Just in time for Christmas: CBS premieres “In God’s Name”

posted at 12:20 pm on November 20, 2007 by Bryan
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I’ll make a couple of predictions about this CBS documentary.

The filmmakers behind the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning “9/11″ are bringing their next project to the airwaves. Jules and Gedeon Naudet’s film “In God’s Name” premieres on CBS Dec. 23 at 9pmET.

The Naudet brothers produced the chilling documentary, 9/11. Jules was shooting inside the World Trade Center when the South Tower fell. “On Sept. 11, we faced death and thought we had lost each other,” said Jules. “This harrowing experience was the first step in a journey that would take us around the world searching for answers to the meaning of life.” A journey took the brothers to nine countries.

The special features 12 spiritual leaders including Pope Benedict XVI, the Dalai Lama, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and prominent Sunni and Shia Muslim leaders. CBS says this program “marks the first time that this distinct group of leaders has appeared in one broadcast.”

Prediction #1: The documentary won’t show any images of Mohammed, and will refer to him as “prophet” each and every time his name is invoked. If you’re not a Muslim, Mohammed is not a prophet to you, but that doesn’t stop the dhimmi press from referring to him as such.

Looking at the guest list, I’ll offer the second prediction.

The 12 leaders featured in this special, in alphabetical order, are:

o Alexei II, Patriarch of Moscow and head of the Russian Orthodox Church
o Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi), a Hindu spiritual leader
o Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church
o The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists
o Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, a prominent Shi’ite Muslim leader
o Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and President of the Lutheran World Federation
o Michihisa Kitashirakawa, Jingu Daiguji (High Priest) of the Shinto Grand Shrine of Ise
o Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
o Dr. Frank Page, President of the Southern Baptist Convention
o Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar and a prominent Sunni Muslim leader
o Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the Sikhs’ highest authority
o Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England

That bolded name belongs to a very prestigious imam at the oldest Islamic university in the world. President Bush has invoked that name to argue that Islam is a religion of peace.

My second prediction is that these statements of Tantawi’s won’t be included in the CBS documentary and he won’t be asked about them.

The Middle East Media Research Institute reports that on April 4, an Arabic-language website connected to Al-Azhar stated that Tantawi has “demanded that the Palestinian people, of all factions, intensify the martyrdom operations [that is, suicide bombings] against the Zionist enemy, and described the martyrdom operations as the highest form of Jihad operations. He says that the young people executing them have sold Allah the most precious thing of all.”

Islamic law, the good sheikh maintained, demanded the blood of non-combatants. He “emphasized that every martyrdom operation against any Israeli, including children, women, and teenagers, is a legitimate act according to [Islamic] religious law, and an Islamic commandment, until the people of Palestine regain their land and cause the cruel Israeli aggression to retreat…”

Let’s see how these predictions pan out next month.

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