Respond or Suppress???

I may be stepping into some deep water with some Christians but this has been on my mind lately and I thought it might be good for discussion here. I'm sure a lot of you have received emails recently from Christians warning us all about the new movie The Golden Compass and how it's story is anti-Christian, anti-God, etc. Maybe it's just me, but most of the emails I get tell me that my duty as a Christian is to stand against the movie, sign a petition to get theaters to ban it, boycott the film company to hurt their profits, or something else like that. Basically, the message they send is this: We must do something that will result in the author being silenced. We must not allow his beliefs and ideas to be heard by anyone. If we can silence the message, we win. Or better yet, God wins.

Yesterday, I was reading a review of the movie by probably the most famous movie critic in the world, Roger Ebert, who as far as I know is not a Christian. One of his quotes struck me as being more on target about this thing than almost everything I've heard. Here it is:

"The books have been attacked by American Christians over questions of religion; their popularity in the U.K. may represent more confident believers whose response to other beliefs is to respond, rather than suppress."

By sending the message that our job as Christians is to silence an opposing viewpoint, what other unintended message are we sending? Here's what I think. We tell the world that the message of the Bible and of Jesus Christ is a fragile message. The truth of it can be easily threatened by a best-selling author or a hit movie. And, in order for that message to remain compelling, we must put down any viewpoint that stands in contradiction to it. It makes us look like we're just not confident that our message is true. Because if it is true, don't we believe that truth will stand up to whatever scrutiny it is placed under?

So, rather than try to suppress the messages of books and movies like The Golden Compass, The DaVinci Code, Harry Potter or whatever, shouldn't Christians simply remain calmly confident in our Leader who Himself said: "I am the truth"? Shouldn't we try to engage in a dialogue rather than a boycott? It just seems to me that if we really do believe that Jesus is alive and the Bible is God's word and the gates of hell will not stand against the Church - why do we fear an opposing message? Why not lovingly and confidently respond before we try to suppress? Let's bring every truth claim into the arena, give them equal time and allow truth to do its job. In fact, I would say (and this won't be popular with some Christians) we should read the books. Go see the movies. Dive right in and find out exactly what's being said. That way when we talk about these issues, we don't end up sounding scared, sheltered and threatened. We can respond with knowledge, confidence and understanding.

What do you guys think? Am I way off track here? If you want to read an article with more, click here. I'd love to hear your thoughts.