Religion

Since the 1965 Immigration Act, the United States has emerged as the world's most religiously diverse country. The stories, perspectives, interviews, and images featured in this program culled from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly offer an opportunity for informed dialogue about encountering these religions, both ancient and new, and appreciating their complexity. In-depth segments filmed at locations around the country spotlight emerging communities of Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Hasidim. Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard University, discusses what this increased diversity means. (60 minutes)

Although hatred of the Jewish people is often found at the margins of society, anti-Semitism appears to be approaching a groundswell in many parts of the world. This program examines the phenomenon at institutional and grassroots levels, focusing primarily on the Middle East and the complex history behind its conflicts. Viewers will encounter several provocative ideas about Islamic anti-Semitism and the attitudes Jews and Muslims have developed concerning each other. Celebrated historian Bernard Lewis, former Israeli Prime Minister Natan Sharansky, Iranian-American author Reza Aslan, Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy, and other experts propel this timely discussion. Narrated by veteran TV journalist Judy Woodruff. Bonus material (DVD only) features extended interview footage. (57 minutes + 45 minutes of bonus material)

Due to the radical politicization of religious belief in the 21st century and the attendant threat to the freedom of thought that underpins disbelief, atheist Jonathan Miller feels prompted to balance the discourse. In this unprecedented three-part series, Miller, a genial and deeply intelligent disbeliever, is joined by some of the world's most distinguished thinkers as together they sift through the history of atheism and question the labels of disbelief. A complex, engaging, and highly provocative inquiry. A BBCW Production. 3-part series, 60 minutes each.

Is the human brain hardwired for religion? This program examines work in the emerging field of neurotheology, focusing on links between religious ecstasy and the brain's temporal lobes. Dr. Michael Persinger, who has spent much of his career pursuing such a connection, uses magnetic field resonance to test his theories on renowned atheist Richard Dawkins. Inversely, Dr. Andrew Newberg performs a brain scan on a meditating Buddhist. And Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran posits the existence of an antenna" within the brain that may seek out or respond to a higher power. Relevant side effects of brain injuries and epilepsy are also discussed extensively. A BBCW Production. (50 minutes)"

By 500 A.D., Christianity had begun its rise as the dominant religion of Europe. Skeptical philosophical beliefs were effectively silenced, and the Roman Catholic Church was on its way to becoming a power that would endure unchallenged for a millennium...until the Scientific Revolution. But as Jonathan Miller points out in this program, schisms within the Church-subsequently exacerbated by Deists Edward Herbert and David Hume as well as by monist philosopher Thomas Hobbes-had much more to do with clarifying and systematizing atheism than did the discoveries of Copernicus and Newton. The program concludes with the formal codification of an atheistic philosophy in 1770 via La Systeme de la Nature, written by the Baron d'Holbach. Historian Simon Schaffer is featured. Original BBCW broadcast title: Noughts and Crosses. (60 minutes)

In this program, Jonathan Miller visits Ground Zero to consider the religious implications of 9/11. Events such as this bring one face-to-face with the consequences, both social and political, of belief in the divine, the supernatural, the holy, the sacred, and the transcendent-ideas that I, like many others, find alien, uncongenial, and, to be frank, almost unintelligible," says Miller. He then searches for evidence of the first unbelievers in ancient Greece and examines some of the modern theories of why people have always tended to believe in mythology, mysticism, and magic. Writers Arthur Miller and Gore Vidal, philosophers Daniel Dennett and Colin McGinn, historian Geoffrey Lloyd, anthropologist Pascal Boyer, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, and physicist Steven Weinberg are featured. Original BBCW broadcast title: Shadows of Doubt. (60 minutes)"

Key figures either directly or tangentially connected to the progress of atheism-the Baron d'Holbach, Thomas Paine, Jeremy Bentham, Charles Darwin, George Jacob Holyoake, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx-are profiled in this program as Jonathan Miller draws links between atheism and the realms of utilitarian and secularist philosophy, evolutionary science, psychology, and politics. Is religion doomed to die out? And if not, why? Then, after a discussion of mortality from the atheist point of view, the program returns full circle to touch upon the issue that begins this series: religious fanaticism in the 21st century. Historian Simon Schaffer, philosophers Colin McGinn and Daniel Dennett, and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins are featured. Original BBCW broadcast title: The Final Hour. (60 minutes)