Catholic Bishops Give Thumbs Up to 'Compass'

The U.S. Conference of [Catholic] Bishops has split with the Catholic League, the nation's largest Catholic lay group, over The Golden Compass. The League has called for a boycott of the movie, which opens Friday, claiming that it promotes atheism. But the official review of the film by the Conference says that "the good news is that ... explicit references to this church" found in the book on which the movie is based "have been completely excised." The review continues: "This is not the blatant real-world anti-Catholicism of, say, the recent Elizabeth: The Golden Age or The Da Vinci Code. Religious elements, as such are practically nil." However, William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, has insisted that the movie will encourage young people to read the book. "The idea is to sell the horrors of Catholicism and the virtues of atheism to youth," he said on Fox News Channel Wednesday.