When Jen Wildhagen, a children’s librarian at the St. Joseph Public Library in Downtown, first read Philip Pullman’s “The Golden Compass,” she was stunned by the rich and well-written story, by the beautifully developed characters. It was one of the best fantasy books she had ever read.

When she heard about the movie version of the book and the controversy surrounding its anti-religion and anti-Catholic themes, she was stunned once again, but for different reasons.

“I was blown away when I heard that, because honestly, when I read it, I wasn’t approaching it from any viewpoint except that it was a fantasy book,” she says, “so it didn’t even dawn on me.”

The fantasy film, which opens locally and nationwide today, is a battle between good and evil, with a 12-year-old orphan named Lyra in the middle. Heading up the evil side is an organization known as “The Magisterium,” which is called “The Church” in the books and is controlled by bishops, monks and a Vatican Council.

The movie is being called the “anti-Narnia” by critics who say the movie will spur children to read the books, exposing them unknowingly to the author’s atheist agenda.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights has been the most outspoken protestor of the film and books. In October, the league released a booklet on the trilogy, stating that Mr. Pullman’s books “teach children the virtues of atheism and the evils of Christianity, especially Roman Catholicism.” Catholic League president Bill Donahue has said in numerous interviews that the author, a confirmed atheist, has an agenda, which is clearly “to recruit children to atheism.”

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has not taken an official stance on the movie or the books, according to diocesan spokeswoman Rebecca Summers. However, the diocese is providing information about Mr. Pullman’s works to parents and educators. A review of the trilogy written in 2001 was re-published in the Nov. 23 edition of the Catholic Key.

The idea, Ms. Summers said, is to provide information on what was known about the works, rather than judge a movie that nobody in the diocese has yet seen.

“If the philosophy is that parents are the primary educators of their children... then (we felt) maybe what we should be doing is providing resources to parents and adults who would be taking kids to movies,” she said, “and we felt like this would be serving that purpose.”

The film itself is devoid of most religious references found in the books. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Film and Broadcasting noted this in its positive review of the film, saying “most moviegoers with no foreknowledge of the books or Pullman’s personal belief system will scarcely be aware of religious connotations.”

For those who do read the books, Ms. Wildhagen, who is re-reading the first book with her 9-year-old daughter, Olivia, said they will draw on what affects them emotionally. For children, that might be a brave, young heroine in an alternate universe rather than someone trying to take down the church.

To Ms. Wildhagen, if a fictional story is all it takes to cause a person to question their faith, then the story isn’t what’s wrong.

“I think that if your faith is that easily swayed,” she said, “it’s got more problems than a book.”