Our friend Jeff Emanuel reports that atheist parents who took their kids to see The Golden Compass thinking that they could have some good, committed atheist fun, were outraged that the preview for Prince Caspian was shown before the film.
Prince Caspian is the forthcoming second installment in the series of films based on C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books—which Philip Pullman utterly despises for their Christian content. Pullman is the author of the "His Dark Materials" book trilogy, the first volume of which provided the story for The Golden Compass.
Parents at a 12:50 showing of "The Golden Compass" in Fort Worth’s Eastchase district were both shocked and appalled to find that the movie was preceded by a trailer for the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the novel "Prince Caspian", which some parents fear may cause their children to read a series that promotes spiritual belief and "denigrates Atheism."
"I just can’t believe this," said Leah Jones, mother of three and proud atheist. "I can’t believe that they would allow children to be exposed to this kind of thing without warning!" . . .
While [Don] Billohue said he’s not concerned about [Prince Caspian], which he described as "fairly innocuous," he charges movie makers for engaging in a "deceitful, stealth campaign" to promote the book. "This is not about censorship," insists Billohue. "This is about the values we don’t want our children being taught."
It is indeed satire, but as is mentioned above (and is a good rule to live by), the best satire or parody in the world is that which is so close to reality as to be believable.
Just as I suggested, Dale. However, I think that your point that atheists do not make a practice of outrage may be rather blinkered. Many don’t, but many do, and to pretend that atheists are somehow much quieter and more reasonable than believers is simply to deny an obvious truth. There are wise atheists and wise believers, and stupid and asinine and bigmouthed atheists and stupid and asinine and bigmouthed believers, and I am by no means convinced that the proportions are in favor of the atheists–which is a conversation for another time.
It’s a satire, apparently too subtle for some. Look at the acronyms of the two “organizations” cited in the original (in Dallas and in the UK).
The point being made is that our culture is filled with religious references, and that atheists do not make a practice of “outrage” until such things are forced on them. Those with no knowledge of atheists understandably fail to see the point on which the joke turns and take it for news.