Give judgment for me, O God

12 September 2009

An example of demented anti-religious bigotry from one of the world's most successful children's authors

AFTER angering the Vatican with the fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, children's author Philip Pullman is to launch an assault on Christianity in a polemic that denies Jesus was the son of God.

He claims Christ emerged from the "fervid imagination" of St Paul, the apostle, and spawned a religion that's inspired some to "fanatical bigotry". Although full details of the plot are under wraps, the book's title, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, gives a strong indication of Pullman's views.

"For every man or woman who has been led to goodness by a church, and I know there have been many, there has been another who has been inspired by the same church to a rancid and fanatical bigotry for which the only fitting word is evil," Pullman said.

"The more power the church has, the worse it behaves, without exception."

I am simply staggered that anyone, not just a successful children's author, could seriously make such wild claims. I am appalled that many people will swallow this ignorant rubbish without questioning it.

There is a mountain of historical evidence on the first centuries of the Church. There are the writings of the Apostles, the Evangelists and the Church Fathers, not just St Paul. I wonder how much of this material Pullman will bother to read. I am dying to hear the historical references for the claim that St Paul's imagination was responsible for Christianity.

Then there is the assertion that every second Christian is fanatically evil. Can this bloke be serious? If he was right, the evidence would be all around us. It's not. I am the same age as Pullman. My whole life has been in the Church and with people of religion. I will not speak for myself, but my brothers and sisters (there are six of us) are professional people of integrity. My mother and father, who Pullman insults, led exemplary lives. Truthfully, I have never met a fellow religionist in my life who could be described as fanatically evil. To the contrary, Catholic religious I have met have been overwhelmingly men and women of outstanding character. And can Pullman name what part of Pope Benedict's three encyclicals are evil and will incite every second Christian to evil?

The pure unadulterated evil I have been aware of in my lifetime has proceeded from militant atheists and atheistic regimes. They are so well known that I do not have to name names.

But let's cut the crap. We know that Pullman will be not using hard historical evidence or the plain observation of everyday life. He will be working from the grotesque bigoted mythologies that fervid materialist imaginations have spawned. And he will be using his talents as an author and his influence on young impressionable minds to spread his dark materials.

On the evidence, Pullman is an outstanding example of rancid fanatical bigotry that comes from a mind filled with hatred. How would one measure the evil perpetrated by such bigotry and hatred? The befouling of young minds.

Comment: gerard@gerardcharleswilson.com