Pullman: new assault on the Church

Atheist children’s author shocks Christians with his latest plans.
Christina
Farrell reports HIS HATRED of organised religion is legendary. He calls his detractors “excitable and infantile”. Now best-selling novelist Philip Pullman is preparing to take his antiChristian polemic a step further, by including the character of Jesus in his next novel.
The Whitbread Award winner, whose trilogy His Dark Materials is currently being performed on the London stage, made the announcement during a debate with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, provoking a murmur of astonishment from the audience.
Just last week, Dr Williams praised the National Theatre’s adaptation of Mr Pullman’s work as a “near-miraculous triumph”. He even suggested that the trilogy should be included in the national curriculum for its unique “creative religious agenda”.
The archbishop’s comments contrasted starkly with those of Mr Pullman’s critics, who have accused the children’s writer of denigrating Christianity and demonising the Church.
But divisions between the archbishop and the author opened up on Monday night, as Dr Williams criticised Pullman’s fictional portrayal of institutional religion.
Dr Williams said Pullman’s religion was “dogmatic and ruthless” and made no reference to the Christian virtues of forgiveness and redemption.
In reply, Mr Pullman said he had made one reference to Christ in the context of “the idea of human wisdom”. He then said that he might return to the subject of Christ in his next book. He insisted that morality did not depend on the existence of God.
Mr Pullman’s critics reacted with dismay to the suggestion that Jesus could appear in his next novel.
The writer Léonie Caldecott said: “While his artistic creations are brilliant, his philosophy is not particularly original. If he wants to write about Jesus, then it would be good if he was open to a genuine dialogue with believing Christians.”
Mrs Caldecott first drew attention to Mr Pullman’s anti-Church views in the Herald five years ago. She said she had been widely misquoted ever since as advocating the burning of Pullman's books — a comment also widely attributed to The Catholic Herald.
Mrs Caldecott said it was “ridiculous” to contemplate using Mr Pullman’s books to educate children in British schools.
“We live in such a de-Christianised culture that very few families and few RE teachers are capable of making a critical appraisal of Pullman’s ideas,” she said.
In his trilogy, Mr Pullman describes the adventures of two children on a quest against evil represented by an organisation called the “Magisterium”, which removes people’s souls. One of the highlights of the London stage show is the death of God, who is known as “the Authority”.
Mr Pullman is the grandson of an Anglican clergyman and has previously spoken of the “gentle and redemptive” Church in which he grew up. But, as an author, he displays extreme antipathy towards organised religion in general, and the Catholic Church in particular. However, some Catholics believe his ideas have merit. The writer and broadcaster Clifford Longley said Mr Pullman’s work stood out in an age that, by and large, rejected any mention of religion.
“I think he is difficult to categorise,” he said. “He is accessible to religious-minded people clearly the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks so — and on the whole Catholic reviewers of his work