CNN to air God's Warriors beginning tomorrow

[Palladio]

night.

However, as the title in the ad in the New York Times makes clear: “three nights, three relgions”!

So will we have conflated or equated by CNN Islam, Judaism, and Christianity? How accurate will the reporting be? What authorities will CNN rely on? Do you bristle at the suggestions implied or presupposed by the title?

Three nights to find answers to these questions.

I do suggest taking down what questions you have and any mistakes or prejudices you find.

God bless.

 

[WanderAimlessly]

I think I will pass. CNN is not allowed on my TV.

 

[mschrank]

Of course they will conflate them:

Modernist/Liberal dogma #1 (must be believed by all of them as a matter of faith):

All religions are essentially the same. Faith is faith.

Dogma #2: Islam is no more violent than any other religion, see dogma #1.

Of course this show will be garbage. We know better. We know ‘religions’ are as vastly different as the people that hold them, some demand human sacrifice to blood drinking Gods, some promise perpetual orgies with 72 virginal brides, some promise spiritual union with God for eternity, some worship cows, some claim that everything can be known through the scientific method, the list goes on and on.

 

[Teen_Catholic]

Perhaps it’s because Buddhism hold’s believe in no God, and thus cannot be called “God’s Warriors”, but I find it strange they don’t include some of the religious wars they’ve had. Perhaps in the new age made love for Buddhism [a love, for some (dare I say most?), based on ignorance], they’ve conveniently forgot about it.

Rant a side, they’ve probably go to great lengths to highlight the brutality in such wars, and to highlight the incompatibility with doctrine. A sprinkle of spin here, a missing fact there and the show will paint all people who practice religion diligently into monsters

 

[blessedtoo]

So will we have conflated or equated by CNN Islam, Judaism, and Christianity? How accurate will the reporting be? What authorities will CNN rely on? Do you bristle at the suggestions implied or presupposed by the title?

Three nights to find answers to these questions.

If you watched Larry King tonight, he interviewed Christianne Ammanpour about the shows. He also invited a panel of “religious” leaders (guess which denomination was missing from the panel?) that paroted the party line with commentaries on the unfortunate mixing of religion and politics. Ammanpour kept framing the discussion with “Christians are trying to change the laws of this country.” The rabbi, the Moslem, and the Christian were (big surprise) politically correct and careful not to offend with their statements about tolerance, inclusiveness, acceptance, blah, blah, blah.

I can tell you that the Christian segment focuses on Fundamentalists primarily, with special interviews of Falwell, Robertson, and some other young preacher who led a youth movement in San Fran last year. No mention of Catholics, which is par for the course for CNN.

I will watch it, with my valium right next to the remote. My palms were sweaty just watching the previews.

I do suggest taking down what questions you have and any mistakes or prejudices you find.

I have already emailed CNN. I have them in my address book.

 

[Palladio]

If you watched Larry King tonight, he interviewed Christianne Ammanpour about the shows. He also invited a panel of “religious” leaders (guess which denomination was missing from the panel?) that paroted the party line with commentaries on the unfortunate mixing of religion and politics. Ammanpour kept framing the discussion with “Christians are trying to change the laws of this country.” The rabbi, the Moslem, and the Christian were (big surprise) politically correct and careful not to offend with their statements about tolerance, inclusiveness, acceptance, blah, blah, blah.

I can tell you that the Christian segment focuses on Fundamentalists primarily, with special interviews of Falwell, Robertson, and some other young preacher who led a youth movement in San Fran last year. No mention of Catholics, which is par for the course for CNN.

I will watch it, with my valium right next to the remote. My palms were sweaty just watching the previews.

I have already emailed CNN. I have them in my address book.

I knew there was a reason I could not sleep! Old Larry King schilling for his colleague and the force of it must have penetrated my gray matter!

The fundamentalist focus is interesting: is C A not a Brit? The Brits are foaming at the mouth about what they call fundies, fundamentalists, whom they scapegoat, and equate with radical Islam as a basis for Islamo-terrorism. The implication is, of course, that we are home growing Christian fundamentalist suicide bombers.

Equally, the Brits are convinced that the U. S. is in the hands of fundies, that Bush is a fundie, that the Neo-Cons (a few secular Jews) are fundies, and that we are all soon going to be, you guessed it, fundies. The implication is that, far from being isolated to the likes of a movement or sect, all America is going to be shaking shotguns in the air celebrating the latest truck bomb, fundie planned, financed, and executed, in a kindergarten in Tehran.

