Bob Bowie

John Stuart Mill said “Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption.” Perhaps Archbishop Rowan Williams is experiencing stage 1.

I have so much to write about the reviews and responses to this film and Pullman’s work in general that I could fill a book on it. So here are the main points:

1. Many reviewers are unaware that Pullman does not specifically name the Church in his book so interpret references to the Magisterium as some kind of toning down for the movie, which is not the case as the term was used throughout the trilogy.
2. Most reviewers are unaware that the term Magisterium is used to describe the teaching authority within the Catholic Church.
3. Few seem to distinguish Pullman’s attack on politico-religious power from his love of mythology (though the Guardian has explored his use of Milton).
4. Many papers have misreported that the Catholic League has asked for a boycot of the film eg the Times and the Guardian. This is not at all true (see here)
5. The National Secular Society feels it is not anti-religious enough. (see here)

As for the responses of Catholics there is quite a lot of disagreement:

1. The film was positively reviewed in the Tablet (an International Catholic weekly paper)
2. The Catholic Herald did not find it objectionable (see here)
3. However there now seems to be a more critical response from wither the Vatican or some Bishops (see here).

I think the books are very good, and the BBC radio play was also very good. I have not yet seen the film. Personally I have always enjoyed fiction, and I understand that while fiction may have important messages for us, reflecting on events and aspects of our world, it is, ultimately fiction.

The issue about politico-religious totalitarian power is really important. Most people and most religions seem pretty opposed to that sort of thing. As a Catholic I think that my religion has a duty to be political - to argue its cases, to be concerned about issues of social justice as that is part of the gospel message of Good News. Sometimes that means being a prophetic voice and challenging received wisdom. But I would never condone the merging of religious and political power. That seems to cause rather a lot of problems where it happens in the world today, and was certainly a problem in the past for Christianity. I also find any idea of God which suggests he wants to deprive us of our ability to think freely and make choices independently clashes with the Christian concept of God. My reading of the Bible, Augustine and Aquinas suggests that God gave us rationality and will to act freely and while he wants us to do good, he wants us to act out of love for each other and him, and not out of fear.

So what’s all the fuss with Pullman? I just don’t get it.

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There have always been divisions within the Catholic Church but in England and Wales, those divisions have not been as prominent as in other parts of the world, such as the USA where proudly liberal and conservative Catholic leaning organizations exist. However, the issue of the Pope Benedict’s motu proprio of last July, licensing the more general use of the Tridentine Rite has led to open tensions with a number of Catholic Bishops. See The Cafeteria is Closed which reprints an unsigned editorial in the Tablet.

Robert Mickens, reporting for The Tablet writes “A senior official at the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) this week said that bishops who were trying to curtail use of the Tridentine Mass were “in rebellion against the Pope” and guilty of pride, “one of the gravest sins”.”

A senior official at the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW) this week said that bishops who were trying to curtail use of the Tridentine Mass were “in rebellion against the Pope” and guilty of pride, “one of the gravest sins”.

There have been a spate of “interpretative documents that inexplicably try to limit the Pope’s motu proprio”. Strange times indeed!

Teachers of Religious Education might find the Tearfund survey to be of interests though I have not yet scrutinised the research methodology (here) or the findings in detail (here). Here are the headlines:

• Prayer is a vital part of life for nearly half of UK adults, with 20 million saying they pray
• one in three adults believe that God is watching over them
• Of the 42% (20 million) of UK adults who pray, 13 million pray at least once a month
• 12 million at least once a week
• Nine million adults pray every day
• One in three believes God will answer their prayers
• 12 million adults believe that prayer can change their friends’, families’ and their own lives
• One in five believes prayer changes the world
• London is prayer capital of UK, with 73% of adults praying
• 9.5 million people (47% of those who pray) believe that prayer changes what happens to the lives of people living in poverty in developing countries.
• While 42% of UK adults pray, the figure for church attendance (at least once a year) is 22%.

This builds on an earlier survey which suggested that 7.6 million adults attend church at least once a month and is presented against the secularisation thesis. The report Prayer in the UK suggests that prayer is perhaps more common than many believe. It is based on a survey of  a representative sample of 2,000 adults.