{"id":6791,"date":"2009-12-21T20:39:04","date_gmt":"2009-12-22T01:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anglicansamizdat.wordpress.com\/?p=6791"},"modified":"2009-12-21T20:39:04","modified_gmt":"2009-12-22T01:39:04","slug":"atheists-can-be-principled-when-its-convenient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/atheists-can-be-principled-when-its-convenient\/","title":{"rendered":"Atheists can be principled \u2013 when it\u2019s convenient"},"content":{"rendered":"

And for Philip Pullman, it isn\u2019t because it is hitting him in the pocket book<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Philip Pullman, crusader for atheism? Not when it might hurt him at the box office.<\/p>\n

The problem with Philip Pullman is not that his kids\u2019 books sometimes peddle subversive propaganda but that he seems to shift his position to suit the occasion.<\/p>\n

Last week he was all over the papers insisting that the film The Golden Compass, which is an adaptation of part of his series of books, His Dark Materials, absolutely does not attract children to atheism. This despite the fact that he has been quoted as saying on the record that he is \u201ctrying to undermine the basis of Christian belief\u201d and that he says currently on his website that he is an \u201cenemy\u201d of organised religion. He is, by the by, a leading light in Humanist circles (although he did read a lesson at one of his children\u2019s church weddings).<\/p>\n

The reason for his proclamation that the film doesn\u2019t attract children to atheism isn\u2019t known, but it\u2019s notable that it comes shortly after the news that the rest of his books are not going to be filmed on account of bad box office takings\u2026 largely thanks to its boycott in America by religious types.<\/p>\n

Back when Pullman was branding himself an atheist crusader, he admitted that he knew the controversy would lead to media coverage and that in turn brings book sales\u2026 But now he seems to be trying to have it all un-said when that same controversy leads, as in the case of the film, to a decline in profitability.<\/p>\n

Watch out, Philip. You run the risk of appearing simply mercenary: neither a warrior for Humanism nor a simple story-telling artist, but a wind-up merchant and peddler of anything that\u2019ll sell. That can\u2019t be right, can it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dostoevsky was right, for atheists anything is permitted; self interest is all there is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And for Philip Pullman, it isn\u2019t because it is hitting him in the pocket book: Philip Pullman, crusader for atheism? Not when it might hurt him at the box office. The problem with Philip Pullman is not that his kids\u2019 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2049],"class_list":["post-6791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","tag-atheism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}