Edit: I wrote this post late last night, so the original draft was full of typos and incoherent statements. Now all typos & errors in grammers have been fixed, so I hope you enjoy this post or find something in these words that will be meaningful to you.
With the highest regards,
T.S. Ellis - 10/28/07
I really wish I had not seen this thread. I do everything I can to avoid any serious religious discussions held outside of any educational forum or scholarly institutes. Public discussions of god, religion, & all thing spiritual never go anywhere because there aren't any rules of discussion established or some kind of moderator to make sure the debate doesn't become a redundent shouting match. Further more, 99% of people already have their mind made up one way or the other, so without the presence of any real or documented evidence on either side of the debate, no one is going to be persuaded out of their beliefs.
Never the less, I can't walk away from this topic since I have a unique perspective on Philip Pullman & his acclaimed trilogy titled, 'His Dark Materials' because I was a student & intern under Philip Pullman for 6 months while I was studying abroad in Oxford as apart of the Scholars Exchange program in the junior year of my undergrad studies. So with absolute honesty I can say he has been the greatest influence on my life.(with the exception of my grandfather, C.P. Ellis.)
Philip Pullman took a 20 year old boy who knew way too much on every subject but life & used his knowledge only for childish self serving purposes & built the incubating chrysalis that started a metamorphosis that maded him become a man who uses his talents to try & make a difference in order to give homage to the blessing of everyday life that are taken for granted.
Now, before I continue I want to make something clear to anyone who reads this post. I have not read any of the posts that precede my own. So if any point or position I take somehow transgresses on the opinions of others, or unknowingly copies any points made in this post, please forgive me that was not my intent. With this being said, let me address the topic at hand.
First, I will confirm that Philip Pullman has been documented as a self-professed atheist, though I know for a fact that he is using the term in the most vague sense of the word. Having been apart of this discussion several times with him in assemblies, course lectures, & in private we share the same sentiment when it comes to the questions & beliefs of 'God' or any all powerful diety that may hold influence over the world. We believe that it is pointless to take a stance either way, because you can't spend your time on this earth asking questions that can & will only be answered when we pass away. So to pursue 'God' while you are living is a fool's arrand. We all have been seeking him from the moment we were born & every second that passes in our life we are closer to locating him through our continued existence. So to search for something that can't be discovered until our consciousness on this planet comes to an end, is a waste of the time we are given to use for earthly pursuits.
The problems & accusations come when you are forced to give your view point in public. The liturgical members of these ossified religious sects who are so adamant in their beliefs that they will not let you walk away until you define your beliefs in the black and white terms of yes I believe or no I don't believe in God.
After the first print of,'The Golden Compass' hit the book shelves he was able to avoid the subject of spiritual convictions, because the first book doesn't address the ideology of religion as does halfway through the second book,'The Subtle Knife' & through out 'The Amber Spyglass.' In the first novel. (Only known as 'Northern Lights' when it was first released throughout Great Britian) Anyt reference to 'The Church' of Lyra's realm is vague ( I say Lyra's realm because the second & third book is set in several alternate realms that are similar but not with distinct biological changes.) so the only thing that is made clear is the alliances of any characters & the cryptic ulterior motives of 'The Church' in their attempts to capture Lyra.
Now, these accusations of being Anti-God come from events in,'The Subtle Knife' & throughout, 'The Amber Spyglass'. I am won't go into vivid details on the novel, because I am not going to ruin the story for anyone who has read the trilogy, but there are a couple of concepts to have to be revealed for the sake of the point I am trying to make.
The following opinions I am about to share aren't mine alone, they were influenced & verified by author in our conversations together. While writing 'His Dark Materials,' he wasn't intending to castigate God. He is making a social commentary our world and the influence of organized religion that has used it's position of power in numbers by proclaiming to represent the will of God to hold sway over the growth & advancement of our society & humanity, as well as intervening in the diplomacy between nations, & fueling violent conflicts over rights to lands by proclamation of God, conflicting spiritual beliefs, & pigment of skin.
Any artist, author, politician, or public figure of any kind who has dared to address organized religion in a light not favorable to their self-cast image, becomes the victim of verbal assualts & accusions which is broadcast to millions to label them as 'Anti-God' & a demonic figure intent on collapsing the moral structure of man who would leave us at the mercy of thieves, rapists, & murderers if not for the protection given by religions. Yet, after all this time I am still looking for one verse in 'The Bible' or 'The Koran' where is says one interpretation is right & the rest our wrong.
Now let me clarify that Philip Pullman isn't 'Anti-God' because that is the furthest thing from the truth. He is anti-any organization that manipulates spiritual belief to control simple people who only want peace & truth in their life. So religion makes promises that they will receive all that & riches bewyond their wildest dreams after they die & as absurd as it sounds it works, so they become pawn for political & economical influence as well as a renewable source of revenue to fund their secret ventures.
In the final novel of the trilogy there is a war that takes place between scientists & learned beings who clash with 'The Church' & their alliance with celestial dieties. This war represents the struggles between the scientific knowledge, beliefs, & discovery of men & women which have all but put an end to superstitious belief. While 'The Church' & the dieties that fight with them represents how religion has used the belief in God & fear of God's wrath by manipulating ancient scriptures deemed holy & alter the translation without sharing their method of doing so, in order to prevent the rise & influence of science or any alternative idea that opposes their own interests, no matter how much it could change society for the better & an example of this is stem cell research. As human becomes all the more capable of preventing death or end the biological deficiencies that plague humanity, when in the past the only option was prayer and belief in god in hopes of a miracle, religion is afraid this will dwendle the numbers of men,women, & children that look to them for love & hope of better things & give what little money or possessions they have which built the exstravagant temples, cathedrals, & pieces which represent their power. So now the leaders of these sects have stop being these so called holy man ordained by God to deliver his word & have become fearmongers who snarl & show their teeth in order to keep a hold on all of our wealth & possessions which they believe is theirs by right.
If there is a God watching over all of us with promises of paradise when our consciousness ends on this earth, then believe me when I say going to a lavish building for two hours twice a week to listen to some old fart tell grandiose stories about a apocolyptic struggle between good & evil that goes on while you are not looking, isn't going to get you to heaven any faster.
What matters is how you live your life. If you are kind, charitable, fair, honest, & take the time to help those in need then there are great things promised for you long after you spend your last aware moment on this Earth & this statement holds true whether or not there is or isn't a God in heaven who watches over us, because when you do good & you are good to others then a chain of events begins to take place which continues on long after you are dead & at the end of these chain of events you set in motion is some form of occurrence that will make the world better for humanity & better for all forms of life inside this eco-galaxy.
Last edited by tsellisjr; 10-28-07 at 02:30 PM.
Reason: To repair any & all errors.
Reply to Topic
) for not reading the thread before responding. It's not a long thread and it would make others who have taken the time to compose their thoughts on the subject feel equally appreciated in posting their stances as you hope feel in your own i.e if you want to comment and be read you should do the same for others. 
