FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For Release: Aug 3, 2007
CNN’s Six-Hour God’s Warriors TV Event Examines Religion, Power and Politics
Christiane Amanpour Reports for Worldwide Documentary Series Airing over Three Nights Beginning Aug. 21
CNN will premiere a six-hour television event across its U.S. and international networks in August on the impact of the rise of religious fundamentalism as a powerful political force in three faiths: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour traveled the world to report CNN Presents: God’s Warriors. The U.S.premiere airs Tuesday, Aug. 21, through Thursday, Aug. 23, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. each night (ET/PT).
“God’s Warriors is an investigation of religion, at a time when religious activism is a signature cultural phenomenon of our times,” said Mark Nelson, vice president and senior executive producer for CNN Productions. “This project’s global scope is ideally suited for the skills of someone with as impressive of a journalistic pedigree as our own Christiane Amanpour.”
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.
“There are millions of people around the world who feel that their faith is being ignored – pushed aside – and they are certain they know how to make the world right,” Amanpour says. “We cannot and should not ignore them. And, with this report, we’ve tried to explain them.”
God’s Jewish Warriors – Tuesday, Aug. 21, 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
God’s Jewish warriors draw inspiration from the Book of Ezekiel: “Ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers.” For them, Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 meant the fulfillment of prophecy: They believe that when Jews return to their Biblical homeland and live according to the Torah, the Messiah can come.
Following the war that redesigned the map of the Holy Land, Jewish settlements in the captured territory have become the central uncompromising principle of right wing Jewish settlers. Amanpour tells the personal stories of those who are willing to die for their cause.
As the two-hour program goes behind-the-scenes of historical events, Amanpour alsoreports on a Jewish terrorist group that planned to blow up the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site, in order to sabotage Israeli-Egyptian peace talks. Another Jewish extremist, Yigal Amir, assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin to derail peace talks with Palestinians.
“The tragedy besides our personal tragedy is that he was stopped in the middle of the way,” says Noa Rothman when asked by Amanpour about the assassination of her grandfather, Israeli Prime Minister Rabin. “And we can never know how the end of the path would have been.”
God’s Jewish Warriors reports how Christian Zionists in America are raising large sums of money to support the activities of the settlers and how the pro-Israel lobby’s clout in Washington has helped religious settlers remain in the West Bank.
God’s Jewish Warriors was filmed in the West Bank, Israel, the United Kingdom and the United States.
God’s Muslim Warriors – Wednesday, Aug. 22, 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and Europe, and tension between Muslim and Western cultures is also growing. Geneive Abdo, author of Mecca and Main Street, says that since 9/11, a majority of U.S. Muslims report feeling targeted by the government and ordinary citizens for suspicion of terrorism.
A recent Pew Forum poll, the first to measure American Muslim attitudes, found that although the majority found no conflict between living a devout Muslim life and being an American, young Muslims were almost twice as likely as their parents to attend mosque and identify themselves as Muslim first and Americans second. They are also more outwardly religious, more likely to wear Muslim dress and more pious than older Muslims. Perhaps most unsettling was that 26 percent felt that terrorist suicide bombings can sometimes be justified.
Abdo found some Muslims are rejecting many aspects of American society that they consider to be immoral and degrading. Rehan Seyam is one such young Muslim who feels that her commitment to Islam, her adoption of the hijab head scarf and living in a materialistic American society is her own “jihad.”
Across the Atlantic Ocean in one of the most permissive societies in Europe, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was raised as a conservative Muslim, has become a target of a more violent form of jihad. A former member of the Dutch Parliament and now an atheist, Ali collaborated with artist Theo van Gogh on a film critical of Islam’s treatment of women. As a result, Van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim extremist, and Ali remains a target.
In London, Amanpour speaks with Ed Husain, a young Muslim who describes himself as having been radicalized as a youth to accept an extremist Islamist ideology that seeks to return peace to the world through a restoration of a governing caliphate -- an ideology he now rejects. Similarly radicalized British Muslims are responsible for the July 7, 2005, terrorist bombings of the London Underground subway system, the recent terrorist attack on the Glasgow Airport in Scotland and the attempted car bombings in London.
God’s Muslim Warriors was filmed in the United Kingdom, Egypt, Iran, the West Bank, the Netherlands and the United States.
God’s Christian Warriors – Thursday, Aug. 23, 9 p.m. (ET/PT)
In the two-hour investigation, God’s Christian Warriors, Amanpour reports on evangelicals trying to influence American politics and society from a faith-based perspective.
“People have experienced extreme disappointment with secular culture, and so there has developed this counter-cultural protest,” says Karen Armstrong, religious historian and author of The Battle for God.
In the late 1970s, modern conservative Christians began to play a bigger role in American politics, largely in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion, Roe v. Wade. The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a preacher, founded a faith-based political movement, the “Moral Majority.” By the 1980 national election, the group had played a role in the defeat of 12 incumbent U.S. senators. In his last interview, conducted with Amanpour just one week before his death, Falwell gave new insight into the founding of the movement, his three-decade battle against abortion, and his feelings about the upcoming presidential campaign.
Amanpour also traveled from Washington State to Washington, D.C., meeting conservative Christians engaged on the front lines of a battle against what they see as a faithless, valueless popular culture that has turned away from its Biblical roots.
