More Kid Lit Controversy

I've often said that if I weren't going to be a lawyer I would be a children's librarian because I love, love, love children's literature. The problem is that I'm not really nice enough to be a librarian and I don't really like children--except my own, of course. So I'm much better suited for being a lawyer (who doesn't represent children, as I learned from by child ad clinic--but I've digressed.)

And I'm very child-like in the way I am drawn to any book which is surrounded by controversy. A while back I posted on the ridiculousness of the fact that the children's book The Higher Power of Lucky was banned from some libraries because it contains the word "scrotum." I have since read the book, which I found quite charming and very well written and then passed it along to PS.

Now I have discovered that there is much controversy surrounding The Golden Compass which is being released as a movie in December. So of course, the first thing I did was put the book on hold at my local library.

Apparently the author is an avowed atheist who has openly stated that his books "are about killing God." Of course, this isn't sitting well with The Catholic League and other conservative Christian groups. And here's another interesting link.

Despite my fundamentalist Christian upbringing, I have eschewed organized religion for the past several years. I generally claim to be agnostic, but the truth is that I am on the fast track to atheism. And as much as I like a good banned book, and even better, to be at odds with the Catholic League, I will admit that there is something patently wrong and offensive about writing books about killing God. Because one of the things that drove me from Christianity--and really all organized religion--is the lack of tolerance. Just because you believe one way doesn't give you the right to stomp all over everyone else's beliefs. And so I feel the same way about someone whose goal is to promote atheism and tear down others' beliefs. The author certainly has the right not to believe in God--but does it really help others better understand atheism if he attacks their right to believe in God? That is just as bad a the bible-thumpers who preach that everyone who does not believe the way they believe is doomed to an eternity in Hell. I just don't understand why it is so difficult for so many to simply mind their own business and respect others' rights to choose their own belief system.

In any event, I'll definitely be reading the book. Which is exactly what those darn book-banners don't want. But I will read and decide what is appropriate for my children and me.