlemen I give the the pinnacle of evil, an upcoming movie called The Golden Compass. Okay so I'm being more than a little sarcastic here. The movie is actually based upon the first of a series of books by a man by the name of Philip Pullman. The Golden Compass is based on his first book called Northern Lights, which is actually part of a larger trilogy called His Dark Materials.

Apparently the latest news around here is that a local catholic school board has pulled the books off their shelves because Philip has admitted to being an atheist. This leads me to two problems in my mind. The first of which would be that the school board in question is obviously going to have to go through their entire catalog and pull all books written by non catholics who offer opposing thought to the school. This is a dangerous conversation which will be fun to watch unfold in the media. Any and all controversy that is stirred up can only be good news for th author, who will reap the benefits in the form of increased readership and viewing of the movie.

When I started doing a little poking around the internet I saw a great number of people who are picking apart the books and are refusing to allow their kids to read them. Maybe I'm just a bad parent but if you find something like this that you r kids want to read aren't you better off letting them read it? If its subject matter is something you are concerned about then how about reading it with them and talking bout the content with them? Where exactly do the benefits of sheltering your children from the reality of opposing viewpoints kick in? I would rather they read something like this and ask me about it then I tell them not to and they borrow it from a friend and read it anyhow. Then again, maybe some parents knwo their kids won't talk to them about stuff so try to control what they take in. This can only end badly. I feel very bad for those parents that have that weak a connection with their kids. I hope that when my two grow older they can read all manner of strange things and we can talk it over and explore what it means. Oh well.....remember this is coming form a man who is deep like a puddle some days. When The Golden Compass comes out on DVD, make sure you buy a bunch of copies and tape them to the doors of your local churches to see what chaos ensues.