Pray.

 

[blessedtoo]

Equally, the Brits are convinced that the U. S. is in the hands of fundies, that Bush is a fundie, that the Neo-Cons (a few secular Jews) are fundies, and that we are all soon going to be, you guessed it, fundies. The implication is that, far from being isolated to the likes of a movement or sect, all America is going to be shaking shotguns in the air celebrating the latest truck bomb, fundie planned, financed, and executed, in a kindergarten in Tehran.

I have noticed that the in most of the “religion” shows of the last few years, they have focused primarily on the more extremist factions of evangelicalism. Think Jesus Camp types.

You would have really blown a gasket had you watched the show preceeding LK. It was Roland Martin, the dude who recently blasted our beloved B16 for “criticising” other Christian Churches. At the end of his truly dopey show, he said he is still getting emails from Catholics about his silly column.

BTW: Roland Martin had a Catholic on his panel: A porn star!

 

[Palladio]

I have noticed that the in most of the “religion” shows of the last few years, they have focused primarily on the more extremist factions of evangelicalism. Think Jesus Camp types.

You would have really blown a gasket had you watched the show preceeding LK. It was Roland Martin, the dude who recently blasted our beloved B16 for “criticising” other Christian Churches. At the end of his truly dopey show, he said he is still getting emails from Catholics about his silly column.

BTW: Roland Martin had a Catholic on his panel: A porn star!

You are right.

It is best for my family that I not get too worked up about these clowns, but there must be intelligent ways to make criticism count.

 

[244Rocket]

I think I will pass. CNN is not allowed on my TV.

The only thing I watch on CNN is Glenn Beck.

 

[Palladio]

The only thing I watch on CNN is Glenn Beck.

I’ve stopped watching it entirely.

I think I have to agree with a man I usually disagree with, Bill Moyers, who has pretty convincingly proven that we no longer live in an age of journalism but in an age of punditry, which is cheaper and easier and more profitable than genuine investigative reporting.

 

[Graing]

I have seen enough of Christianne Amanpour to know:

1. I know where she stands on this issue
2. I know that I cannot trust her to give a fair report on this subject. A fair and honest report which is inclusive of all perspectives would, to me, equate a ‘flying pig moment’ here.

I’ll pass.

 

[Sagefrakrobatik]

I saw a full page add in Us news and world report i wont be able to watch it becomes im deprive of cable What does she plan to talk about. Its impossible to cover such a large topic in only three nights.

 

[Palladio]

I saw a full page add in Us news and world report i wont be able to watch it becomes im deprive of cable What does she plan to talk about. Its impossible to cover such a large topic in only three nights.

This thread has been taken up by renunciation of the program!
God bless you, my asectic brothers and sisters!
But now I feel completely obligated to watch.

 

[Palladio]

Well, it was not a happy experience, but rather than go into it all, I’ll mention the most infuriating thing about the program (that is, when, like a good hot meal followed by general anasthesia, it did not put me to sleep): Amanpour call God’s warriors (Israelis and those who support them) anybody she pleased, whether violent or no. The result was predictable. No doubt so will the next two nights.

But while I missed the rhetorical slight of hand which allowed her to create a vast and meaningless category and kept waiting for the warriors to appear, I have to say that, falling asleep from the repetition and wild claims, the argument, if any, was buried deep inside the strident claptrap and the cloud of non-evidence served up melo-dramatically.

Tonight is Islam.

Tomorrow Christianity.

Take caffeine before watching.

Set your expectations for extremely low to *she gets paid *for this/

God bless.

 

[snowgarden]

You know, last night I wanted to watch some light fare that CNN had on about the late Princess Diana, about her early years and how lonely and insecure she was…it was touching and relate-able…But that darned commercial with the throbbing music for God’s Warriors had me turning to other channels as soon as the music played, sometimes they played it twice during each commercial break. No, CNN, it didn’t get me to want to watch, it only made me angrier. To equate the world’s current reign of Islamic violence with supposed extremism in Christianity is like comparing…there is no comparison! And our poor Jewish brothers defending themselves doesn’t not equate to cutting off heads, hands, and whatever else the radical Islamists do.

 

[blessedtoo]

Well, it was not a happy experience, but rather than go into it all, I’ll mention the most infuriating thing about the program (that is, when, like a good hot meal followed by general anasthesia, it did not put me to sleep): Amanpour call God’s warriors (Israelis and those who support them) anybody she pleased, whether violent or no. The result was predictable. No doubt so will the next two nights.

