Last week I posted some of my misgivings about the Soldiers of Heaven story coming out of Iraq (Did anyone see the coverline on Newsweek? "Shite Death Cult" Sexy, huh!). The Soldiers of Heaven were a "millenialist" group planning attacks of Shite leaders during the holiday of Ashoura, a delicate time for Sunni-Shiite relations. They were anhiliated Waco-style by Iraqi and American forces.

Though the response was quick and brutal, the information - even to American troops - was scarce. I asked if it wasn't an awkward time to talk about the future of religious tolerance in Iraq, and the future of minority religious viewpoints.

Well the AP sent out a story two days ago about the Mandaeans in Iraq. They are an ancient sect of quasi-Christians in Iraq.

Scholars who study the Mandaean religion and culture say its extinction would be a great loss, the end of an ancient religious movement. Dating to the time of the Roman Empire, it survived primarily in what is today Iraq and Iran, a branch of the Gnostic movement that borrowed elements of Christianity.

Mandaeans view John the Baptist as a great teacher, and engage in baptisms to come in closer contact with a "world of light" that is better than the material world on Earth.

"It represents a slice of the culture of the Middle East before the rise of Islam. It's a view to a former world. And frankly, we don't know very much about it," said Charles G. Haberl, an instructor in Middle Eastern studies at Rutgers University."

There's a lot of interest right now in gnostic Christianity across the board. Think the Da Vinci Code, the Gospel of Judas. It seems like a living, gnostic-influenced community would be a really invaluable asset to learning about early Christian thought, right? But of the 60,000 Mandeans in Iraq, 5,000 remain. Why?

... the few thousand Mandaeans still living in Iraq are finding their lives increasingly in danger, targeted by extremists of every political stripe and religious faith.

Nashi said a cousin on his father's side, Suhail Jani Sahar, was killed by Shiite fighters in November. A more distant cousin on his mother's side, Yahya Al-Chuhaily, was killed by Sunnis in June.

"Where there are areas where the Shia are the majority, they'll kill the Mandaeans and the Christians along with the Sunnis. Where there are areas where the Sunni are the majority, they'll kill the Mandaeans and the Christians along with the Shia," Nashi said.

Both Nashi and Aldulaimi are convinced that there will soon be no Mandaeans left in Iraq.

Don't expect things to get better.