http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/29/philip.pullman.amber.spyglass.golden.compass.banned
I love Banned Books Week for the exact same reasons Pullman mentions here ..... I agree with his views on religion too - and the difference between private faith and public institution/organisation.
7 comments:
Yes he is right!!! I object to organized religion because it's nothing more than My God is Better Than Your God and I'm Going to Prove It; a grownup version of a playground shoving match, only lethal weapons can be involved. How many wars, large and small, have been fought over religion and continue to be fought? And for what purpose, other than to say Allah is better than God or Jahweh? Aren't we talking about the same deity? Such bullshit.
Oh dear, ever the controversial.
I do love his books but I'm sure they wouldn't sell anywhere near as well if it weren't for the religious fuss made over them.
He admits that himself :)
I noticed...it's true though...
Look at what it did for Dan Brown. His books are mediocre at best without the religious controversy. Take that out and he is a very b-grade writer.
Not to mention formulaic
I especially agree with Pullman's last paragraph. I have always regarded myself as a non-believing spiritual person with a high abhorrence of organised religion of any sort. He's expressed my feelings extremely well.
As for the book sales rising because of the ban - it's the most natural things. Forbid something and you make it interesting. Oldest natural law known to mankind. Every parent knows that their child will immediately be drawn to everything it's not supposed to do. Censors are stupid. But there's a but: if a group of people is censored and strictly controlled for a very long period of time the restrictions will become second nature. Just look at the muslims: religious over-powering for 1400 years and they are still very much entangled in these medieval religious restrictions that most of them can't even imagine to let go of them. Same for the Jews, where it's even worse, because it's a 5000 years old culture. Christians, for some reasons, have fared a bit better, because a majority has been able to let go and differ between private faith and public over-powering religious domineering (except for the US, I think the minority is about the same as in Europe, in the other sense).
I would agree about Dan Brown. I bought the so much discussed what's-it-called-again-book and didn't even finish it... I thought it started off well, but then it all went downhill.
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