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Faith Truth And Blasphemy 
 
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Philip Pullman
 
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Witch Torture Scene
 
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Imagine There's No Heaven
 

 
 

Faith, Truth and Blasphemy

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy has been greeted by some Christians with extreme hostility. He has been described by the Daily Mail as “The most dangerous author in Britain,” and there have even been demands that the books are burnt!

And it’s not hard to see why the novels, and the plays have aroused strong feelings.

Throughout the trilogy, Pullman subjects the Church in Lyra’s world (and, by analogy, in ours) to a savage attack for its sterile adherence to a code of rules, its proffering of the hope of an illusory heaven, and indeed, its cruelty and unscrupulousness.

A sense of Pullman’s view can be found in the rehearsal scenes: first, where the Church’s representative, Fra Pavel orders Mrs Coulter to torture a witch for vital information; and second in Bolvanger where the Doctors have set up a laboratory to sever children from their daemons.

In his interview Philip Pullman distinguishes between the religious or spiritual impulse, which he shares, and organised religion which worries him.

Imagine There's No Heaven questions whether Pullman is quite as hostile to religion as he has been portrayed.

 

Faith Truth And Blasphemy
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Nicholas_Wright Nicholas Wright
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Alethiometer
Daemons
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The Botanic Gardens On Stage
Lyra Meets Mrs Coulter On Stage
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