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Religion Documentaries
 | This is the story of the man who changed the world in 23 years and continues to influence it today. His father died before he was born, and his mother died when he was only six. Sheltered by a powerful uncle, he made a good start in life, established himself in a profitable business and married well. Then, at the age of 40, he was transformed. A man who could not read or write, he announced that he was the prophet of God. His name was Muhammad, and in the next 23 years he would bring peace to the warring pagan tribes of Arabia and establish the religion of Islam, which today has 1.2 billion followers.
Three years in the making, "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet," travels in the footsteps of the prophet to the Arabian desert and the holy city of Mecca where much of Muhammad's story unfolded. But the film does not just stay in the past. Much of it's story is told through the observations of contemporary American Muslims, including a fireman at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 a second generation Arab-American family building a community based on Islamic principles, a Congressional Chief of Staff working for justice, and a refugee fleeing religious persecution, whose experiences in some way echo Muhammad's life. With some of the world's greatest scholars on Islam providing historical context and critical perspective, "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet" is history in the present tense. It tells of intrigue and faith, bitter persecution and the birth of a holy book, brutal war and brilliant diplomacy in a desert environment where tribal allegiance was often the only protection. |
 | Explore the culture of Bali where religion, art, music and dance are woven into daily life. |
 |  In this landmark two-hour special, NOVA takes viewers on a fascinating scientific journey to the beginnings of modern religion. "The Bible’s Buried Secrets" vividly recounts the saga of the ancient Israelites and digs deeply into both the Bible and the history of the Israelites through the archeological artifacts they left behind. The documentary focuses on the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, as the foundation for the great monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. NOVA’s producers worked with an international team of scholars and researchers who studied stories, examined artifacts, deciphered ancient manuscripts, and hypothesized how—in a time of human sacrifice, idolatry, and slavery—the concept of one God emerged. |
 | A documentary about a mysterious medieval manuscript. Unlock the secrets of a medieval mystery, as science and investigation uncover the fabled and feared Devil’s Bible. The ’Codex Gigas’, latin for big book, is the largest medieval manuscript in existence. Once considered the eigth wonder of the world, stretching three feet long, weighing 165 pounds. Inside it are the bible, ancient histories, medicinal cures and magical spells. This documentary takes a look at the history of the book, and tryies to uncover why it was written and by whom. |
 | Even secular scholars have rejected the idea of Christianity borrowing from the ancient mysteries. The well-respected Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard writes in Theories of Primitive Religion that "The evidence for this theory is negligible." "The first real parallel of a dying and rising god does not appear until A.D. 150, more than a hundred years after the origin of Christianity. So if there was any influence of one on the other, it was the influence of the historical event of the New Testament [resurrection] on mythology, not the reverse. The only known account of a god surviving death that predates Christianity is the Egyptian cult god Osiris.
In this myth, Osiris is cut into fourteen pieces, scattered around Egypt, then reassembled and brought back to life by the goddess Isis. However, Osiris does not actually come back to physical life but becomes a member of a shadowy underworld This is far different than Jesus' resurrection account where he was the gloriously risen Prince of life who was seen by others on earth before his ascension into heaven." –Dr. Norman Geisler. |
 | 6) Baraka Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there." It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred monks do a monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky. |
 | n examination of one of the most influential books in the world, the Koran, which guides the Muslim religion. |
 | The Barbarian Conversion will be greatly welcomed by anyone who has ever wondered, whether ruefully or gratefully, about the seemingly inexorable triumph of Christian belief in the early Middle Ages." |
 | A fascinating snapshot of medieval society, this documentary narrated by Rob Brydon uses dramatic reconstructions and original animation to reveal the clash between reason and the supernatural at the heart of the medieval mind. In 1307, the full weight of medieval justice descended on the sleepy town of Hereford. But this court wasn't summoned to prove innocence or guilt. The man on trial wasn't a murderer or a criminal. In fact, he wasn't even alive. This was a holy inquiry, called by the Church to prove whether a dead English bishop was actually a miracle-worker and should be made into a saint. His case was based on several alleged miracles, the most notorious being the spectacular resurrection of a hanged man. The man - a Welsh 'terrorist' executed by the state and hanged twice just to make sure - somehow came back to life. A papal court would use all the instruments of legal process - witness statements, forensic evidence, cross-examination - to prove whether it was truly a miracle. |
 | 10) Twist Of Faith There's no easy way to address a highly charged subject like the sexual abuse of young boys by Catholic priests, but with Twist of Faith, director Kirby Dick has taken a straightforward approach, using neither fanfare nor frills to create an unflinching but highly personal documentary about this disgraceful episode.
