Friday, December 07, 2007

The Golden Compass; Freedom of Speech and Religion

I find it highly unfortunate that there is such a controversy going on about this movie. I have not seen it yet, nor have I read the books. But based on the information I have gleaned from the internet the story is thus:

The Golden Compass is a movie based on the first book of a series written by an atheist, Philip Pullman. He is very open about his beliefs and does not hide the fact that his series is about killing God. I can see how this is clearly upsetting to Christians and other believers of God. I also understand that Christians believe it is their duty to spread the Word of God and think they must speak out against these things. However....where to start?

Let's approach Freedom of Religion first.

It must be taken into consideration that we live in a world of free will where all have the natural right to believe and voice what they want to. God himself gave us that free will. He does not force us to believe in Him, but rather gives us the opportunity to do so. Yes, Christians are told to go out and spread His Word, however this should not be construed as to force Christianity upon all. Every human has their own free will, therefore they all must be allowed to choose their own path. The Christian duty is to spread the Word...that is fine, voice your beliefs out loud, in this you do your duty of spreading the Word. However do not force others to only believe what you believe for this then becomes oppression. By speaking or writing your beliefs openly, you provide the information necessary for someone to make their own decision on whether to choose the path of God. Therefore you have offered the opportunity to believe in God to others...as you should. It is then up to the individual to decide for themselves whether or not to believe in God. This also means that if someone chooses NOT to believe in God, even after we have offered the Word, then we must respect that decision. Just as we ALSO must respect that they have the right to voice their beliefs too. After all, how can someone make a proper decision without knowing both sides first?

Freedom of Speech
This goes hand in hand with Freedom of Religion. We, as humans with free will, also have the right to voice what we think or believe, no matter what those thoughts or beliefs may be. And this right applies to EVERYONE. So even though one opinion may be supported by the vast majority, and that majority is very loud...we must respect the minority's right to voice their opinions as well. We should not suppress the minority simply because it is against the majority's view. To do so is also oppression.

America's Freedoms
For those of you who bring up the point that America was built on belief in God, remember this: the founding fathers came to America to be free from oppression of religion. This then means that we should not oppress others in their beliefs. America was built on the eclectic cultures of many different parts of the world, so how can we pinpoint only 1 as the true belief?

To Each His Own
Each individual who sees this movie will come out of it with their own opinion or view. We should all enter with the idea not to judge the movie for it's author's beliefs, but to judge it simply as another fantasy adventure movie. For in all essence, that is all it is. A viewer who goes into this movie not knowing any of the background or controversy, shall come out of it as having seen another special effect filled fantasy adventure flick. Just as any who went to see Narnia without knowing its allusion to Christianity, would also come out of it as seeing another cool film. (I myself, having read the Narnia series as a child, did not even know of the correlation until the movie came out and I heard all the hubbub).

Also realize that the more controversy you create, the more likely people are going to go see it just to see what all the hype is about. Whereas if we simply allowed the movie to pass along like all the other films, everyone would just view it as a plain old movie. Then those who are knowledgable about the background can choose to voice their opinions and beliefs to their children, family and social circles, whether those views be for or against the film.

Just the let the film be a film.