False Quotation in Vatican review?

[DougWeller]

The Vatican newspaper claims that in a Guardian Online interview Pullman said 'I am with Satan, certainly not with God,' a quotation I cannot find and think would be all over the Net if he said it.
See http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11320

Can anyone find this quotation or a possible source for something like it?

Thanks

Doug

[Enitharmon]

Can anyone find this quote or a possible source for something like it?

I can't help with providing a source, I'm afraid. But if he did say it, I wonder what context he said it in. It has the ring of the sort of reaction lots of people have to reading Paradise Lost, in which Satan comes across as a much more attractive and sympathetic character than God. It seems to me that's the likely context of such a quote.

Somehow, I can't see PP admitting to Satanism to the Grauniad without there being a lot of fuss!

[Pausert]

Calling him a satanist is funny, anyway.They mention the fact that he's atheist in the same article and, being an atheist, he really doesn't have a religion and doesn't believe in the god that "created" Satan. I'd ask the source for an explanation of that... Headline: "Atheist has a Religion" Read all about it!

[Luca]

It echoes a passage that William Blake wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell about John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.

"The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it."

Without digging deeper, I'd posit that Pullman was referring to it.

[BenMech]

the context of the quote MUST have been the version of Milton's PL with PP's introduction essay. That was published around Y2K or 2002?

So, Milton's Satan/Lucifer is the figure PP finds sympathetic.

[DougWeller]

But I don't think the quote is real. I couldn't find it.

[AUST]

It might be a misqute from his famous "I'm of the devils party-and I know it quote?"

[WBA_premiership]

Yeah he's not a satanist. They probably didn't understand the context

[Lera]

In one interview I read about Pullman's attitude to God. He said that he isn't against God, he is against the Church. I think Pullman in that interview (that had been written in the beginning) said about God's image, which "was made" by nowadays Church. And maybe in our life SUCH God doesn't differ from Satan.

[Acchon]

I do not belive he is a devil-worshiper, since he does not favor religion at all... This is probably, Sadly, just lies. The only way to make Pullman unpopular. It is just as with any rock and roll singer and scientist, if the church does not like him, he is alied with satan.

Is that the only way for the church to express their opinion? Pathetic.

[Lera]

Is that the only way for the church to express their opinion? Pathetic.

Of course they can't! They do everything to make peolpe not to read Pullman's books!
It's 21 centure. Democracy. Every person has rights to express his oppinion.

[Acchon]

Seems like lies are democratic as well, then...

[Lera]

It was a sarcasm

[Acchon]

I knew that ahem

sorry


It is a little weird that the church, who in the past did not like the thought of democracy (God is almighty, afterall) now uses it as a weapon against people who like to think for themselves instead of blindly follow a spiritual pipe-dream.

Yes, harsh words. I bet I make someone angry.

[Cooroo]

The closest I could find was as described above:

'Blake once wrote of Milton that he was a "true poet, and of the Devil's party, without knowing it". I am of the Devil's party, and I know it.'

This was only a quote, not the actual interview.

But who was Satan, biblically, anyway? I've been rummaging a bit in the Bible (not a favourite book) and read some to my daughter last night (!!). It was from the Book of Job. Satan seems to be one of god's henchmen. God sends him out to give Job a hard time and see if it will make him (Job) less upright. It doesn't. But he acts with God's full approval.

So who first equated Satan with the Devil? Was it Milton or before? I'm woefully ignorant....

BTW, I also read her the Adam and Eve story, and she was so shocked that Eve was created from Adam's rib - 'But mum, that's like saying boys are better than girls!' This is behaviour she has grown used to from her boy friends (2 words!) at school, but expected better of religious authority. She'll learn.....

[Luca]

So who first equated Satan with the Devil? Was it Milton or before? I'm woefully ignorant....

Apocalypse 12:9 reads "And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world— he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him" in the English Standard Version. [Source]

[Cooroo]

Oh, thanks! Did this happen after Job, chronologically speaking, or is it not possible to say?

I'll be in Winchester in a couple of weeks - my partner and I are cycling the South Downs Way over 3 days. I do not feel prepared!

[Luca]

To be honest, I haven't the foggiest.

And enjoy your trip down here, some beautiful views over the South Downs so hopefully the weather holds out for you. :)