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.

The Washington Post has an editorial on the Pentagon Inspector General's report that concluded:
 

...that seven current or former military officers, including two major generals and the Pentagon chaplain, violated ethics rules when they appeared in uniform in a promotional and fundraising video for the evangelical group Christian Embassy. The report on Christian Embassy, an offshoot of Campus Crusade for Christ that recruits diplomats, government leaders and military officers, underscores the need for Pentagon officials, both uniformed and civilian, to be more careful about mixing religious activities with government duties.

Free exercise of religion doesn't stop at the entrance to the Pentagon or other government buildings; it's appropriate for Christian Embassy to hold prayer breakfasts and fellowship meetings at the Pentagon as long as other religious groups have similar opportunities. But especially in the military, with its emphasis on rank and discipline, those at senior levels need to ensure that their actions are not seen as a government endorsement of a particular religion.