Posted on 08/19/2007 9:39:18 PM PDT by doesnt suffer fools gladly
CNN Explores Religious Fundamentalism
By DAVID BAUDER
NEW YORK (AP) - Christiane Amanpour's work on the documentary series "God's Warriors" took her directly to intersections of extreme religious and secular thinking.
She watched, fascinated, as demonstrators in San Francisco accused teenagers in the fundamentalist Christian group BattleCry of intolerance in a clash of two cultures that will probably never understand each other.
Understanding is what Amanpour is trying to promote in "God's Warriors," which takes up six prime-time hours on CNN this week. The series on religious fundamentalism among Christians, Muslims and Jews airs in three parts, 9 p.m. EDT Tuesday through Thursday.
Many people know only stereotypes of these true believers, even the ones in their own country, she said.
Yet it's vital to be familiar with their thinking given the growing importance of these movements in the war on terrorism, the never-ending conflicts surrounding Israel and conservative politics in the United States.
"I'm not interested in drumming up false fears, or falsely allaying fears," CNN's chief international correspondent told The Associated Press by phone from France, where she added last-minute touches to the series. "I just want people to know what's going on."
Amanpour traveled extensively over eight months to work on the series. The trips to Amanpour's native Iran are most fascinating. She explored the ancient roots of the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, and talked with one of the country's most accomplished female politicians about how Muslim women are treated.
Another segment tried to explain why so many devout Muslims are willing to give their lives to a cause.
"To the West, martyrdom has a really bad connotation because of suicide bombers who call themselves martyrs," she said. "Really, martyrdom is actually something that historically was quite noble, because it was about standing up and rejecting tyranny, rejecting injustice and rejecting oppression and, if necessary, dying for that."
Finishing the project didn't leave her with a sense of fear over the implications of stronger fundamentalist movements.
"I did come away with a sense that we - or those people who don't want to see religion in politics and culture - if we don't look into it and see what is going on, we're in danger of missing it and not be able to react to it properly," she said.
Amanpour was one of the last reporters to talk to the Rev. Jerry Falwell. She interviewed him a week before he died about the legacy of the Moral Majority, the organization that thrust evangelical Christians onto the political stage.
The segment on Christians explores BattleCry in some depth, digging at the roots of an organization that fights against some of the cruder elements of popular culture and urges teenagers to be chaste. In noting how girls at some BattleCry events are encouraged to wear long dresses, Amanpour asks the group's leader how it is different from the Taliban.
In a non-judgmental way, she visits a family that is home-schooling its children and explores the influence of Evangelicals on the courts.
"There is so much nuance, so much information, so much to talk about, by no means were we able to talk about it all," she said, "and by no means do I claim this is the definitive project. It is one of the fullest, one of the most ambitious and one of the most complete."
Amanpour, 49, is no longer CNN's most visible reporter, as she was when skipping from one war zone to another. She received a lot of attention for her documentary "In the Footsteps of bin Laden" last year, and said she's enjoying the opportunity to put day-to-day news in greater perspective.
She's frequently criticized American television networks, including her own, for not spending enough time on international news.
That hasn't changed. "I believe (the audience) wants to know more than our bosses or superficial focus groups would have you believe," she said.
Amanpour was recently named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. She's leaving her home base of London to move to New York with her husband, former U.S. State Department spokesman James Rubin.
"This is really a personal move for my husband,who has lived eight years out of his own country and wants to come back," she said.
Call me closed-minded, I couldn't take this raving idiot seriously after this point.
Will she investigate radical liberalism?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
One is about modesty, and the other is about oppression.
One is encouraged; the other is inflicted.
I hope she gets that right.
Yeah, wait until the muslims find their Mahdi. Then Amanpour can write a good column about why she shouldn’t be decapitated.
Who has the pictures for:
“Everything I need to know about Islam I learned on 9/11”
?
Wasn’t Tokyo Rose put to death? I forget...
Killing innocents is not martyrdom. it's terrorism.
I have no clue, nor have I any idea why that would be relevant.
“I hope she gets that right.”
She got it right the first time but was intentionally provocative - it’s a matter of Christian baiting.
“In noting how girls at some BattleCry events are encouraged to wear long dresses, Amanpour asks the group’s leader how it is different from the Taliban.”
Christians point you to a Bible to teach modesty.
Muslims point a gun at you guarantee modesty.
Understand, Christianna?
“”I did come away with a sense that we - or those people who don’t want to see religion in politics and culture - if we don’t look into it and see what is going on, we’re in danger of missing it and not be able to react to it properly,” she said. “
No bias there. /sarcasm
Memo to Miss Amanapour — Politics and culture minus religion equals communism. That worked out really well for Russia.
These leftists are so feeble-minded, it’s tough not to pitty them. If they weren’t playing such high stakes poker here, that’s about all I’d do, pitty them. The truth is though, they are playing for keeps, and we better not lose sight of that.
Amanpour’s power of discernment is non-existant. At no time in history has indescriminant killing been noble. It wasn’t noble in 500 BC. It wasn’t noble in 1500 AD. It’s not noble today.
The acts she thinks were noble, are today forbidden by the Geneva Convention, something she and her fellow travelers seem to think is very important when panties appear on heads. But when it comes to mass murder of innocent men, women and children completely unknown to the attacker, it’s just a tactic that has fallen out of favor. Wow!
CNN, in fact the whole leftist Marxist movement in the United States (and outside as well), has contracted an illness. Reasoned productive modern states that follow the rules are bad. Whacked out terrorist orgainizations that kill thousands for little or no reason at all, are good.
Beheadings, dismemberments by detonations in shopping centers, the destroying of religous icons and churches, the call to kill every last man woman and child of one nationality, it’s all okay. Why in olden times, this would have been viewed to be noble.
Amanpour, you’re not just a poor excuse for a reasoned reporter, you’re a disgusting excuse for a human being, and ultimately, you fail the test if this is truly what you believe.
Six hours of this tripe...? Fat chance I’ll be watching it. But then maybe I should. The whole world should know what these traitors are thinking. If they’re brazen enough to present it to the adult populace, you can rest assured they are doing their damndest to shove it down our kids throats at our schools and universities.
No. Tokyo Rose died within the last few months. In one of Chicago’s “ethnically diverse”—Asian—neighborhoods. She lived in Rep Rahm Emmanuel’s district. Was probably a good Democrat.
bttt
What crap. I would support a news media that tell it like it is, even if the answers make me uncomfortable. Instead, none wants to risk their ad dollars, so they push this pap which might as well be called "The Christians and Jews Are Just As Bad!"
That line about how we silly Westerners have so msunderstood martyrdom is laughable--martyrdom is about killing yourself for a reason, NOT about killing innocents for NO reason other than as a way to get to "Paradise". How is that self-sacrifice, Amanpour, you moron?
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