The Catholic League president said that he didn't believe the organization's booklet was "undemocratic" but was "happy to have ripped the mask off his face."
"We at the Catholic League never had to run from our work," added Donahue. "How pitiful it is to see a grown man slip kids his poisonous pill and then pretend he trusts the reader."
Pullman, a self-described atheist, gave a more direct answer to concerns surrounding the anti-Church and anti-religion themes in his book while responding to a question sent in by a reader in Al's Book Club.
Asked whether there is "an underlying message for atheism" in his book, Pullman maintained that he was only "telling a story."
"As for the atheism, it doesn't matter to me whether people believe in God or not, so I'm not promoting anything of that sort," he said in an article on the "Today" show's website.
"My point is that religion is at its best - it does most good - when it is farthest away from political power, and that when it gets hold of the power to [for example] send armies to war or to condemn people to death, or to rule every aspect of our lives, it rapidly goes bad," said Pullman in response to a similar question.
Even though the author has taken a more palatable approach in marketing his books as the movie date draws near, comments made in past interviews have been more indicative of his position.
In an interview with Third Way, a Christian newspaper, Pullman said of the third book in his trilogy: "Of course, I don't say, 'There is no God.'
"I say: 'There is a God, and here he is dying' - and this is what I was particularly pleased with, as a result of an act of charity. And he goes 'with a sigh of the most profound and exhausted relief.'"
When his books were released in Australia in 2003, Pullman told The Sydney Morning Herald that his "books are about killing God."
Fans of Pullman's work have praised his books for its clever fantasy writing but some have expressed disappointment that the anti-Church themes clearly evident in the books have been watered down or "castrated" from the movie.
Actress Nicole Kidman, reportedly a Christian, who stars along James Bond actor Daniel Craig in the film, has defended the movie as not "anti-Catholic."
Conservative Christian groups overall have been critical of the movie and books.
