Well, in a way, I can understand where Pullman is coming from as well. It's not that I don't understand where he's coming from, or why he portrays Christianity in the way he does--I do understand it, but I don't agree with it. It just bothers me the way he portrays Christianity. In a way, I got the same sort of thing you did--it seems like he's portraying Lucifer as actually being on the right side for betraying God which obviously brings up problems for me during the story. But Pullman is really more on the side of Dust, dark matter, so I could read into it and say that he's on the side of the materialistic version of how the world began, but I'd better not, because if I start, I won't be able to stop. ;)

I do have to say that if The Amber Spyglass is any better than The Subtle Knife, though, I am going to be incredibly surprised, because I couldn't put The Subtle Knife down for more than a couple minutes. But I have no doubt that it will at least be as good as The Subtle Knife. :)