Always Advent

An article from 2000–quite good!

On Religion in SF and Fantasy:
An Interview with Orson Scott Card

by Moira Allen

In your view, how well (or poorly) is religion portrayed in current fantasy and science fiction?

There is little difference on this point between speculative fiction and literary fiction — or any other genre except that of religious fiction itself.

In our culture, intellectuals have become so uniformly a-religious or anti-religious that our fiction, with few exceptions, depicts religious people in only two ways: the followers are ignorant and stupid and easily fooled, and the leaders are exploitative and cynical, manipulating others’ faith for their private benefit.

I know some people who fit those descriptions. But they are in a tiny minority. Most religious people I know are smart, well-educated, independent-minded, stubborn, honest, and generous — at least as much so as the average intellectual, and usually more.

The hostility toward religion among American intellectuals arises, I think, from a clear awareness that it was against a publicly religious culture that their own culture rebelled. Now that rebellion is completely successful in terms of capturing control of all the public instruments of transmission of culture — the universities, the media, and the literature and art — but it has become such a shibboleth of intellectual life to snipe at religion that, like the aging “revolutionaries” of the old Soviet Union, they mindlessly continue to “rebel” in order to defend their tight grip on the establishment. Indeed, those intellectuals are the establishment. And what was once a daring and rebellious stance is now just another example of lockstep conformists mindlessly echoing ideas that they haven’t examined.

More…

A couple of insightful posts from D.G.D. Davidson at SciFiCatholic regarding the Dumbledore is gay furor from a while back:

From 10/22/07:

It is of course the business of a writer to know everything about her characters, including things that never make it into the final draft. Nonetheless, I find myself asking the question, why is Dumbledore homosexual? Such a detail is hardly necessary to explain his relationship with Grindelwald. I’m inclined, perhaps too cynically, to view this as another example of our tendecy today to sexualize everything, rendering platonic friendship nearly impossible, even in fiction. On the other hand, it may just be another bit of proof that Rowling is not exactly the master of subtlety. After all, homosexual attraction is the most obvious explanation for one man’s great love for another man.

the complete post for 10/22/07:
http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/10/star-trek-and-dumbledor e.html

From 10/27/07:

I have three great fears regarding what will happen as a result of Rowling’s comment. The first is that members of the homosexual subculture will see this as some kind of triumph, even though the books contain not the faintest hint of homosexuality. My other fear is that conservative Catholics will overreact and end up looking like a bunch of homophobic bigots. Both these fears have already become reality.

My third fear is that the Christian boosters of Harry Potter will unjustly feel betrayed even though Rowling made them no promises in the first place.

the complete post for 10/27/07:
http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/10/sci-fi-catholics-statem ent-on-j-k.html

If you haven’t checked out SciFiCatholic yet, you must. Great stuff.

Here’s something I came across there recently regarding Star Trek:

Thanks to two readers who alerted me to an excellent essay and a news item.

James Pawlak of Crusader Knight sent me Raymond J. Keating’s article “Faith, or Lack Thereof, in Star Trek,” which appears at OrthodoxyToday.org. Most people are probably aware that Gene Roddenberry was an atheist, and it is reflected in his most famous creation, as Keating explains. However, I object to Keating’s insistence that a similar rejection or ignorance of religion exists in most sf or even most TV sf. Though I don’t see much television, I specifically remember a Babylon 5 episode celebrating the diversity of human religion, and it seems the remake of Battlestar Galactica, though I didn’t particularly like what I saw of it, also has religion on its mind.

“Several conservatives writing on NR seemed to wrestle with being fans of this rather liberal television show. It’s an interesting point, including for this self-confessed conservative Trekker. Perhaps it’s as straightforward as a combination of interesting characters, compelling stories that often involve some big issues to debate and discuss, cool space stuff, and general sci-fi geekiness.”

Here at The Sci Fi Catholic where we don’t believe everything has to match our worldview to be good fiction, we’ll just say, “Stop wrestling, Ray.”

(SciFiCatholic, 10/22/07)

LINKS

Blog: The Sci Fi Catholic
http://www.scificatholic.com/

Article: “Faith, or Lack Thereof, in Star Trek”
http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles7/KeatingStarTrek.php

All I have to say about this is “Bad writer! No biscuit!” Authors cannot, once their work is published, edit the story and add things they neglected to include before. If she wants to make Dumbledore “gay,” JKR will have to write a prequel, because I don’t buy it. Never in a million years would anyone read HP 1-7 and conclude that Dumbledore was homosexual. An adage used in screenwriting and playwriting goes like this: “If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage.”