“Whoever speaks up most gets to shape the culture,” says Ron Luce to a stadium crowd of thousands at the 2007 BattleCry event in San Francisco aimed at training a young generation of Christians “battle” secular “virtue terrorists.”
Other God’s warriors are fighting battles on a quieter, more personal front. In Virginia, Jennifer and Michael Nevarr are disturbed by what they perceive as the lack of God in public schools. Instead, they home school their five children, basing their education on a Christian world view.
God’s Christian Warriors was filmed in the United States.
About the Documentary Series God’s Warriors
The God’s Warriors series includes interviews with former President Jimmy Carter, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Noa Rothman and Kamal el-Said Habib, a reformed Islamic jihadist who was part of the violent militant group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
A companion Web site to God’s Warriors offers users show excerpts from the documentary, an audio podcast and an exclusive video diary that goes behind-the-scenes with producers as they traveled in Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East for principle filming. This online content will be available at www.CNN.com/godswarriors. The podcast will also be available for download from iTunes.
The managing editor of God’s Warriors is Kathy Slobogin. Andy Segal, Michael Mocklar and Ken Shiffman are senior producers; Cliff Hackel and Dave Timko are director/editor/producers; Brian Rokus, Jen Christensen and Julie O'Neill are producers. Jody Gottlieb is the executive director of CNN Productions.
Christiane Amanpour has reported on crises from many of the world’s hotspots and war zones. Her assignments also include exclusive interviews with world leaders on the human consequences of natural disasters and global politics. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the coveted Paul White Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, two George Foster Peabody Awards, a Courage in Journalism Award and a number of Emmys and duPont awards. She is a member of the board of directors for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
Images and multimedia press content are available at www.cnn.com/godswarriorsopk.
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For Release: July 15, 2007
CNN Announces Worldwide TV Event
on Rise of Religion as Powerful Political Force
Six-hour God’s Warriors
Reported by Christiane Amanpour
Airs over Three Nights Beginning Tuesday, Aug. 21
CNN will premiere a six-hour documentary next month on the impact of religious fundamentalism as a powerful political force around the world. Filmed over seven months in six countries and reported by chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, CNN Presents: God’s Warriors will debut over three nights from Tuesday, Aug. 21, to Thursday, Aug. 23, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) on CNN Worldwide’s U.S. and international networks.
“CNN is one of the only networks still investing in ambitious documentaries that try to add to the understanding of our complex times,” said CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein. “In God’s Warriors, we are taking advantage of CNN’s global reach and unparalleled resources to more fully inform viewers about the conflicts and important religious dynamics taking shape in the world today.”
Amanpour, who reported the award-winning In the Footsteps of Bin Laden for CNN last year, reflected on faith, culture, politics and power.
“As I report around the world, people often ask me about the rise of religious influence on political power within the United States, but in fact this is true worldwide,” Amanpour said. “Wherever I go, what the believers do all have in common is that they want to bring the politics of faith into the very center of public life – we are seeing this now on almost every continent.”
God’s Warriors includes interviews with former President Jimmy Carter about the political impact of the Christian Right in the United States; the Rev. Jerry Falwell – in his last television interview – about the political and cultural legacy of the Moral Majority movement in America; Noa Rothman, granddaughter of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin, discusses his assassination by a militant Jewish fundamentalist; and Kamal el-Said Habib, a reformed Islamic jihadist who was part of the violent militant group that assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
At the January Television Critics Association meetings earlier this year, CNN announced CNN: Special Investigations Unit as a new series platform for breaking news and other enterprising productions reported by the network’s top investigative talent, in addition to the multi-hour event productions branded as CNN Presents. Between the two series, CNN Productions will offer approximately 40 hours of breaking news specials and planned documentaries in 2007, an increase of 30 percent from the previous year. Mark Nelson is the vice president and senior executive producer of CNN Productions.
A companion Web site to God’s Warriors will offer users the opportunity to experience show excerpts from the documentary, listen to an audio podcast about the documentary and view an exclusive video diary that goes behind-the-scenes with producers as they traveled in Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East for principle filming. This online content will launch in August at www.CNN.com/godswarriors. The podcast will also be available for download from iTunes.
Christiane Amanpour, as CNN’s chief international correspondent, has reported on crises from the world’s many hotspots, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, Somalia, Rwanda and the Balkans. Her assignments have ranged from exclusive interviews with world leaders to reporting on the human consequences of natural disasters or covering war zones. She has received wide acclaim and numerous awards for her work, including the coveted Paul White Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for lifetime achievement, two George Foster Peabody Awards, a Courage in Journalism Award and a number of Emmys and duPont awards. She is a member of the board of directors for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
CNN Presents is the most honored documentary series in cable news. CNN Presents: In the Footsteps of Bin Laden will be awarded the 2006 Sigma Delta Chi journalism award for excellence in the television category “Network/Top 25 Market” for documentaries later this month by the Society for Professional Journalists.
The managing editor of God’s Warriors is Kathy Slobogin. Andy Segal, Michael Mocklar and Ken Shiffman are senior producers; Cliff Hackel is producer/editor; Brian Rokus and Jen Christensen and Julie O'Neill are producers. Jody Gottlieb is the executive director of CNN Productions.
CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.
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