Produced for the PBS series American Experience, Stanley Nelson’s Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples’ Temple, written by his frequent collaborator Marcia Smith, examines the infamous religious cult formed by Jim Jones and the events that led to the group’s horrifying mass suicide in 1978. The film traces Jones’ history from his unhappy childhood in rural Indiana.

Witnesses describe a strange, charismatic young man who nursed a seemingly sincere desire for social justice, but also reputedly murdered small animals as a child. Jones’ desire to befriend people across color and class lines alienated his family and neighbors. Eventually, he moved to Indianapolis, where, as a young Pentecostal minister, he started the city’s first integrated church.

Eventually, Jones moved his church to California to escape the racism he perceived in Indiana. In Redwood Valley, his church took on a new life, and he began aggressively recruiting new members. At first, members were required to tithe a percentage of their worth, but eventually, they were expected to relinquish all of their “worldly goods” to the Temple. In 1974, Jones moved to San Francisco, where he acquired some political clout before his high profile caught up with him.

Just before a damaging exposé was published, he moved his people to what was meant to be a “paradise” outside the racism and oppression of America, in Guyana. Nelson interviews eyewitnesses, including many former members of the Temple, and members of Congressman Leo Ryan’s staff who managed to escape when the congressman’s investigatory visit ended in bloodshed. The film had its world premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. (Barnes & Noble)

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This documentary sets out to investigate the notion that Islam is a “religion of peace” and explore the widely circulated idea that those who commit violent acts in the name of Islam are a fanatic few. The filmmakers try to hold Islam’s own sources to the light to make the controversial claim that the religion is actually driven by a violent, expansionary ideology that seeks to conquer any contradictory religion, culture, and, ultimately, government.

This film is by far the most interesting presentation of Islam that I have yet to see. I recommend viewers be fully awake before attempting to watch it, as some amount of concentration is required to reap the full benefits of this documentary.

Packed with direct quotes from the Koran and other reliable sources, along with compelling visuals and tasteful interviews, it will challenge even the experts. Is violence built into the Moslem ideology? (Barnes & Noble)

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In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Islamic fundamentalism has, in the minds of many, taken the place once held by communism as the leading threat to the safety and security of the industrialized West. Filmmakers Wayne Kopping and Raphael Shore explore what they regard as the most dangerous force since the rise of Nazism in this documentary.

Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West features footage from Arab television outlets with interviews which are compared with newsreel images of terrorist actions staged by the PLO and other groups in an effort to show parallels between hate-based groups of the past and the current mood among Islamic extremists. Obsession also includes interviews with guerilla fighters, former Hitler Youth members, and terrorist operatives as they discuss the role and function of extremist political and religious groups.

Obsession is a film about the threat of Radical Islam to Western civilization. Using unique footage from Arab television, it reveals an ‘insider’s view’ of the hatred the Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination. The film also traces the parallels between the Nazi movement of World War II, the Radicals of today, and the Western world’s response to both threats. Featuring interviews with Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, Alan Dershowitz, a former PLO terrorist, and a former Hitler Youth Commander.

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The documentary The Case for Christ follows reporter Lee Strobel as he interviews a number of religious and historical scholars in order to find out if there is any proof of the resurrection, and to discover the historical veracity of the New Testament. In trying the case for Christ, Strobel cross-examined a number of experts and recognized authorities in their own fields of study. He conducted his examination with no religious bias, other than his predisposition to atheism.

Remarkably, after compiling and critically examining the evidence for himself, Strobel became a Christian. Stunned by his findings, he organized the evidence into a book he entitled, The Case for Christ, which has won the Gold Medallion Book Award for excellence. Strobel asks one thing of each reader – remain unbiased in your examination of the evidence.

In the end, judge the evidence for yourself, acting as the lone juror in the case for Christ. Has anybody ever compiled the evidence to determine the case for Christ? As a matter of fact, Lee Strobel, an atheist at the time he undertook this endeavor, decided that he would prove Jesus Christ to be a fraud by the weight of the evidence. (Barnes & Noble)

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Louise Hay has made a life out of healing people…on their own steam. She has lead the way since the 1980s on how you can heal your own life. At the forefront of the self-help field, Hay has become a Matriarchal figure to many now in the business of self-help. In the 1980s Louise Hay self-published You Can Heal Your Life, a book that has sold over 30 million copies to date, and spurred her on to build her own publishing company ‘Hay House.’

Taking the philosophy one step further, Louise Hay has stepped along with the information age and put the theories behind her book into a complimenting DVD with the same name. I think the book and the DVD would probably work best hand in hand; the book for reference once it is read, and the DVD as a frequent reminder when watched of the powerful resources we hold in our own hands. Louise Hay has gathered some of the best self-help teachers, most who have seen Hay as a guiding light in their own lives, to explain the thoughts behind You Can Heal Your Life.

Very similar in format to The Secret, this DVD is easily digestible information that is both empowering and constructive. Author of The Erroneous Zones Dr Wayne Dyer, The Angel Lady Doreen Virtue, Life Makeover teacher Cheryl Richardson, Dream Interpreter Leon Nacson, medical authority and author of Women’s Wisdom Women’s Bodies Dr. Christiane Northrup, and medical intuitive Mona Lisa Schulz, along with a handful of other spiritual intellectuals, all give their perceptions on the philosophy that our “thoughts and our actions can equal miracles” as Richardson states.

