Controversy surrounding the transformation of Philip Pullman's book, "The Golden Compass," into a movie began long before the film ever hit the theatres on December 7.

"The Golden Compass", also known as "Northern Lights", is the first book in the trilogy, "His Dark Materials". The other books include, "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass". The first book has won several accolades, including the Carnegie Medal for Children's Literature in 1995 and the "Carnegie of Carnegies" in 2007.

The final book in the series, was the first children's book to ever win the Whitbread Prize in 2001. Central to the storyline is the young Lyra Belacqua who has been raised and educated by scholars at Jordan College in Oxford, England.

Lyra lives in a universe parallel to our own, where most things are quite similar, except that every person has a personal daemon that exists in the form of an animal. The official website for "The Golden Compass" movie (www.goldencompassmovie.com) explains it this way: "In Lyra's world, a person's soul lives on the outside of their body, in the form of a daemon – an animal spirit that accompanies them through life.

"A child's daemon can change shape, assuming all the forms that a child's potential inspires; but as a person ages, their daemon gradually settles into one form, according to their character and nature."

Lyra is a wild and carefree child who manages to prevent an assassination attempt on her uncle, the Lord Asriel, and overhears a discussion about an unknown entity, known as Dust.

As her uncle heads out on yet another exploration, she is sadly left behind, until she meets the exotic Mrs. Coulter, who hires the girl as an assistant and promises to take her on an adventure of her own.

However, Lyra soon discovers that Mrs. Coulter is directly behind the mysterious kidnappings of children, including her best friend, Roger.

She escapes Mrs. Coulter's clutches, and, with the help of the Gyptians, a seafaring group of gypsies, travels to the far North to rescue her friend, find her uncle, who is also in grave danger, and learn about the mysterious Dust.

While the movie seems innocuous at first viewing, there is much more behind the story than meets the eyes. The question over the series arose over the fact that Pullman is a well-known atheist and materialist.

In an interview with Peter Chattaway of "Christianity Today", as published on Chattaway's blog, "Film Chat" (filmchatblog.blogspot.com) Pullman said: "Those who are committed materialists (as I claim to be myself) have to account for the existence of consciousness, or else, like the behaviourists such as Watson and Skinner, deny that it exists at all …

"Another way of dealing with the question is to assume that consciousness, like mass is a normal and universal property of matter (this is known as panpsychism) so that human beings, dogs, carrots, stones and atoms are all conscious, though in different degrees.

"This is the line I take myself, in the company of poets such as Wordsworth and Blake."

It is this view of the world that is the basis of the books, which some have likened to those of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. However, Pullman himself will contradict this and has publicly proclaimed his detestation for Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" series.

In the same article, Pullman shared: "Narnia is the work of a Protestant – and an Ulster Protestant at that, for whom the individual interaction with the Bible and with God was a matter of daily struggle and endless moral questioning. "That's the Protestant tradition… I profoundly disagree with the answers that Lewis offers (in his books) — in fact, as I say, I detest them."

Throughout the series, Lyra, her uncle, and allies, work together to overthrow the Magisterium, which serve as the "thought police" in Lyra's universe, ruling all the countries of her world.

The Magisterium is dead-set against revealing the truth of Dust. They also eventually succeed in killing a character known as "God". With protests in the United States, many churches in Bermuda have also addressed the issues surrounding the movie with their congregants.

Gary Simons, senior pastor of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship, shared: "We're going to address the congregation about it … The main thing is the 'no existence of God,' and, in the end, they even kill the concept of God. It is a sign of the age in which we live…

"We have an obligation to inform our youth that things that may seem like entertainment are really influential."

The Catholic Church has been particularly critical of the books and the movie. Rev. Jerome Kroetsch, Pastor of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church and Vicar General, admits he has not read the books or seen the movie, but has read several articles and reviews.

Information on the movie has also appeared in the local Diocesan newsletters. He believes that the movie is pretty innocuous, but, "what is more dangerous is the books". He also takes note that it is interesting that Pullman chose to call the leaders the Magisterium, which is also the ecclesiastical term used to refer to the teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Certain members of the Magisterium, including the Pope and certain Bishops, are considered non-infallible.

"The Golden Compass" is currently playing at Liberty Theatre.

For more information on the movie and the books, you can visit www.randomhouse.com/features/pullman/, www.philip-pullman.com or www.goldencompassmovie.com.