When Hollywood took on Golden Compass, it decided to turn Phillip Pullman’s overtly anti-religious novel Northern Lights into a delightful tale of futuristic polar bears doing battle, so as not to piss off religious types. Which includes Catholic star Nicole Kidman, who says she should would not want to be involved with an anti-religious movie.

Funny thing though – the Catholic League is calling for boycotts anyway, and fans of the book are pissed about the de-ballsified version of the story they love.  A perfect compromise, score one for cautious movie execs! 

Calling Pullman "a noted English atheist," the group [The Catholic League] said on its Web site: "It is his objective to bash Christianity and promote atheism. To kids.  Though the movie promises to be fairly non-controversial, it may very well act as an inducement to buy Pullman’s trilogy, ‘His Dark Materials’."

In the fantasy world created by Pullman, the Church and its governing body the Magisterium, are linked to cruel experiments on children aimed at discovering the nature of sin and attempts to suppress facts that would undermine the Church’s legitimacy and power. [Reuters]

I can only hope the Catholic League pushes this hard for a boycott of McG’s Terminator movie, some of the strongest evidence yet that there is no God.  On a lighter note, did you hear about the agnostic Klansman?  He burned question marks on peoples’ lawns.  Wakka wakka wakka!