Contact: Kiera M. McCaffrey, Director of Communications, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, 212-371-3191, catalyst@catholicleague.org
As someone who spent 20 years in education, I am aware of Scholastic's stellar reputation. This is all the more reason why I am profoundly disturbed by Scholastic's role in co-producing "The Golden Compass." It is not the movie, per se, that is the problem, it is the book—and the other volumes that comprise His Dark Materials—that is the issue.
The author of these books, Philip Pullman, does not disguise his hatred of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church. Why, then, would Scholastic be associated with such bigotry? As pointed out in our booklet on "The Golden Compass," producing such a movie would seem to violate Scholastic's own Credo, one part of which says, "To help build a society free of prejudice and hate, and dedicated to the highest quality of life in community and nation." Moreover, Scholastic professes a belief in "High moral and spiritual values," something which surely sounds odd given the
Christians need to be convinced that Scholastic will never again work with militant atheists who have an animus against their religion. Catholics, in particular, want to be certain that purchasing Scholastic materials does not indirectly fund campaigns against them. To this end, we look for Scholastic to pledge that in the event a movie version of
Contact Kyle Good, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Media Relations, kgood@scholastic.com