More than Atheism

I am a huge fan of CBC Metro Morning's Andy Barrie but I sent him an email of mild admonishment today. He had heard about the withdrawal of the children's books by Philip Pullman from a school library's shelves. Pullman has included a strongly anti-Christian message in his books, as we discovered when our son, Isaac, read them years ago. In fact Ike chose not to continue the series because of what he felt was hatred toward the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Mr. Barrie pointed out that Pullman is an atheist and then mentioned a number of other famous atheist authors. I suggested to Andy that his comments may have confused the issue. Pullman is not just an atheist. He is an anti-theist because he targets religion in his books.In the Toronto Star today it says that Pullman has made controversial statements, telling the Washington Post in 2001 he was "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief." In 2003, he said that compared to the Harry Potter series, his books had been "flying under the radar, saying things that are far more subversive than anything poor old Harry has said. My books are about killing God."

I pointed out in my email to Andy that while one of the authors he mentioned, Pierre Berton, was an atheist who wrote a strong criticism of the "comfortable pew" his children's books did not reflect these convictions. Would Andy be okay with books on school shelves which were negative toward gays and lesbians or which were overtly racist? I'm sure he wouldn't, even though he is a strong believer in freedom of expression. Some things just shouldn't be tolerated, even in finely crafted literature.

It is not "open season" on my faith or any other.