But while I missed the rhetorical slight of hand which allowed her to create a vast and meaningless category and kept waiting for the warriors to appear, I have to say that, falling asleep from the repetition and wild claims, the argument, if any, was buried deep inside the strident claptrap and the cloud of non-evidence served up melo-dramatically.

Tonight is Islam.

Tomorrow Christianity.

Take caffeine before watching.

Set your expectations for extremely low to *she gets paid *for this/

God bless.

Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most mind numbing topic I can think of, it was indeed a challenge to stay focused on the program. As someone who has TRIED to understand the nuance of this issue (without much success), I found myself being not so subtly pulled in the direction of feeling sympathy for the Palestinians. Perhaps because I knew this would be the slant of any MSM presentation, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t watching a journalist at all and that these programs will only serve to add more fuel to the fictional “separation of Church and state” argument. I also realized (again) that Ammanpour is not interested in presenting the whole picture of faith. Of course, that should have been obvious just from the title of these programs. But one hopes that a 6 hour expose’ would include something that reflects the good in religion. Instead, all we saw was the “extremists”, and of course, by her definition, that would be anyone who seeks to return God’s morality to our society. Notice the only person who represented the “moderate” Jewish perspective was a completely secular Jew - one whose religion is “music”. Shameful.

Certainly, we’ve been warned. Anyone who saw Ammanpour’s love letter to Osama Bin Laden (“In the Footsteps of Osama Bin Laden”) would have to know what to expect.

 

[Palladio]

Since the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most mind numbing topic I can think of, it was indeed a challenge to stay focused on the program. As someone who has TRIED to understand the nuance of this issue (without much success), I found myself being not so subtly pulled in the direction of feeling sympathy for the Palestinians. Perhaps because I knew this would be the slant of any MSM presentation, I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t watching a journalist at all and that these programs will only serve to add more fuel to the fictional “separation of Church and state” argument. I also realized (again) that Ammanpour is not interested in presenting the whole picture of faith. Of course, that should have been obvious just from the title of these programs. But one hopes that a 6 hour expose’ would include something that reflects the good in religion. Instead, all we saw was the “extremists”, and of course, by her definition, that would be anyone who seeks to return God’s morality to our society. Notice the only person who represented the “moderate” Jewish perspective was a completely secular Jew - one whose religion is “music”. Shameful.

Certainly, we’ve been warned. Anyone who saw Ammanpour’s love letter to Osama Bin Laden (“In the Footsteps of Osama Bin Laden”) would have to know what to expect.

I wrote to CNN to report the utter fiction she’s created by calling anbody she pleases God’s Warrior.

That was to keep the letter to just a few paragraphs.

But you are right.

Besides prejudice, she proceeds from abject, perhaps willed ignorance of religion and history.

I found myself wondering why the ‘historian’ appeared not to belong to a history dept., why international law trumps a defensive war (it seemed to be enough to produce a top-secret document and its author to tar the Israelis) made for every good reason…

On and on.

I agree: shameful.

But when do the media not behave shamefully? They make money on the cheap and easy now.

 

[blessedtoo]

I wrote to CNN to report the utter fiction she’s created by calling anbody she pleases God’s Warrior.

That was to keep the letter to just a few paragraphs.

But you are right.

Besides prejudice, she proceeds from abject, perhaps willed ignorance of religion and history.

I found myself wondering why the ‘historian’ appeared not to belong to a history dept., why international law trumps a defensive war (it seemed to be enough to produce a top-secret document and its author to tar the Israelis) made for every good reason…

On and on.

I agree: shameful.

But when do the media not behave shamefully? They make money on the cheap and easy now.

It reminds me of Anderson Cooper’s dopey tag line “Keeping Them Honest.” Really, Anderson? Who is keeping the media honest?

 

[Palladio]

It reminds me of Anderson Cooper’s dopey tag line “Keeping Them Honest.” Really, Anderson? Who is keeping the media honest?

Absolutely nobody.

 

[blessedtoo]

Absolutely nobody.

If I base my prediction about tonight’s program on last night’s segment, there should only be two moderate Moslems represented in God’s Warriors: Islam. We shall see if she weights the program heavily with the so called moderates so as to temper what is clearly a global concern about what this religion actually teaches.

Since the Jews defending their land (but not flying planes into buildings) were portrayed as radicals, it will be interesting (read: frustrating) to see how she “explains” Muslim extremism as anything other than what it is: a dangerous product of a dubious “religion”.