"Around the World in 80 Faiths"...
ABOUT THIS TV SERIES
-----------------------
"One year, six continents, 80 rituals - smoking babies, naked men
festivals, cargo cults and serpent-handling. From Taoism in China to
a Voodoo mass in West Africa, Pete Owen Jones presents the definitive
guide to faith on earth."
"The big six world religions are only part of the story. Faith is
belief in the sacred, and it is expressed in a rich diversity of
rituals, in denominations, sects, cults, tribal faiths and new
religious movements. Pete's mission is to witness and take part in
rites rarely filmed before, to take the religious pulse of the planet
and to understand the depth of humanity's fascination with the
divine. As an Anglican priest, Pete will be confronting cultures that
will challenge his values and prejudices - he will be surprised, even
offended, but also enlightened."
In case you missed last night's re-showing of the first episode in
this documentary series, you can watch it online for a while on BBC
catchup:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ggfcn
This programme includes some remarkable scenes of a Church of England
priest stripping off and joining a full moon "urban witchcraft"
ritual. He also apologises for the terrible persecution that
Christianity inflicted on women of the craft.
The detailed contents of this, and all the other programmes in this
series, can be found here:
http://www.cheal.org/message/920
The series has given rise to a book of the same name...
"Around the World in 80 Faiths" by Peter Owen Jones
http://www.Amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1846075068/sunflowerheal-21