Sanity's warriors

Dear reader, my mind has not been on my blog these last few days.

What has occupied my thoughts has shaken me to the core.

The last three nights I watched “God’s Warriors,” sure to win awards for CNN’s Christiana Amanpour. On Tuesday night the two-hour segment was “Jewish Warriors;” on Wednesday night, “Muslim Warriors;” and last night, “Christian Warriors.”

Up front, I am Christian with liberal convictions and a belief that the Democratic Party’s social consciousness most closely adheres to the true tenets of Christianity.

In the words of one of the Christian youth leaders featured, that makes me a “virtue terrorist.”

I believe in each of these major religions there are good, moral people with kind hearts, all of whom find favor in God’s eyes.

Two common themes running through all three segments: hatred of others and a belief by zealots in each religion that all people should believe as they do and should be converted or annihilated.

This is not the world I was reared in, and I have both my parents and my church to thank for that.

My church has changed. I didn’t leave it: it left me. Former President Jimmy Carter, another Southern Baptist, calls it a “radical departure” from the faith he grew up in.

I will speak to the segment on “Christian Warriors.” These fanatics won’t stop until this nation is a theocracy, all the while claiming their way was the intention of its Founding Fathers.

They have been so programmed to focus on abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, sexual abstinence and evolution, they are overlooking the most powerful words of Jesus the teacher.

Where is the love? The Jesus of my New Testament loved the unloved.

It might surprise them to know the subject Jesus spoke of most – some 700 times – was “the poor.”

He taught love, peace and forgiveness, and that appeals to me. Pretty good foundations for human relations.

Have they not read Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”?

While they seek to subjugate women, are they ignoring Jesus’ attitudes?

These so-called Christian soldiers, to advance their agenda, helped put George W. Bush in the White House and Republicans in Congress, and the social consciousness of the nation haa suffered for it.

Is the value of human life, in their eyes, only limited to the womb?

They depict Democrats, liberals and progressives as having no moral values – godless foes out to destroy religion. They are talking about Americans.

Do these zealots have the right to vote? Absolutely.

Are they a wake-up call for the 36 percent of voting-age citizens who did not vote in 2004? To be sure.

“God’s Warriors” will re-air on CNN Saturday and Sunday nights at 9 EDT.

Sanity’s warriors will be both shaken and inspired by this exceptional documentary’s message.