Are His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman for children?

There is a series of books by Philip Pullman called His Dark Materials. The first of which, The Golden Compass, is being made into a movie due to be released this December.

The books have several topics which I am concerned about having our children read. The topics seem more appropriate for a much older age group. The book cover
· early sexuality, the 12 year olds have sexual relations in the 3rd book
· discuss the church involved in the castration of children (2nd book) and many other tourtures
· anti-religion, where as the Church organization is without a single good person. killing God in the 3rd book.

Many people think that it is all fine because it is just made up. I am not sure.

I do beleive that kids know the difference between this made-up church in a book and the one they may or may not attend in real life. But Pullman is using ALL Christian and specifically Catholic terminology for the bad guys. Much of this terminology has not even been heard by children –and in fact most adults- and now these words will hold in their minds a negative, if not evil, meaning. The parallels will be lost on most children. But later, they will hear these words in relation to any church and have an immediate bad feeling that that Church is “evil” just as in the book.
Here are just a few definitions that are “redefined” by Pullman as overbearing/oppressing/evil organizations or actions:
· ob·la·tion (O-blā'shən, ō-blā'-) The act of offering the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
· mag·is·te·ri·um (măj'ĭ-stîr'ē-əm) n. Roman Catholic Church. The authority to teach religious doctrine.
Not to mention the words doctrine, pope, bishops, cardnials, priests, nuns,.

A made-up fantasy story “makes up” the names. Think of the Star Wars bad guys: a political organization. They made up the names the Empire, storm troopers, the sith… They didn’t use GOP, Republican, elephants, conseratives… Why? This would anger people. Star Wars wasn’t a statement about a particular political organization, it was fictional. I contrast this with the Pullman books and his “fictional church”.

Imagine you were gay and the terminology in the book describing the evil organization was all taken from a gay rights organization. Imagine you were a democrat and the book terminology used was DFL, congress person, donkey and liberal. Imagine you were black and the evil organization portrayed in the book was the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus.

I understand the the movie has removed most references to actual terminology of christian churches, but I am guessing that the movie will drive children to read the trilogy (a Christmas gift for the kids? I hope not).