Directed by Alex Gibney, Going Clear is a feature documentary that caused quite a stir when it was released earlier this year (2015). It instantly received widespread praise from movie critics and was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning three, which included Best Documentary.The film itself dives straight into the deep end of Scientology and we quickly learn of the history behind
What is the reality of daily life in Gaza under Hamas and can a militant religious organisation move from international pariah to meaningful political player? David Rosenberg explores the issues. ‘A man once jumped from the top floor of a burning building in which many members of his family had already perished. He managed to save his life; but as he was falling he hit a person standing down below
For over 1400 years, Mecca has been one of the most important cities in the Arabian Peninsula. By the middle of the 6th century, there were three major settlements in northern Arabia, all along the southwestern coast that borders the Red Sea, in a habitable region between the sea and the great desert to the east. This area, known as the Hejaz, featured three settlements that had grown around oasis
Radicalism in many forms has made significant inroads within several countries located around the world, in particular Iraq and Syria in the last few years. Such groups that pose a threat here are known as Muslim extremists, and they directly challenge the idea of Islam and are a threat to humanity in the areas which they dominate. In this journey Mojtaba Masood will be examining modern day extrem
This is Creationfest, a four-day Christian rock show-cum-revival held every summer in Eastern Washington where religion, politics, and music collide.It is here that thousands of eager young Christians gather to worship, save souls, and get “Crunk on Christ”. Jesus Freaks takes you deep into the heart of this contemporary Christian culture where religion and rock n’ roll make strange bedfellows
More than two decades ago, a 29-year-old patrol officer and talented painter named Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop publicly declared himself reborn as Vissarion. Since then he’s fostered a “unified religion” that is a vast amalgam of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, pagan, and other spiritual beliefs.Just about everything Vissarion has ever said or thought has been recorded in the never-ending Last Tes
This documentary looks at the tragic death of 913 men, women and children who lived in a religious compound in the jungles of Guyana, South America, and investigates leader Jim Jones and his message of brotherhood and social justice.Jonestown was the informal name for the "Peoples Temple Agricultural Project", an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple, a cult
Like much of the United States, Dover, Pennsylvania has become a town divided, split between those who accept Charles Darwin's Theory of Evolution and those who reject it. This rift between science and scripture nearly destroyed the community after a Dover high school student painted a mural showing the evolution of humans from ape-like ancestors. This idea that humans were descendants of primates
