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given them by the Church and by their parents to analyse the meaning of the trilogy. Fiction has never been designed to brainwash, it is simply a form of entertainment. The Catholic League however said:

"Pullman represents the new face of atheism: it is aggressive, dogmatic and unrelenting. It is also fuelled by hate - by a crusading hatred of all religions, but most especially ours. His side is counting on our side to lie down and die"

(www.independent.ie)

Having just finished the books I could not disagree more. I do not see a book fuelled by hate', after all the book ends with Lyra and Will falling in love. A Telegraph article also recognizes the positive and light aspects of the trilogy: the ragamuffin children [] are essentially innocents; their "daemons" are not sin-drenched burdens but instruments of light and joy' (telegraph.co.uk). The themes of the books revolve heavily around friendship. The bonds that the children make with the people that they meet are vital to the triumph of the story. Lyra even travels to the world of the dead because she feels so bad about the death of her friend Roger. That is not a symbol of hate, surely it is one of love; a determination for love to triumph over all adversity.

Here in England the Archbishop of Canterbury actually managed to balance praise of His Dark Materials with religious criticism. He admits that Pullman has a perverse view of religion' (guardian.co.uk) but correctly points out that the books are fiction. He said: I read the books and the plays as a sort of thought experiment: this is after all an alternative world, or set of worlds'. Perhaps the insecurity of those who have boycotted His Dark Materials is simply pointing out their own insecurities about their faith. Why would a religious body worry about a simple piece of fiction anyway? In a world that is ever-poised on the edge or religious war, blasphemy is fast becoming a moral panic of sorts. It simply seems ridiculous to me to suggest that a book is going to corrupt the minds of children. If the children believe in God and have been brought up believing this then they should realize that His Dark Materials is in fact fantasy.

http://www.christian-t eachers.org.uk/newscomment/31
h ttp://www.independent.ie/enter tainment/film-cinema/his-blasp hemous-materials-1232133.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opi nion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2 007/07/23/do2305.xml
http://www .guardian.co.uk/uk/2004/mar/10 /arts.books

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