A few days ago, you may have read about a group called the Soldiers of Heaven - an fringe religious group in Iraq who were annihilated on Monday by Iraqi, U.S. and British forces. They were heavily armed and, according to Iraqi intelligence, had been planning to disrupt the commemoration of Ashoura - a holy day particularly celebrated by Shi'a Muslims near the holy city of Najaf. It seemed like a cut and dried story of some maniacs who needed to be put down, Waco-style, and that's how the story first RAN. more than 300 militants were killed and about 650 captured.

Well.. with a few days hindsight, the Washington Post is raising some good QUESTIONS.

Virtually all the information about the cult has come from Iraqi officials, who have released incomplete and sometimes contradictory accounts... The Shiite-dominated government maintains the cult had links to al-Qaida in Iraq, which seems unusual considering the Sunni group's hatred of Shiites as heretics and collaborators with the U.S.

There seems to be no question that the group was armed, and prepared to fight - and there's evidence that group believed that it was guided by the "Hidden Imam", a messianic figure in Shi'a Islam.

It seems most likely that this was Shiite-on-Shiite violence, with millenarian cultists making an attempt to march on Najaf during the chaos of the ritual season," Juan Cole, a Shiite scholar at the University of Michigan, said on his Web site. "The dangers of Shiite-on-Shiite violence in Iraq are substantial, as this episode demonstrated.

So... uh... is this the worst possible time to bring up religious tolerance in the Muslim world?

Of course, violent sects are not the best example. But it IS interesting that the kicker quote in the Post comes from Juan Cole, a noted middle east expert at the University of Michigan and ALSO a longstanding (and controversial) member in the Baha'i faith. If anyone has words to say about minority religions under Shi'a rule, it's the Baha'i, who have had to endure generations of minority status, sub-standard schooling and daily repression under Shiite rule for their religious beliefs. The Baha'i profess such radical beliefs as the unity of the worlds religions, the equality of men and women and the harmony of religion and science. Their founder, Bahaullah, came out of a period of renewed messianic interest in the 19th century.

There's a lot of talk about the challenge of planting democracy. Planting religious tolerance, I think, will be an even thornier battle.

As the cash from the first "Survivor" series rolled in, you could almost hear the screech of the studio wheels churning out what would become forst "Big Brother" and "The Bachellor," then "Joe Millionaire" and "Temptation Island" and all the lesser bandwagons that follow a Hollywood success.

So it's no surprise. The hands that milked Mel Gibson's Passion are reaching for fresh udders, and films about God and the godless abound this fall - from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Personally, I'm excited about Jesus Camp, a documentary from the makers of The Boys of Baraka about a Christian summer camp in North Dakota which debuted at the Tribeca film festival and won the Special Documentary Jury Prize. The filmmakers call their approach "balanced," and distribtors at Magnolia pictures are at pains to say the documentary about home-schooled Christian kids should appeal to people "on all sides of the issue." But the sight of kids speaking in tongues and a focus on activist politics - abortion in particular - should stir up a ruckus in the aisles.

Also coming soon is Darshan the Embrace, a doc about Amma, the "hugging saint" of India, the woman who has given over 25 million embraces, according to her press releases. Be warned, though, that advance word says that this is more of a love letter than an objective look.

It bears noting that the Hollywood bandwagon is filling up with more homespun California wisdom. Movies based on the New Age classics are coming faster than you can swat 'em, with The Celestine Prophecy, Conversations with God destined soon to fill the same two-week run just vacated by Peaceful Warrior - the last directed by Victor Salva, of Jeepers Creepers fame (is it a matter of time before we get the oeuvres of Carlos Castaneda and Richard Bach - directed by Wes Craven?).

And in the God and Mammon category - check out the Spiritual Film festival in Sun Valley, starting today. Yes, 32 films about spiritual poverty shown in one of the wealthiest zip codes in the nation. The idea was sparked last year by the visit of HH the Dalai Lama, who visit with local schoolkids is featured in one of the shorts ("Mommy, who will they be getting next year?"). Although the press packet for this event featured a journalist-friendly pie chart of the faiths represented - a 13% slice for Islam, a juicy 23% for Christianity, etc. - I somehow slipped up and missed an offer to attend.

There's always next year.