‘Talk amongst yourselves’
Posted on Saturday, March 4, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Religion/147640/
It’s a program tailor-made for Arkansas’ churchgoing residents, but ironically, many never see it. They are at church. Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, an award-winning broadcast focusing on matters of faith and belief, airs in Arkansas at 11 a. m. Sundays on AETN. That’s unfortunate for churchgoers without recording devices, because the program offers timely analysis of current issues. However, the producers also provide a Viewer’s Guide that gives an in-depth resource for those who might want to learn more about featured topics, with formats for individual research or discussion in small-group settings. And the guide can be used by people who do not see the show, although it will mostly likely create a desire to tune in.
Robert Miller is the director of educational publishing for Thirteen / WNET of New York, the producers of Religion & Ethics Newsweekly; he coordinates the distribution of the Viewer’s Guide.
“In our view it’s equally important to reach out educationally, as it is to produce terrific programs,” Miller says, adding that Lilly Endowment Inc., which provides funds for the program, also believes in that mission. “Their support for the program has a generous component devoted to helping us educate folks.”
Published once a year, the guide explores themes from the program in a degree of depth not possible on the 30-minute television broadcast. To come up with topics for the guide, Miller says, advisers and producers discuss issues in religion and ethics that promise to be important in the coming year, as well as topics to be covered on the program. Essays on these topics are then written on everything from bioethics to forgiveness. “We cover the most exciting and fascinating topics... and have top-flight people write these pieces,” Miller says. “We try to make the guide as engaging and appealing as possible.”
ANIMATED DISCUSSIONS St. Philip’s United Methodist Church is in Round Rock, Texas, a suburb of Austin, where the television show is broadcast on Friday evenings. Kelly Williams, minister of discipleship and education, says the church developed an adult Sunday School class based on the guide and program.
The class began in the fall, and the participants are studying mysticism. Classes include DVD video clips (that come with the guide ) and discussions, which often are hard to stop.
“We try to restrain ourselves,” Williams says.
Williams says she was looking for a topic for Sunday School and heard about the guide and the DVD and ordered it. The class is open to all and has a wide range of ages, from 20 s to 50 s. The class is small because the discussions are so in-depth. If more join, Williams says, the church will probably offer two classes.
The Rev. Rosanna Anderson, associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Cranbury, N. J., began watching the weekly program last summer and thought it would be perfect for a youth Sunday School class.
The church began offering the class for students in grades 8-12 in September. Anderson says the students are interested in current events, and the program provides a variety of topics for discussion.
Her students have already studied the Old and New Testaments and gone through the confirmation process, she says. They’ve had a chance to explore their Christian faith and claim it as their own, and the program offers an opportunity for even further study.
“I saw this as a way to give them an open forum to talk about current issues and to respond and question,” she says.
Each Sunday morning, the students watch segments from the show and discuss the issues. Sometimes, the discussions are quite animated, which is a good way to wake up the sleepy teens.
“On Sunday morning, it’s hard. They are not exactly awake and this is something they can interact with,” Anderson says.
Anderson says the students are missions-minded and are interested in what’s happening in their community and in the world. The program exposes them to a variety of denominations and world religions. She adds that the guide serves as a good starting point for discussions. “It’s a comfortable way to talk about these important issues,” she says. “It’s not a preachy thing. It’s something they can relate to. They are hearing the news and they may not have heard from a range of perspectives and this provides that.”
35, 000 COPIES In the most recent issue, the Viewer’s Guide includes essays on immigration, mysticism, forgiveness, Christianity meeting Buddhism, social welfare groups and more.
Each article includes discussion questions, suggested readings and resources. The guide also includes advice on how to use the guide, the DVD with clips from the program, tips for leaders on how to ensure lively discussion and the importance of following up the discussion with action.
This year 35, 000 copies were published.
“That’s a big number for us,” WNET’s Miller says. “It’s so exciting. It creates a resource that can stand alone and can be used in lots of different ways.”
Miller says feedback from readers reveals the guide is used by congregations from a wide variety of denominations and religions. And readers have written to say they’ve used the guide in community discussion groups, on college campuses, in high schools and in prisons.
“It’s got a really wide variety of uses, and I hope it has real value,” Miller says.
He hopes the guide will entice viewers not familiar with the program to watch and also draw visitors to the Web site. He adds that developing the guide each year is a challenge.
“We want a balance between religions, and optimistic coverage of issues that are difficult, and ethical issues which are more secular,” he says. OPEN WINDOW ON THE WEB
Williams, the Texas minister, adds that the class has had a positive effect by engaging people in a Sunday School class who have never made that commitment before.
And, she says, the Web site, www. pbs. org / religion, has been a useful resource for the teachers and the class participants.
“It’s wonderful,” says Williams. “The Web site has been very helpful in directing us to other information and research with good references.” Video clips, transcripts of previous programs and links to related topics are offered on the Web. One can even listen to the previous week’s broadcast in its entirety.
And although the guide’s topics are diverse, Williams says they’ve been able to apply them to their community and beliefs. The essays and clips have prompted much discussion and questions about what the church and community could and should be doing.
“I think it’s a really good way for people to learn about other religions and a way to get people to consider really profound issues through the filter of their own beliefs,” Miller says. “The idea is to create communities around the country who are reaching out and thinking about important issues.”
Guides can be downloaded at the Web site or can be requested via e-mail at guiderequest@thirteen. org. A new guide is published each fall and previous guides are also available on the Web site.
The selection is so well done that topics remain relevant for years to come. The guide for 2004 includes essays on “Islam and Democracy,” “ America’s Evangelicals, ” “Religion and the Arts” and “God and Politics” for the election year.
The guides are free.
“All we want is for people to use them,” Miller says.