HBO's 'Dark Materials,' 'Gemstones' both grapple with faith

The Dark Materials trilogy is thoroughly engaging and was a refreshing antidote to the Narnia saga, which I enjoyed reading as well.

Pullman is a great writer and probably more relatable than Lewis, in his depictions of the young adventurers. Always felt that the Pevensies were a bit too jolly.

Loved The Magician's Nephew, though.

His Dark Materials is absolutely epic. Can't wait to see this - James McAvoy and the super hot Ruth Wilson, fantastic casting.

Loved His Dark Materials as well. Incredible books. They're aimed at maybe teenage readers, but I read them in my late 20's and thoroughly enjoyed them. But this article is sugar-coating the religious aspect. The trilogy's anti-religious concepts are not an "interpretation" - they're very blatant, and are echoed by author Pullman's outspokenness on the topic. Whether that bothers you or not is another thing - just let's not tiptoe around the issue.

But this article is sugar-coating the religious aspect. The trilogy's anti-religious concepts are not an "interpretation" - they're very blatant, and are echoed by author Pullman's outspokenness on the topic. Whether that bothers you or not is another thing - just let's not tiptoe around the issue.

Personally, I saw them as questioning of religious dogma and hierarchies, as opposed to being purely anti-religion. But I imagine there's a whole slew of differing opinions on this. I read the books later in life, myself and was blown away by the sheer imagination of the story,

CS Lewis wrote the Narnia books as a kind of allegory for Christianity, so I guess it's nice to have a bit of balance.

The books, the 2007 film The Golden Compass, the TV series and now another movie? The books were great, but the first movie was comparatively disappointing.

Personally, I saw them as questioning of religious dogma and hierarchies, as opposed to being purely anti-religion. But I imagine there's a whole slew of differing opinions on this. I read the books later in life, myself and was blown away by the sheer imagination of the story,

CS Lewis wrote the Narnia books as a kind of allegory for Christianity, so I guess it's nice to have a bit of balance.

While there's nothing blasphemous or even wrong with anything like this, zealots and fanatics will find some excuse to stir up a ruckus about something they know zero about - again.

This coming week I'm going to see 'Jeff Lynne's ELO' in concert and there still are nutjobs who howl and complain about those 'backwards messages' the band did way back when. They may even be passing out stupid leaflets on this matter.