The Christian/bible references in the third book are sort of putting me off. To me, the bible is just a story (albeit a very well-written one), so having angels and related characters is kind of like having Harry Potter show up.
Why would it put you off any more than any of the other fantasy stuff in the books? It's not like Pullman is endorsing religion; he's an atheist, and the books have been described to me as sort of an "anti" Chronicles of Narnia (I haven't read them yet; my husband has and I plan to read them).
An article talks about it online (
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/259368.htm):
"Philip Pullman is an atheist whose critical views of religion and theism make their way into his novels. Now that the first of a trilogy of works is coming to movie theaters, Christians in America are expressing great concern over the content. It's OK for films to express pro-religion and pro-Christianity views, I guess, but if a film expresses any criticism of Christianity — even indirectly — that's a problem!
Christian groups should probably sleep easier, though, because much of the religious critique has been pulled from the story. Apparently, Nicole Kidman wouldn't have agreed to work on the film otherwise. An organization depicted in the film kidnaps children in order to steal their souls, and this organization is regarded as a reference to the Catholic Church, but Nicole Kidman is herself Catholic and wouldn't have worked on any film that she thought might be critical of Catholicism."
On another note, my husband was very disappointed to see that they changed the storyline, as the part critical of Catholicism was a central theme, so who knows how the movie will turn out?