It’s important to keep in mind, however, that being homosexual is a lot different from acting out homosexually. The former is a state of being that is considered disordered yet morally neutral, and one in which it is arguably more difficult to live the virtue of chastity. The latter is a mortal sin.

Fine. JKR wants to write about a character who is homosexual and basically sees the one homosexual episode in his life as a huge mistake. The courage of the chaste homosexual is always admirable. However, I’m not sure such a theme is appropriate for a story marketed as children’s literature.

The best thing I’ve seen on this topic comes from D.G.D. Davidson at SciFiCatholic, who understands both Catholicism and genre fiction. To read his highly intelligent, reasonable, and compassionate analysis, read on. I was going to post the link, but for some reason when I move the pointy finger icon over anything on Davidson’s blog, it disappears and I’m unable to link to it. So, in the spirit of “it’s better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission,” I just cut and paste the whole entry below. (I don’t think he’ll mind…) More links on this topic appear after Davidson’s article:

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Sci Fi Catholic’s Statement on J. K. Rowling’s Recent Comment Regarding Dumbledore:

In light of the ridiculous controversy this has engendered, and in protestation against the Massachusetts Catholic school that recently banned the Harry Potter books, I decided it was time to make a statement. Snuffles was supposed to do it, but he says he finds the subject “too boring.” I know we’re late on this, but The Sci Fi Catholic is late on this sort of thing by design. This isn’t a news agency. We like to get our bearings and think a while before shooting our mouths off.

In case you’re not up on your inexplicably world-rocking literature news, J. K. Rowling mentioned at Carnegie Hall that she regarded the character Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, as a homosexual. Kind readers have provided me with links, so for the complete story, see this article at The Leaky Cauldron. Catholic blog The Blue Boar has an interesting statement and link. For a level-headed Catholic essay on the subject, Mark Shea’s post is a good place to go. For a good example of Catholics Behaving Badly, you might try enduring the lengthy and vitriolic arguments in the comments on that post, which at the time of this writing number 310, thereby making me insanely jealous.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Rowling’s statement has no effect on the actual novels, which contain no references to homosexuality or even hints.

Comments on Shea’s blog make it painfully obvious that many Catholics are in need of a reiteration of the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. Homosexuality is a “disorder” in the sense that a person in that condition has his passions ordered to an object other than that to which they properly belong. This is not a sin. When a person acts out in response to the disorder, that is a sin. We have no evidence whatsoever that Dumbledore has ever been an active homosexual. His merely being homosexual is not the terrible thing some Christian readers are making it out to be.

It is not a sin to use homosexual characters in a work of fiction or to depict them as intelligent and likable people, contra one of the commenters on Shea’s blog. As I know from experience, some homosexuals are in fact intelligent and likable people.

The media nonsense is going to die down in a few weeks. The novels will remain unaffected in content.

An encyclopedia of the Potterverse is slated for release sometime in the future and may contain this detail on Dumbledore even though the novels do not. Parents will want to consider that before buying the encyclopedia for their children.

I have three great fears regarding what will happen as a result of Rowling’s comment. The first is that members of the homosexual subculture will see this as some kind of triumph, even though the books contain not the faintest hint of homosexuality. My other fear is that conservative Catholics will overreact and end up looking like a bunch of homophobic bigots. Both these fears have already become reality.

My third fear is that the Christian boosters of Harry Potter will unjustly feel betrayed even though Rowling made them no promises in the first place. The books use Christian themes, but they have never given us reason to believe Rowling was writing them as an orthodox Christian. Nor should that be a matter of concern; a great many good books, for children or otherwise, are not explicitly orthodox Christian. Nonetheless, because so many feel disillusioned, I fear they will end up in the camp of Michael O’Brien and his ilk, who long to strap iron chains over Christians’ imaginations and subject them to arbitrary and contradictory rules that would reduce fantasy writing to mindless, artistically inferior rehashings of The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. Rowling’s comment does not bode well for the future of Christian fantasy, which has already earned a reputation for producing soft-soaping knock-offs of its betters. It also does not bode well for the future of fantasy readers who are Christian, who as a result of this will become more cynical regarding fantasy literature. I predict Rowling’s statement will widen the rift of the Culture Wars, produce a further atrophying of the Christian imagination, and increase the exodus from the Church of young people who will not tolerate the oppression of their imaginations by the likes of O’Brien.