The 2004 film's focus is on one place, Toledo, Ohio, and primarily on two men. On the one hand, there's fireman Tony Comes, mid-thirties, married with two kids. Some twenty years earlier, he'd been molested by his then-priest; callow, impressionable, in need of love, Comes found himself in a situation he describes as "too screwed up to question," with the result that he was "so confounded that (he did) nothing."On the other hand, there's Dennis Gray, the priest in question; a thoroughly repellent individual, Gray is seen in a 2003 legal deposition, evading questions on the advice of his lawyer. But Comes is far from silent. Having spent two decades racked with guilt and shame and thinking he was the only victim, Comes is galvanized into action when the abuse scandal becomes national news.
He shows remarkable courage and honesty, keeping nothing from his wife and young kids, joining a support group, even visiting the cottage where Gray committed his unspeakable acts; determined to make not only the pedophile priests but those who ignored, lied about, and covered up the abuse acknowledge and take responsibility for what happened, he also files a lawsuit.All of this is done at considerable personal cost. What happened to Comes and the other victims we see here went even deeper than the nightmares and family problems they experienced; it shook their very souls, calling into question their lifelong faith in the essential benevolence of an institution that has betrayed them. Grim but compelling, Twist of Faith makes for very sobering viewing. |
 | "The temple was the teaching". A look at the ancient Egyptian temple as an interactive repository of ancient teaching. After more than 17 years onsite at Luxor Temple, the enigmatic mathematician, philosopher and modern-day alchemist R. A. Schwaller de Lubics discovered a key that unlocks a timeless teaching encoded in stone. Does Luxor temple conseal an ancient teaching about the metaphysical anatomy of man? West explores the controversial findings of Schwaller de Lubics and the biometric data he discovered hidden in this remarkable temple. |
 | From the oasis cities of Makkah and Madinah in the Arabian desert, the message of Islam went forth with electrifying speed. Within half a century of the Prophet’s death, Islam had spread to three continents. Islam is not, as some imagine in the West, a religion of the sword nor did it spread primarily by means of war. It was only within Arabia, where a crude form of idolatry was rampant, that Islam was propagated by warring against those tribes which did not accept the message of God -- whereas Christians and Jews were not forced to convert.
Outside of Arabia also the vast lands conquered by the Arab armies in a short period became Muslim not by force of the sword but by the appeal of the new religion. It was faith in One God and emphasis upon His Mercy that brought vast numbers of people into the fold of Islam. The new religion did not coerce people to convert. Many continued to remain Jews and Christians and to this day important communities of the followers of these faiths are found in Muslim lands.
Moreover, the spread of Islam was not limited to its miraculous early expansion outside of Arabia. During later centuries the Turks embraced Islam peacefully as did a large number of the people of the Indian subcontinent and the Malay-speaking world. In Africa also, Islam has spread during the past two centuries even under the mighty power of European colonial rulers. Today Islam continues to grow not only in Africa but also in Europe and America where Muslims now comprise a notable minority. |
 | There are some who believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution has weakened religion, fuelled in part by Richard Dawkins’ publishing phenomenon The God Delusion. Conor Cunningham argues that nothing could be further from the truth. Cunningham is a firm believer in the theory of evolution, but he is also a Christian. He believes that the clash between Darwin and God has been hijacked by extremists - fundamentalist believers who reject evolution on one side, and fundamentalist atheists on the other.
Cunningham attempts to overturn what he believes are widely held but mistaken assumptions in the debate between religion and evolution. He travels to the Middle East where he shows that from the very outset, Christianity warned against literal readings of the biblical story of creation. In Britain, he reveals that, at the time, Darwin’s theory of evolution was welcomed by the Anglican and Catholic Churches. |
 | 14) The Naked Truth The Naked Truth traces the origins of modern religions back to stories from numerous ancient civilizations. Due to the lack of science and facts, stories were created by our ancient ancestors in provide explanatons to the amazing, bizarre, frightening, but natural wonders of the world. Earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, lightning, hurricanes, and other forces of nature could not be explained such a long time ago, so stories and tales were created by the human imagination to provide answers to these unexplainable natural occurances. Today, we know that Egyptian, Roman, Greek, and other mythology originated from man's imagination to explain the natural world, but are modern religions so different? |
 | This BBC documentary explores the idea that Pope Benedict XVI, also known as Cardinal Ratzinger, may have played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests.
In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he allegedly issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops worldwide. The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, the witnesses and the perpetrator not to talk about the abuse. Was this done to help the victims and minimize future abuses or was it done in the self interest of those responsible for these grievous sins. |
A total of 214 videos found in Religion Documentaries
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