CNN Tackles God's "Warriors"

Warriors for the Faith

Today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's entertainment section features a preview of CNN's Christiane Amanpour's latest special, "God's Warriors." CNN is billing the special as follows:

"For this documentary, Amanpour reports that during the last 30 years, each faith has exploded into a powerful political force, comprised of followers – “God’s warriors” – who share a deep dissatisfaction with modern society, and a fierce determination to place God and religion back into daily life and to the seats of power. Their political and cultural struggles to save the world from what they view as secular materialism, greed and sexual corruption have caused anger, division and fear."

The preview article in the Journal Sentinel features three photos: one is of a Protestant, bible-toting preacher, the other is of a Jewish soldier in uniform guarding a Jewish shrine and the other shows two Palestinian Muslim women proudly displaying pictures of their "martyr" brothers. The preview of the series offered by CNN is bothersome because it appears to morally equate serious Christians and Jews with Muslim terrorists. There is a stark difference between Christians, who seek to infuse society with values that defend human dignity irregardless of creed, and Muslim terrorists. Judaism and Christianity have a completely different exegesis when it comes to puzzling out the role of religion in politics. The Catholic Church has been at the forefront in defending the right to religious freedom. Christ's injunction to "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's" is the starting point for the Church's social doctrine. For centuries, the Church has defended the legitimate sovereignty of the state and the right of the Church to function freely within society. Islam takes a different approach when it comes to the state and religion. Sharia law is the law of the land in many fundamentalist Muslim nations. By contrast, there is no "Catholic law" that the Church seeks to impose on society. The only law that the Church defends is the natural law; a law that applies to everyone because it is rooted in the universal dignity of each person.

CNN's slapdash feature story betrays yet another attempt by elite secularists in the media to understand religion. In the process, they make broad-stroke and arrogant assumptions about what it means to take faith seriously. At least from a Christian perspective, religious fervor shouldn't be interpreted as bellicosity toward modern society.