Compass may offend, but nothing to fear

From Compass may offend, but nothing to fear by Bill Fentum:

A boycott, though, only gives free publicity to Mr. Pullman’s work. And sheltering Christian youth from the concept of atheism is futile, too; they’re bound to meet a few atheists in the big, bad world and need to learn how to deal with it.

So why not use these movies, the books and the controversy itself to spark productive dialogue—not only with kids but also adult friends?

If we don’t, the church treads too closely toward matching the Magisterial model set up by Mr. Pullman. And that, indeed, is something to fear.

I’m not familiar with the books. I was intrigued when the subject came up in the 8th grade Sunday school class that I lead.