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.
