Philip Pullman threated by "religious zealots"

Philip Pullman, the author of the trilogy, His Dark Materials ("Lord of the Rings" it is not), is to release a book this coming weekend called, The Good man Jesus, and the Scoundrel Christ. Ahead of the launch, he has, it appears, received threats as to his safety -- though this accountin The Daily Telegraph could only inform its readers that the threats were of the "you will burn in hell" variety. Since Pullman is an avowed atheists and doesn't believe in hell, he fears that the threat may suggest his death "by foul means."

The book itself suggests that Jesus was a man, born 2000 years ago, but (his identity as) Christ is the invention of Paul. Pullman claims to have read this idea in a book by Rowan Williams -- which, alas, is all too possible.

There is nothing new in this claim, of course and liberals have been trotting varieties of this "Jesus of Nazareth versus the Christ of Faith" idea for the best part of two centuries and more. Still, it does make exciting headlines in the newspapers: Christians are mean and nasty types whose views are so indefensible that the merest whiff of disagreement brings violence and hate language. Once again, the liberal agenda cries foul.