Weird Blog I found on Pullman...guy needs a hug

I am an atheist, and I found the religion-bashing in this book intrusive, pointless, and stupid at every level. It was stupid as philosophy, because Pullman does not give any reasoning for his position. It is stupid as character development, because neither hero nor heroine has any connection with the religious issue. It is stupid as plot development, because it does not spring out of the previous events nor draw to its conclusion, whatever that is: where is the Republic of Heaven we were promised? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I might have forgiven him, if he had kept an interesting (or even coherent) plot, character development, or a sense of magic and wonder. Instead we have a homo angel (as a good guy!) and major characters changing their personalities and dying offstage for no reason. Did anyone understand the point of the scene where Lyra basically kills all the ghosts in the afterlife? I personally am an atheist (among other reasons) because I do not believe in an afterlife. If there WERE an afterlife, however, I would have no desire to annihilate the disembodied minds found there. Rather, I would look on it as a severe medical condition, something to be cured, or at least a scientific curiosity, something to be studied. Instead the author seems to think that an infinite life is a bad thing, and that death is a good thing. Huhn?Basically, Mr. Pullman let his unreasonable hatred of religion overwhelm his sense of how to tell a story. Having written one good book full of promise, and a mediocre sequel, he concludes his trilogy with a disconnected sequence of scenes--I cannot call it a plot--and halts the action to stand on his soapbox and sell us his opinion.Don't get me wrong, I LIKE reading atheist speeches--when that is what I payed for, by a speechmaker who knows how to make a speech (see, for example, Tom Paine, or James Ingersoll). But when I pay for a book of supernatural children's adventure and get a lame pro-atheist speech instead, I have been cheated. Why did I bother to go to the bookstore? I could have stayed at home and written an editorial myself. Pullman's low opinion of religion is one I share, but I am deeply offended to see such an oafish defense of my position. I don't want him on my side: he is an embarrassment to intelligent atheists. Frankly, I'd rather read Narnia. CS Lewis may be my intellectual enemy, but he is an honest and worthy enemy. Better a hundred times than a worthless ally like Pullman.