Freeman goes searching for God Freeman at the temple of Tikal in Guatemala. Top, he speaks with His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa — leader of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism — at Bodh Gaya, India.
Journey of discovery began with a question asked in an ancient house of worship
First he played God on film. Now Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, 78, tells The Story of God.
Executive-produced by Freeman and his Revelations Entertainment partners, Lori McCreary and James Younger,
The Story of God follows Freeman on an international, interfaith journey as he immerses himself in religious experiences and investigates cultural beliefs about God, the meaning of life and life after death. The six-part series premieres on National Geographic Channel April 3 at 9 p.m. ET.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Freeman says the seeds for the project were planted during a trip to the Hagia Sophia in Turkey six years ago.
“It’s a temple in Istanbul that is very old and has changed hands a few times,” Freeman says. The structure was built as an Orthodox cathedral in the sixth century, converted to a mosque after the city was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1453 and became a museum in 1935.
“On the walls inside, there were all these Christian depictions — Jesus in the cradle, Jesus growing up, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And Lori looked up and asked, ‘Well, when this was a mosque, did they cover those pictures up?’ And our guide said, ‘No, this is part of Islamic tradition — the belief that Jesus was a prophet.’ That was a big eye-opener and, as Lori explains it, she was a little put out because, being fairly wellread, she felt she should know that and she didn’t.
“That whole thing just sort of simmered until James came along and it was decided that we should look further into this question of religion and God,” Freeman says. “So we came up with a concept, we did a sizzle reel, and then we took it on the road, and Nat Geo said, ‘ Hey, we got this!’ ”
McCreary says she considers the series an exercise against the “tyranny of certainty.”
“Questions can sometimes lead to even a deeper understanding of one’s own belief and faith, and if we can allow for the questions without people feeling like we’re pulling away at the fabric of belief, then that’s healthy,” she says. “That’s why we love this exploration. We’re looking at faith from all different perspectives around the world, from all different cultures, from all different times in our history, to see what we can learn.”
Although The Story of God seeks to shed light on five major religions — Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism — Younger says it does not focus heavily on dogma but rather on core questions of faith. The aim, he says, is to get people to look past ritual and say: “What is my faith really about? If I’m a Buddhist, if I’m a Hindu, if I’m a Christian, what am I asking?”
Reflecting on his own revelations after production, Freeman says: “The consistent thread, in any religion, is the search — not the search, the hope — for life after death, for life everlasting.”
Younger adds that people want to believe “there’s something more than just that angry Darwinian struggle for survival, that there are eternal truths and values that matter, that we should run our lives by. All religions connect us to the eternal.”
Freeman cuts in with a laugh: “Isn’t that what I just said?”
“We’re looking at faith from all ... different cultures, from all different times in our history, to see what we can learn.” Lori McCreary