(FORTUNE Magazine) – Here is the way the issue is framed in The Kingdom Divided, a ''special report'' on God and Politics that was lately brought to the tube by Bill Moyers, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Chevron (the sole corporate sponsor). It seems that Christianity is divided over the message it should bring to impoverished Latin America. On one side are Christian evangelicals telling the poor to embrace the faith and settle for salvation in the afterlife. On the other side are clergymen committed to ''liberation theology,'' who bring the poor a message of hope about life here and now. Their message is that Jesus was a revolutionary, so if you want to improve your lot in life, get with the revolution -- you know, that revolution they're running in Nicaragua. Guess which message comes across as more attractive. Moyers gives several of the evangelicals a chance to say their pieces on- screen. But their cause is dragged down in several ways. It is endlessly intimated that their talk of saving souls is a cover for more Reaganite militarism in Central America. Their spokesmen are shown asking the poor Hondurans to send in contributions through Visa or MasterCard. Evangelical pitchman Jimmy Swaggert is shown casting out the Devil in terms guaranteed not to sell on public television. By contrast, every one of the liberation theology fellows comes across as articulate, sensible, and utterly idealistic. The Moyers interviewing technique also does little for the non-Communist world. The technique makes full use of Bill's facial expressions, and we have long rated him best in the business at looking thoughtful. People he likes get not only intimations of thoughtfulness but sometimes also smiles based on the zygomatic major, a muscle at the lip corners that creates truly happy expressions. (Okay, we admit it: We've been reading about smile research in the New York Times ''Science'' section.) Bill looked especially thoughtful while sympathetically absorbing the perspective of idealistic liberation theologian Paul Jeffrey, a missionary who earnestly opines that Nicaragua today is like Palestine 2,000 years ago whereas the United States is like Rome. Moyers repeatedly serves up slow-pitch softballs when interviewing Jeffrey and other Sandinista fans on the show. One of the slowest went to a saintly looking chap named George Baldwin, who goes on for some time about how the cooperative on which he's working in Nicaragua is like ''building the kingdom of God -- or the reign of God is a better word, since that's less sexist.'' Baldwin's softball is this marvelous objection by Moyers: ''But isn't this what scares a lot of people back in the United States -- that this liberation theology threatens their way of life, threatens the . . . system, their comforts?'' This inane question, totally supportive of Baldwin's own loony logic about fat cat Yankees benefiting from poverty in Latin America, naturally enables the fellow to wag his chin some more about ''the system,'' after which Moyers breaks out into a zygomatic major smile and says, affectionately: ''You're a dangerous man -- you know that?'' In the end, what's weirdest about the program is the issue that's never raised. Bill, be reasonable. How can you go on for an hour and a half stating that the question is whether or not the campesinos should improve their lot here and now by joining the revolution -- and not once ask any of those liberation theology characters to support the underlying premise of the question, which is that socialist economics is the road to development. Does anybody argue that case anymore? With or without a thoughtful expression?