Aslan's on the move . . . he banishes the darkness and brings the light but some people would rather live in darkness. Few reviewers bring the kind of anti-Christian venom to the review of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," as Polly Toynbee of The Guardian. If you have a strong stomach, check out the link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1657942,00.html
"Narnia represents everything that is most hateful about religion"
"Of all the elements of Christianity, the most repugnant is the notion of the Christ who took our sins upon himself and sacrificed his body in agony to save our souls. Did we ask him to?"
"Philip Pullman - he of the marvellously secular trilogy His Dark Materials - has called Narnia "one of the most ugly, poisonous things I have ever read". Why? Because here in Narnia is the perfect Republican, muscular Christianity for America - that warped, distorted neo-fascist strain that thinks might is proof of right."
"Children are supposed to fall in love with the hypnotic Aslan, though he is not a character: he is pure, raw, awesome powe
r. He is an emblem for everything an atheist objects to in religion. His divine presence is a way to avoid humans taking responsibility for everything here and now on earth, where no one is watching, no one is guiding, no one is judging and there is no other place yet to come. Without an Aslan, there is no one here but ourselves to suffer for our sins, no one to redeem us but ourselves: we are obliged to settle our own disputes and do what we can. We need no holy guide books, only a very human moral compass. Everyone needs ghosts, spirits, marvels and poetic imaginings, but we can do well without an Aslan."
- Polly Toynbee, columnist for The Guardian (U.K.), in a review of the movie adaptation of C. S. Lewis' book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
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