Pullman Calls Donohue a “Nitwit”

How does he know Mr. Pullman? Your own words accuse you, that’s why!

Join the boycott of The Golden Compass as the saga heats up…from Entertainment Online UK:

The British author Philip Pullman has attacked leading American Catholics as “nitwits” after they called for a boycott of The Golden Compass, which has its world premiere in London tonight.

In an escalation of the religious row over the film adaptation of the first of the Pullman trilogy, the north American Catholic League claimed that the movie is being used to pursue his “atheist agenda” and should be banned.

Bill Donohoe, the league’s President, added that the production, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, could prompt parents to buy the books for their children unaware that the trilogy climaxes with an epic battle to “destroy God”.

The film is due to be launched in the US on December 7, but the Catholic League says parents should refuse to see it. Its world premiere takes place at Leicester Square tonight.

However, Mr Pullman hit back with a furious counter-attack on his detractors, denying that his agenda was anything other than attracting readers and urging people to be allowed to make up their own mind.

“To regard it as this Donohue man has said – that I’m a militant atheist, and my intention is to convert people – how the hell does he know that?” he said, in an interview with Newsweek magazine.

“Why don’t we trust readers? Why don’t we trust filmgoers? Oh, it causes me to shake my head with sorrow that such nitwits could be loose in the world.”

Then this, from the same piece:

Meanwhile, the archdiocese in Philadelphia has urged parents not to take their children to the film when it is released.

Suspicions over Mr Pullman’s agenda appear to have partly been prompted by his past comments on religion to American newspapers. In particular, he told the Washington Post that one of his key goals was to “undermine the basis” of Christian belief.

How does he know Mr. Pullman? Your own words accuse you, that’s why!

Amy in the USA Today

Bloggers keep the faith, contentiously:

 Among Catholics, the blogosphere is like looking at a big parish. Everything looms somewhere in the conversations,” says Amy Welborn, 47, of Fort Wayne, Ind. Welborn, author of numerous books and a columnist for Catholic Newspapers, wrote one of the best-known Catholic blogs, Open Book. It explored the intersections of Catholic intellectual life and contemporary culture and politics.

Last summer, Welborn abruptly closed the Book to concentrate on writing fiction.

“I want to do good, and I want to do lasting good — the kind of good that people carry around, share, put on their bookshelves and reflect on — rather than the kind of good that sparks a momentary flash until we surf to the next website and the next and the next,” she told blog readers.

Yet blogging proved too compelling to quit. She started a new blog (amywelborn.wordpress.com) engaging readers in Catholic ideas. She posts faithfully.