CNN Tries to Make Monkeys Out of God's 'Christian Warriors'

In last night’s installment of the six-hour, three-part series God’s Warriors, CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour loads the deck to portray conservative Christians as dangerously at odds with science. She first uses an interview with maverick Rich Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals, who has been criticized by many Christian leaders for his embrace of man-made Global Warming theory as fact, then turns to a family of homeschoolers.

Here’s a partial transcript:

AMANPOUR to CIZIK: You're saying it's the science that led you to this conclusion, whereas some of your fellow evangelicals, those who criticize your position, say it's the precisely the science and their suspicion of science which cause them to doubt and to reject what you're doing.

CIZIK: Yes, because, historically, evangelicals have reasoned like this: Scientists believe in evolution. Scientists are telling us climate change is real. Therefore, I won't believe what scientists are saying. It's illogical. It’s an erroneous kind of syllogism. But is that what's been occurring? Absolutely.

Wonder if CNN would agree that Christians are “poor, uneducated and easy to command,” too, as a Washington Post reporter described them famously a few years ago? Do monkeys like bananas? Skeptics point to rival scientific theories; they don’t trash science itself. There is no balance presented from any theologians, Intelligent Design advocates or scientists who contend that science has not proven beyond doubt either Darwinian macro-evolution or man-made Global Warming.

Amanpour then interviews the Nevarrs, a home-schooling family from Virginia, who come across as intelligent and sincere. But she zeroes in on their opposition to the teaching of evolution as fact, followed by this loaded account:

AMANPOUR (voice-over): God's warriors have fought the teaching of evolution in the schools and in the courts many times over the years. The most notable recent case was in Dover, Pennsylvania. The fight was over the theory of intelligent design, which maintains the universe is so complex, there has to be a master architect. The Dover school board said it could be taught. But opponents charged it was just creationism in disguise.

STEPHEN HARVEY, PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: Intelligent design and religiously-motivated attacks on evolution have no place in our public school science classrooms.

AMANPOUR: And in December 2005, a judge agreed.

Amanpour then turns to Eugenie Scott, who directs the National Center for Science Education and, in Amanpour’s words, “monitors the creationist movement.” Scott talks about how some teachers skip teaching about evolution because of “the perception that evolution is very controversial.”

Now, check out this transition:

AMANPOUR: At the Nevarrs' house, the lessons continue.

Editor’s note: Those poor, poor children. The viewer is led to believe that they are being miseducated. Perhaps something should be done about this pesky home schooling movement ….

For more analysis of God’s Warriors, click here.