c. 2007 Religion News Service
(UNDATED) A three-part CNN documentary, which begins airing Tuesday (Aug. 21) at 9 p.m. EDT, explores the beliefs and influence of what it calls “God’s Warriors.”
“Whether Muslim, Christian or Jew, millions of people view the world through a religious prism,” correspondent Christiane Amanpour says in the opening segment from Jerusalem. “They want God back in their daily lives and back to the seat of power.”
The ambitious series airs for three consecutive nights, and each two-hour segment focuses on a different faith.
Reporting from six countries, Amanpour interviews scholars, religious and political leaders and many believers. She examines the personal beliefs and political influence of the devout _ including some who call themselves fundamentalists _ within Judaism, Islam and Christianity.
Amanpour spoke with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, in the last interview before his death earlier this year. She talks to former president Jimmy Carter, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Israeli president Shimon Peres, among many others.
“The whole story is really about religion and politics,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer for CNN Productions. “It’s about how they are trying to change the laws so that they more reflect the laws of God.”
While most of Amanpour’s subjects are not currently preaching violence, some once did; others reject violence and seek political change. And some simply struggle to live according to their faith. What they share is the certainty of their religious convictions.
Amanpour talks to a Jewish settler in the West Bank town of Hebron, who is determined to stay despite the murder of her father, Rabbi Shlomo Ra’anan. She also sits down with leaders of Egyptian’s Muslim Brotherhood, and interviews the founder of the Teen Mania Ministries, who urges teens to reject what he calls the “virtue terrorists” in American secular culture.
“We’ve really tried to go beneath the stereotypes,” said Kathy Slobogin, the series’ managing editor. “We’ve tried to get at the root of what’s concerning these people in all three religions from a historical point of view, from a spiritual point of view, from a daily life point of view.”
The series also gives historical context to today’s religious and political landscape _ especially catalytic events including the 1967 Six-Day War between Arabs and Israelis, the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.
“It’s really interesting that at the same point in our modern era, all three monotheistic religions moved into high gear in terms of those deeply religious people deciding they had to turn to political means to achieve their ends,” Slobogin said.
The series also explores the influence of history-making religious individuals. “In the beginning, there was Jerry Falwell,” Amanpour says as she explains the rise of the Christian right in U.S.
The series does not address more moderate views within the three faiths, but even the profoundly religious, politically active believers profiled are not monolithic.
“They are people who have concerns that many secular people have about our culture,” Slobogin said. “What they choose to do about it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but their diagnosis of what’s wrong is something a lot of people can relate to. They’re interesting spiritual barometers of what’s going on in our society.”
KRE/LF END ROAN
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Photos of Amanpour are available via https://religionnews.com
