Favorable "U.S. Bishops" review of The Golden Compass given much press

As predicted, many columnists are taking the favorable review of The Golden Compass issued by the USCCB's office for Film and Broadcasting as "gospel." A sample:

“The Golden Compass” — and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy of novels on which it is based — has been criticized in some quarters for being anti-religious and specifically anti-Catholic.

But the U.S. Conference of Bishops recently issued its official review of the film — and it’s a rave.

Writing for the Catholic News Service (catholicnews.com), critics Harry Forbes and John Mulderig call the movie “lavish, well-acted and fast-paced.”

“The good news,” they write, “is that the first book’s explicit references to this church have been completely excised, with only the term Magisterium retained. The choice is still a bit unfortunate, however, as the word refers so specifically to the church’s teaching authority. Yet the film’s only clue that the Magisterium is a religious body comes in the form of the icons which decorate one of their local headquarters. - Robert W. Butler of the Kansas City Star

As Jim Lackey of CNS News clarifies, "technically it’s not our review; we simply distribute film office reviews to the Catholic press".

And once again, an important distinction is lost upon those looking to support their a priori.