Exploring religion from the front line
In a five-part series, Putting The Fun In Fundamental sees presenter Elliott Gerner travelling from Rio to Bombay and Tulsa, Okalahoma as he throws himself into the religious firing line.
In Beam Me Up Jesus, Elliott links up with the 50 million Americans who follow "The Rapture", a movement which believes Jesus will soon descend from Heaven and summon up all "true believers". Elliott’s Jewish faith prevents him from being one of the chosen but that doesn't stop the leaders from trying to save him anyway. Watching Jew Watching Me investigates Jew Watch.com; one of many pernicious sites on the internet, it fuels anti-Semitism by publishing a list of prominent Jews to "keep a close watch on".
But the list also happens to be a roll-call of the great and the good including Bob Dylan, Woody Allen, Noam Chomsky and Ringo Starr.
Determined to get on the list, Elliott sets up a meeting with ex-Ku Klux Klan leader Don Black, who hosts the offending web-site. From Voodoo to Catholicism and Evangelism, Brazil's big three religions often use football to bring in the punters. In Kicking the Devil's Balls Elliott explores the increasingly uneasy relationship between Brazil's religions both on and off the pitch.
In 1975 a very low budget Bollywood film, Jai Santoshi Maa, featuring the obscure Hindu goddess Santoshi Maa, became a surprise hit as well as a religious phenomenon throughout India. Those who made it seemed doomed, suffering ill-fortune or poverty in the years that followed. Bollywood Godess sees Elliott head to India, where he and his team find themselves under a curse that strangely parallels the story they're following.
In Raiders of the Misplaced Ark, Elliott continues his search for a true "religious experience". Visiting Turkey, he starts his mission to explore the legacy of Noah's Ark in Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
