Unfortunately, most of the people up in arms haven't actually read the books, so they don't understand that the message is much more subtle than they think. Criticism is possible without hostility, Pullman's books ask children to consider their own truth before handing over the reins of their consciousness to a pre-determined way of thinking. That's all.

Of course, the thing about Authority is that it always ends up paranoid, and any word questioning it becomes subversive. Oh well.

For some time during the pre-publication process, the series of novels was known as The Golden Compasses. The word Compasses referred to a pair of compasses: the circle-drawing instrument, rather than a navigational compass. Pullman then settled on Northern Lights as the title for the first book, and continued to refer to the trilogy as The Golden Compasses.

In the US, in their discussions over the publication of the first book, the publishers had been calling it The Golden Compass (omitting the plural), which they mistakenly believed referred to Lyra's alethiometer, because the device resembles a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the UK, Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials as the title of the trilogy. But the publishers had become so attached to The Golden Compass that they insisted on publishing the US edition of the first book under that title, rather than Northern Lights, the title used in the UK.

As the book was known as The Golden Compass in the US and Canada, New Line Cinema chose to use that title for the film adaptation.

Let's see. Christopher Lee. That's good! Nichole "Box Office Poison" Kidman. That's bad! Bond. That's good! CGI animals. That's bad! CGI animals wearing armor. That's good! CGI animals that talk. That's bad!

What Pullman's getting at is the way institutions tend to exploit faith and fear in order to consolidate their power. And where he's going with Dust is the notion that the supernatural and the superscientific can be seen as much the same thing when one stops forcing definitions upon them.

*banging my head against desk*

However, when someone elses belief "pisses you off", you have to ask yourself what the fuck your problem is. I probably don't like the same music you do. Does that also "piss you off?"

Also, they refer to the Alethiometer as 'The Golden Compass' for the stupid Americans.

Also, throughout the script, they will not refer to Lord Asriel by his name. Instead, he will be referred to throughout the movie as "the tall English dude".

The point I was trying to make was that no matter what you happen to believe, you have the right to believe it, and no one has the right to discriminate. That said, proselytizing is where the issue of 'rights' gets a little muddy. You have the right to think that my beliefs are ridiculous, and you even have the right to say such a thing, but trying to change my mind, or annoy me into conversion is where most people's tolerance for respecting your 'rights' gets stretched a little thin. The fact that you're accusing atheists of crossing that line with religious people is... ironic, to say the least. I consider myself an athiest, but that's just because of what I believe, I can't help it. I certainly don't fit the description of the snot-nosed loudmouth you describe. If you believe in... whatever you believe in, that's fine, I don't really care, but let's agree that at least we'll treat each other with respect, Kay?

Let me reiterate: For some time during the pre-publication process, the series of novels was known as The Golden Compasses. The word Compasses referred to a pair of compasses: the circle-drawing instrument, rather than a navigational compass. Pullman then settled on Northern Lights as the title for the first book, and continued to refer to the trilogy as The Golden Compasses.

In the US, in their discussions over the publication of the first book, the publishers had been calling it The Golden Compass (omitting the plural), which they mistakenly believed referred to Lyra's alethiometer, because the device resembles a navigational compass. Meanwhile, in the UK, Pullman had replaced The Golden Compasses with His Dark Materials as the title of the trilogy. But the publishers had become so attached to The Golden Compass that they insisted on publishing the US edition of the first book under that title, rather than Northern Lights, the title used in the UK.

As the book was known as The Golden Compass in the US and Canada, New Line Cinema chose to use that title for the film adaptation.

Nothing to do with "dumbing down" the title, a la Sorcerer's Stone.

Your observation that there is a 'coarsening of public discourse' is correct, I would say, but I invite you to widen your scope a bit. Sites like BoingBoing, Youtube, the Onion, Fark, this place, and many others tend to all fall into a kind of nook of white liberal privilege on the net, (as if that makes them a ghetto) I'm sure that most of the posters in this talkback, just to use an example, are probably mostly white, mid-class north americans, with a few brits and aussies (also male, white mid-class) thrown in. Even so, whenever a topic even peripherally dealing with something touching on religious, and you'll see opinions polaraized in a snap. It's funny, here your opinion on whether or not X3 sucked is just as important and will be just as virulently debated as your feelings on whether or not there's an afterlife, and don't even bring up politics, hoo boy. My point is, don't think that a few loudmouth athiest bastards represent anything other than a buch of adolescents throwing shit at eachother through their screens, it doesn't amount to much. I would even go so far as to theorise that it's a small, victimless rebellious thrill for these guys to say stuff like "jeebus", since most of them were probably raised at least somewhat religious.

Public discourse has been coarsening for generations, we're just seeing the tip of a long, shameful lineage of bad manners and abuse. I'm guilty, as much as the next guy. I will disagree that there's an imbalance on the atheist's side though, some of the believers 'round here can get mighty nasty. But again, that's no real cross-section of anything. Discourse is good, even if it does get a little crass. cheers.