Catholic boards concerned about book's 'anti-God' message
Kingston Whig-Standard: 2007 November 28
The Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board is combing its elementary school libraries, looking for copies of the controversial children's fantasy novel The Golden Compass.
If a copy is found, a review of the novel - already pulled and under scrutiny by two other Catholic school boards in the Toronto area - will be conducted by local board officials and parents to determine if it is appropriate for students to read.
"When it came to our attention, I asked our team if it was in our schools. It's not a prescribed book," said board director Michael Schmitt, who admitted he'd never heard of The Golden Compass before receiving a call from the Whig-Standard.
The acclaimed 1995 novel, the first in a trilogy written by British author Philip Pullman, is being reviewed by both the Dufferin-Peel and Halton Catholic school boards in the Toronto area after they received complaints about its "anti-God" content.
The fantasy books feature a parallel universe, homosexual angels and a church that wants to separate prepubescent children from their demons before they lose their innocence - a metaphorical reference to sex.
"I can almost guarantee the book is there," said Queen's University assistant English professor Shelley King, who has taught The Golden Compass in her courses. "I think it's a pity if children don't get to read it. My perspective is that education is about free inquiry." King said the book received the Carnegie of Carnegies award this year for being the best of the Carnegie Medal award winners of the last 70 years.
And it's ironic, she said, that the movie The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman, which has stirred up the controversy among Catholics in the U.S., has removed references to religion in an attempt to be less controversial and appeal to a wider audience.
Pullman has been spoiling for this fight. In 2001, he said he was "trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief."
This week he called American Catholics attacking his books "nitwits."
King understands that local Catholic educators would be concerned about having the book in their schools if they regard it as "something that challenges the doctrine."
"For them, there is a conflict," King said. "Either you decide you want to engage with the ideas in the book and, if that's what you see as the role of education, you leave the book in the library."
The Dufferin-Peel board is conducting what it calls an informal review in which staff have been assigned to read the book and report back to administrators.
In Halton, the book has been pulled from elementary school library shelves and principals instructed not to distribute the December Scholastic book order because The Golden Compass is on the sales list.
"I had never heard of the book, to tell you the truth," said Schmitt. "At this point, we're just going to familiarize ourselves with the book. It came out in 1995. This isn't a fresh book.
"What we'll probably do is ask some people to read it. I would probably ask a superintendent, a principal, a teacher and a parent or two. We would want to know what the concern is with the book."
Schmitt said he will ask his assigned readers to determine if the book is "appropriate" for students and, if so, for which age groups. King said that all the honours Pullman has received for his books are well-deserved.
"What's hard to explain is just how good Pullman is literarily. He is a writer of particular excellence. The books are designed to really teach children about literary culture - to make them better readers," she said.
Even if the Algonquin board decides to pull The Golden Compass, King said she wouldn't characterize the move as censorship. "It's within a [doctrinal] context.
Theoretically, the child is still free to go to a public library and read that book."
Local school reading lists haven't aroused too much controversy.
Last year, the Limestone District School Board received a complaint from the Canadian Jewish Congress about the book Three Wishes by author Deborah Ellis.
The book consists of interviews with children involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and made the Silver Birch Awards list as a book recommended for students to read.
The congress felt the material wasn't appropriate for children in grades 4 to 6.
In the end, a local committee decided to keep the book on the elementary reading list with the proviso that teachers read it to their students and use it to stimulate discussion.
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