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Ben Stein shows us a world where Academia’s freedom of inquiry might not be so free. This should be a concern for anyone and everyone. This undermines the concept that we will be teaching facts and truth in our universities. However, if you watch how this documentary is formatted you will find that this documentary is overly biased, delving into spectrums of propaganda! Let me explain. Stein sets about proving his premise by interviewing scientists that have been rejected by the establishment. Scientists who have allegedly had their lives ruined because of their belief in something called “Intelligent Design.” Science isn’t here to persecute people’s beliefs and this concept would probably outrage anyone… that is until you realize the lengths he goes to paint science as the root of this evil.

So, we have Stein interviewing scientists that have had their qualifications ruined by the establishment, wouldn’t you think Stein should interview people working in the scientific community at the time about this issue? If this persecution of dissidents was happening I would think he’d go and talk to people still working in the field and cite his examples for scrutiny. This never happens. Either Stein is a just a terrible host for a documentary and should stick to the game shows, or he has an agenda. Stein does interview PZ Myers, Michael Ruse, Eugenie Scott, and the mighty Richard Dawkins for his grand finale, but he never once asks them about the people that were fired or denied tenure. He only sticks to questions concerning how life began.

He doesn’t even really talk to them about why Intelligent Design is rejected by the scientific community versus why evolution is taught. He never asks these questions. Michael Ruse, who isn’t even credited during his interview (more sloppy documentary work), proposes a possible life beginning scenario involving crystals. This results in Stein asking him again how it’s possible… after Ruse just told him and results in what can be interpreted as a rude response from Ruse. This style of filming to show scientists as unwilling to entertain the idea of Intelligent Design pushes the viewer to see science as intolerable.

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Few if any men have changed the course of history like Martin Luther. In less than ten years, this fevered German monk plunged a knife into the heart of an empire that had ruled for a thousand years, and set in motion a train of revolution, war and conflict that would reshape Western civilization, and lift it out of the Dark Ages.

Luther’s is a drama that still resonates half a millennium on. It’s an epic tale that stretches from the gilded corridors of the Vatican to the weathered church door of a small South German town; from the barbarous pyres of heretics to the technological triumph of printing. It is the story of the birth of the modern age, of the collapse of medieval feudalism, and the first shaping of ideals of freedom and liberty that lie at the heart of the 21st century.

But this is also an intensely human tale, a story that hurtles from the depths of despair to the heights of triumph and back again. This is the story of a man who ultimately found himself a lightning conductor of history, crackling with forces he could not quite comprehend or control. (Excerpt from pbs.org)

Driven to Defiance

Reluctant Revolutionary

Although this documentary is promoting “intelligent design” view I decided to post it. For centuries scientists and philosophers have marveled at an eerie coincidence. Mathematics, a creation of human reason, can predict the nature of the universe, a fact physicist Eugene Wigner referred to as the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the physical sciences.” In the last three decades astronomers and cosmologists have noticed another, seemingly unrelated, mystery. Contrary to all expectations, the laws of physics seem precisely “fine-tuned” for the existence of complex life.

Could these two wonders actually be isolated pieces of a wider pattern? Both are prerequisites for science, yet what about the process of scientific discovery itself? What are its necessary conditions? Why is it even possible? Read any book on the history of science, and you’ll learn about magnificent tales of human ingenuity, persistence, and dumb luck. But that’s only part of the story, and not even the most important part. Our location is much more critical to science than it is to real estate. For some reason our Earthly location is extraordinarily well suited to allow us to peer into the heavens and discover its secrets.

Elsewhere, you might learn that Earth and its local environment provide a delicate, and probably exceedingly rare, cradle for complex life. But there’s another, even more startling, fact, described in The Privileged Planet: those same rare conditions that produce a habitable planet-that allow for the existence of complex observers like ourselves-also provide the best overall place for observing. What does this mean? At the least, it turns our view of the universe inside out. The universe is not “pointless” (Steven Weinberg), Earth merely “a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark,” (Carl Sagan) and human existence “just a more-or-less farcical outcome of a chain of accidents” (Steven Weinberg). On the contrary, the evidence we can uncover from our Earthly home points to a universe that is designed for life, and designed for discovery. (Excerpt from privilegedplanet.com)

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On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen.

All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion – some positive, and some negative.

In this conversation the group trades stories of the public reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations.

They discuss the tough questions about religion that face the world today, and propose new strategies for going forward.

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Carlton TV got a scoop when reporter Ali Braund went undercover with a hidden camera in the Poole organization. They also used other sources in making this landmark documentary about the The Church of Scientology. The cult tried to sue the documentary makers, but it was dismissed as an abuse of the courts.

The documentary discusses: Conway and Siegelman survey; security checking (Sec Check); deceptive recruitment; L. Ron Hubbard; Robert Vaughn Young; plan to eradicate Suppressive Persons from the Earth; myths about L. Ron Hubbard’s life; beginnings of the Sea Org; David Miscavige; personality test; emotional manipulation; Key To Life course; controlling an ashtray; Training Routine 0 (staring); Gary Fry signing over £21,000; auditing; emotional high induced by auditing; hard sell techniques; claims of improved memory; Adam Bird paying £34,000.

Further more: Gary Fry leaving and getting refund; Saint Hill castle and the Sea Org; the billion-year contract; goal of “clearing” the planet; Jon Atack; OT3 and Xenu; OT levels and Body Thetans; security checking; use of “confidential” confessional materials for blackmail; arrest of Ali Braund; Scientology’s refusal to co-operate with the programme; the Fair Game policy; author Russell Miller and the attempt to frame him for murder; Fair Gaming of Jon Atack; suicidal thoughts upon leaving; death of John Buchanan in Germany.

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