Davidson provides some good links, so until I can get the pointy finger working properly and give you a link directly to the article, just go to the SciFiCatholic October 2007 archives page:

http://www.scificatholic.com/2007_10_01_archive.html

…and scroll down a bit.

Other links on the Dumbledore is gay brouhaha:

This blogger seems to post on this subject quite a lot:
Cacciaguida
http://cacciaguida.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html#9220 899456316358412

Harry Potter posts from Mark Shea:
http://markshea.blogspot.com/search/label/Harry%20Potter

The “Outing of Dumbledore: A Catholic Response by Bill Donaghy, 10/28/07
http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/66886

In Defense of Dumbledore by Regina Doman, 12/21/07
http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/68303

Transcripts from the “Dumbledore is gay” talk:
http://eldritchhobbit.livejournal.com/175955.html
http://the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carn egie-hall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-a bbott-and-scores-more

Updated 12/17/07

The less said about these books and movies the better. My impression has been that the Catholic press, perhaps in a prudent effort to avoid giving Pullman’s stuff too much free publicity, has been less hysterical about The Golden Compass et al than it was about Harry Potter, Da Vinci Code, The Last Temptation of Christ, and so on. These types of books and movies are wonderful opportunities for Christendom to either do something useful or make an ass of itself, so it doesn’t pay to be too shrill, since any controversy surrounding a piece of entertainment tends to fuel sales.

Note that the box office numbers (so far) and critical reviews of the movie are not what Hollywood was hoping for.

That said, here’s a stack o’ links for y’all. Have fun!

Box office performance of The Golden Compass motion picture

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071209/ap_en_ot/box_office;_ylt =AnUxKqOt.J.NGAQMfXoVLGys0NUE
“Compass opesn to modest $26.1 million” 12/9/07

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071208/film_nm/boxoffice_dc;_yl t=Asm9zYnu_gsNHd42xUSXtXJxFb8C
“Golden Compass disappoints at box office”

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/12/08/box-office-golden-compas s-disaster-juno-a-record-breaker/
“Box Office: Golden Compass disaster! Juno a record-breaker!”
(One of the comments—the 4th or 5th one down, so you don’t have to scroll too far—made me laugh. The commenter said “don’t mess with Catholics.” LOL!)

http://frmartinfox.blogspot.com/2007/12/golden-compass-sinki ng-like-stone.html
Fr. Martin Fox provides some info comparing box office returns: The Golden Compass versus Harry Potter versus Lord of the Rings, and so on.

From The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

http://www.catholicleague.org/images/upload/image_2007100533 49.pdf
e-Booklet: The Golden Compass: Agenda Unmasked, 2007

http://catholicleague.org/videos/
Catholic League president Bill Donahue warns Catholics about Phillip Pullman’s books and the movie based on the first of the books. Oct. 2007

http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1342
Article: “The Golden Compass Sparks Protest” 10/9/07

http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1365
Article: “Golden Compass Fans Want Red Meat” 12/5/07

Reviews of the His Dark Materials books

http://www.ignatius.com/atheismforchildren/index.asp
Pied Piper of Atheism: Phillip Pullman and Children’s Fantasy
by Pete Vere and Sandra Miesel, Ignatius Press, 2007

http://lookingcloser.wordpress.com/2007/11/20/the-golden-com pass-questions-ive-been-asked-answers-ive-given/
Jeffrey Overstreet on The Golden Compass and His Dark Materials, 11/20/07

http://www.zenit.org/article-21008?l=english
“What Every Parent Should Know About The Golden Compass”. A ZENIT interview with Peter Vere and Sandra Miesel. 11/14/07

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=913
“The Devil’s Party” by Alan Jacobs 12/3/07 First Things

http://www.amywelborn.com/reviews/pullman.html
Article: Amy Welbon’s analysis of the His Dark Materials series originally appeared in OSV, date unknown, but the author indicates it was “a few years ago.” After I read this article, I “disappeared” a copy of The Golden Compass that someone had given my daughter but which, thankfully, she hadn’t read yet.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/12/26/051226fa_fact
“Far From Narnia: Phillip Pullman’s Secular Fantasy for Children”, The New Yorker, 12/26/05

Reviews of The Golden Compass motion picture (released 12/7/07)

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/archbishop-char .html
Archbishop Chaput’s take on the movie

http://www.decentfilms.com/sections/reviews/goldencompass.ht ml
Steven Greydanus’s review. He provides some other good links to commentary on TGC and Pullman.

