I am continually amazed by the amount of moral indignation and panic that can be generated by a book or a movie when it is even faintly regarded as being critical of large institutions like the Roman Catholic Church. The fact that Catholic school boards in Calgary have been ordered by their Bishop to remove The Golden Compass from their bookshelves is but one indicator of efforts to stifle discussion about how religious institutions attempt to control their members.
In the United States a similar kind of religious fear mongering can be witnessed in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination. Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon, was forced to up the religious rhetoric, and declare that God [implying the Christian go] not only had a place but had to have a place in American politics. What next? Will non-Christians be denied voting rights in America?
One of the key issues that led many people to North America was the religious oppression that once dominated Europe. Wars were fought there over religion. It seems like some people are trying to continue that battle here.
Meantime, I visited The Golden Compass website and found out that my daemon or soul creature is a Tiger. What is your?
Friday, December 7, 2007
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