Halton's Catholic board has pulled The Golden Compass fantasy book – soon to be a Hollywood blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman – off school library shelves because of a complaint.So what's the scoop on this blasphemous tome?
"(The complaint) came out of interviews that Philip Pullman had done, where he stated that he is an atheist and that he supports that," said Scott Millard, the board's manager of library services.
The award-winning tome was voted the best children's book in the past 70 years by readers across the globe.No word yet on dates or locations for the big "book burning" parties... but we'll keep you posted.
Sponsored by the Government of Ontario.
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FROM THE COMMENTS:
"The Golden Compass is a book about the quest to kill GOD."Which begs the question, "What kind of puny-ass deity are you people worshipping anyway?"
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UPDATE: The Censorship Inquisition widens
Two other Toronto-area Catholic boards of education are studying copies of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy after the Halton District Catholic School Board removed the children's books from its library shelves.But, it seems, not quite everybody is on board...
Both the Durham and Dufferin-Peel Catholic boards have said they will also review the popular children's fantasy series.
In the U.K., the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams reviewed Pullman's trilogy for the Guardian newspaper in 2004.Heretic!
Williams praised the books and recommended them to young readers.
"This extraordinary theatrical adventure sets a creative religious agenda in a way hard to parallel in recent literature and performance," he wrote.
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