The anti-religion thing rarely registers for me when it comes to fantasy because I assume that it's a new made up world. If the world has it's own religion, great, if it doesn't, great. It's someone else's universe and it isn't real. Plus, in the HDM universe, while there is no real established religion, there is a belief (or fact) that the person is interconnected with their daemon (or animal) which in a way is still a sort of spirituality. And when their daemon is removed from them, part of their soul is also removed and they can't cope.
What the difference between that belief and a religious belief? Absolutely nothing except for the establishment. Oh wait, they call that the Magisterium don't they? Religion, spirituality, daemon... it's all just a different name for the same thing. Faith or belief in something other than one self.
So God isn't in this (thus the atheism aspect), but what's in it is a replacement they call daemon. I seriously don't see a difference. OTOH, I'm not fundamentalist and I don't intentionally look for these themes. I'm only offended if the book/movie is poo-pooing other beliefs because at the end of the day, it's no body's business what someone else believes in a god or not, it's how they chose to live their lives. Plus, it's a story. Big deal. I find the Harry Potter books a lot more damaging to kids than this series.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-28 04:25 am (UTC)OMG! Yes!
The anti-religion thing rarely registers for me when it comes to fantasy because I assume that it's a new made up world. If the world has it's own religion, great, if it doesn't, great. It's someone else's universe and it isn't real. Plus, in the HDM universe, while there is no real established religion, there is a belief (or fact) that the person is interconnected with their daemon (or animal) which in a way is still a sort of spirituality. And when their daemon is removed from them, part of their soul is also removed and they can't cope.
What the difference between that belief and a religious belief? Absolutely nothing except for the establishment. Oh wait, they call that the Magisterium don't they? Religion, spirituality, daemon... it's all just a different name for the same thing. Faith or belief in something other than one self.
So God isn't in this (thus the atheism aspect), but what's in it is a replacement they call daemon. I seriously don't see a difference. OTOH, I'm not fundamentalist and I don't intentionally look for these themes. I'm only offended if the book/movie is poo-pooing other beliefs because at the end of the day, it's no body's business what someone else believes in a god or not, it's how they chose to live their lives. Plus, it's a story. Big deal. I find the Harry Potter books a lot more damaging to kids than this series.