http://www.catholic.org/ae/movies/review.php?id=26062
Catholic News Service review

http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/12/movie-review-golden-com pass.html
“Zzzzzzzzzzzz”. D.G.D. Davidson at SciFiCatholic reviews The Golden Compass, 12/9/07

http://www.usccb.org/movies/g/thegoldencompass.shtml
USCCB review
Update: As of 12/10/07, this link is no longer active. A reader pointed out to me that the USCCB pulled their review. Go to this link for more: http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/breaking-usccb. html

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/dec/07120304.html
“US Bishops asked to Fire Chief Film Critic over Glowing Reviews for “Brokeback” and “Compass”, 12/3/07, LifeSiteNews.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20 071206/REVIEWS/712060302
Roger Ebert’s review

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/the_golden_compas s_weitz
review by Bruce Diones of The New Yorker

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12062007/entertainment/movies/br oken_compass_280816.htm
“Broken Compass“, review by Kyle Smith of the New York Post

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/67472
Article: “Pullman vs. the Magisterium” by Terry Mattingly 11/23/07. Mattingly already did the snopes.com research and reports that, according to Snopes, Phillip Pullman really does say that his books are about killing God.

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/67850
Article: “The Golden Compass Brings Nietzsche to Narnia: The Philosophical Underpinnings of His Dark Materials” by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D., 12/04/07

http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/67309
Article: “The Golden Compass, Phillip Pullman, and The God-Killing Books for Kids” by Marc T. Newman, Ph.D., 11/16/07

Blog posts

http://jimmyakin.typepad.com/defensor_fidei/2007/11/philip-p ullman.html
“Philip Pullman is a Liar” by Jimmy Akin, 11/29/07. LOTS of reader comments here!

http://www.scificatholic.com/2007/12/your-one-stop-catholic- shop-for-all.html
“Your One-Stop Catholic Shop for All Things “The Golden Compass”, 12/3/07
D.G.D. Davidson at SciFiCatholic has a bunch of links, too…

http://aeternus.stblogs.com/2007/12/05/golden-compass-points -our-children-towards-aetheism-and-hate/#comments
“Golden Compass-points our children towards atheism and hate” by Aeternus, 12/5/07. Aeternus goes head to head with some aggressive commenters. Bravo, Aeternus!

http://romancatholicbychoice.stblogs.com/2007/12/03/golden-c ompass-bishops-like-it-catholic-league-doesnt/
from Roman Catholic by Choice, 12/03/07

http://filmchatblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/philip-pullman-exte nded-e-mail.html
Interview: Peter Chattaway interviews Phillip Pullman 11/28/07

http://www.thirdway.org.uk/past/showpage.asp?page=3949
Interview: Huw Spanner of Third Way interviews Phillip Pullman

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/pullman-fans-ta .html
Article: “Pullman fans talk trash and pull back the curtain”
By Carl Olson at Insight Scoop (The Ignatius Press blog) 12/7/07

http://insightscoop.typepad.com/2004/2007/12/la-times-christ .html
Article: “L.A. Times: Christians, not filmmakers, ruined “The Golden Compass”
By Carl Olson at Insight Scoop (The Ignatius Press blog) 12/9/07

http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?blog_id=2&id=8 2739EBC-3048-887F-8F94C2C651AF3ADF
Fr. James Martin, S.J. at America: The National Catholic Weekly
“The Golden Compass and Catholic ‘nitwits’” (note: “nitwits” is Phillip Pullman’s word, not Fr. Martin’s.)

http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2007/11/30/we-interrupt-this -immersion/
from Amy Welborn’s “Charlotte Was Both” blog, 11/30/07

http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/happy/
another one from Amy Welborn’s “Charlotte Was Both” blog, 12/4/07 with LOTS of reader comments.

Website

www.AtheismForChildren.com
This website does not promote atheism. It serves as a companion to Vere and Miesel’s book, Pied Piper of Atheism.

Podcasts

http://catholicipod.stblogs.com/2007/12/10/golden-compass-pi ed-piper-of-atheism-podcast/
Golden Compass and Pied Piper of Atheism podcast on Catholic iPod.

www.missionmoment.org
Bill Donaghy interview with Sandra Miesel. According to Donaghy the podcast was available at iTunes on 11/30/07, but when I followed the link it wasn’t among the available podcasts there. Check back if you don’t find it.