| My views on religion and science...That's a long one. In a sense I prefer just to point to the story and say "There it is." I'll say a brief word about the Authority, though. The God who dies is the God of the burners of heretics, the hangers of witches, the persecutors of Jews, the officials who recently flogged that poor girl in Nigeria who had the misfortune to become pregnant after having been forced to have sex - all these people claim to know with absolute certainty that their God wants them to do these things. Well, I take them at their word, and I say in response that that God deserves to die. The Authority, then, is an ancient IDEA of God, kept alive artificially by those who benefit from his continued existence. Now then, Dust. Dust permeates everything in the universe, and existed before we individuals did and will continue after us. Dust enriches us and is nurtured in turn by us; it brings wisdom and it is kept alive by love and curiosity and diligent enquiry and kindness and patience and hope. The relationship we have with Dust is mutually beneficial. Instead of being the dependent children of an all-powerful king, we are partners and equals with Dust in the great project of keeping the universe alive. It's a republican relationship, if you like, not a monarchial one. I don't find it difficult to think that Dust might suggest a new kind of relationship with a God. Why are all the church characters bad? That was due to a flaw in my artistry, no doubt. But I was trying to hit a target that deserved hitting, and there's no merit in pulling punches when important issues are at stake. Anyway, every time I thought I was overdoing it, up came another scandal about brutal monks mistreating children in Irish schools, or sadistic nuns tormenting children in Scottish orphanages, to name but two that came up recently. These things do happen. Church history: I'm fascinated by the history of religious thought and the structures of religious life. It was a natural thing to write about, because it encapsulates so much of the best as well as the worst of what human beings have done. Do I believe in God? Well, actually, no. But could I just raise in response the question- does it MATTER what I believe in? You can see what the BOOK believes in - what it values, and what it criticizes; what it holds up for admiration, and what it deplores. What I personally believe in or not isn't really important- except, of course, for the question of sincerity. Did I mean it? That's what the question implies. Well, can I say that you don't spend seven years on a journey like this without needing some sort of moral ballast to keep the keel upright and make sure you stay on course; in other words, I couldn't do this frivolously or without conviction. Yes, I believe in what the book says. I mean every word of it. The many-worlds theory, which I've heard expounded here in Oxford by one of its great theorists, David Deutsch, is a gift to a story-teller. Once the notion is there, all you have to do is work out a plausible way of getting from one world to another - which is one of the basic structures of fantasy, of course: Alice's well and looking-glass, Lewis's wardrobe - they're all precursors of the subtle knife. |
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| Questions, comments or suggestions? Email me here. |
| Phillip Pullman's answers to Questions about Science and Religion on the Readerville forum These are just some related excerpts from the discussion. For the complete text, please email me. |