The fate of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a site holy both to Jews and Muslims, is at the very heart of the Middle East conflict-perhaps the world's most important unresolved religious dispute. A billion Muslims will not rest until the site is under Islamic sovereignty. For Jews in Israel and around the world, however, it is part of their historic capital, never to be surrendered. Can anything short of divine intervention settle the issue? In this final...

After decades of Communist oppression and neglect, Buddhist temples are now thriving across China. But are Buddhism and Taoism even relevant in a country that has thoroughly embraced materialism? How does government bureaucracy affect those religions? And can far older spiritual traditions survive in such a rapidly evolving society? This program addresses those questions as it visits monasteries and temples in Shanghai and in rural, economically disadvantaged...

"China, 1898. An unwanted fourth daughter, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name by her family. She finds friendship and a name, Vibiana, in the most unlikely of places: Christianity. But China is a dangerous place for Christians. The Boxer Rebellion is murdering Westerners and Chinese Christians alike. Torn between her nation and her Christian friends, Vibiana will have to decide where her true loyalties lie ... and whether she is willing to die...

In little more than two decades, China made a leap of industrialization comparable to what took the U.S. a century. This program uses the experiences of entrepreneur Guo Guangchang-called one of China's 100 Richest Business People by Forbes-as a springboard to explore that nation's prospects as the awakened dragon ascends. A grassroots shift toward democratic structures, a new definition of education that promotes individual thought and responsibility,...

In this episode, the story comes up to date with the 20th century. Starting at Munich's beer halls, we learn about Hitler's first revolt at the Munich Putsch which resulted in his imprisonment at Landsberg, where the young Hitler was to dictate his memoirs, Mein Kampf. Whilst Hitler was fighting for power in Germany, women were fighting a different battle, that of sexual rights. In the back streets of Manhattan, nurse Margaret Sanger works with American...

A young British boy's noble spirit allows him to survive the hardships of a Japanese prison camp in China during World War II.

In the small southern town of Chin-kiang, in the last days of the nineteenth century, young Willow and young Pearl S. Buck, the headstrong daughter of zealous Christian missionaries, bump heads and embark on a friendship that will sustain both of them through one of the most tumultuous periods in Chinese history.

This program summarizes and distills what we have learned about the great religions in this series. Smith's lifetime of experience and study helps him to go beyond the differences between each tradition. He shows how the cultivation of virtues valued by all religions-intelligence, compassion, creativity, truth, beauty, and goodness-can lead to transcendence. In the many faces of God he has contemplated, Huston Smith sees no conflict. He believes them...

"A narrative account of the history of Christianity from its beginning to the end of the first millennium. The principal theme is the slow drama of the building of a Christian civilization. A major theme is the mission of Christians among different peoples in many regions of the ancient world: Ethiopia, Nubia, Armenia, Georgia, Persia, central Asia, India, China as well as among the Germanic peoples of northern Europe and the Slavic peoples in the...

Simon Reeve follows the sacred waters of the Ganges from source to sea, exploring how India's economy has affected its religious culture. Along the way he meets westerners in Rishikesh seeking spiritual enlightenment, takes a holy dip in the fast-flowing waters at Haridwar and discovers how the river is being severely polluted in Kanpur. While there, Simon hears allegations that holy cows are secretly being slaughtered to fuel a booming leather trade....