Talk over the religious content in "The Golden Compass" has got people wondering how religious groups will react to the upcoming New Line fantasy film adaptation.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the screenplay for the fantasy film is already attracting attention in the US for avoiding much of the book's perceived anti-Catholic rhetoric.

"It has been watered down a little. I was raised Catholic, the Catholic Church is part of my essence. I wouldn't be able to do this film if I thought it were at all anti-Catholic" said Kidman to Entertainment Weekly recently, and confirmed that some of the religious elements were removed from the movie script.

In Pullman's book, he describes an organisation that snatches children to surgically remove their souls, in a reference widely considered to be a controversial description of the Catholic Church.