Around the World in 80 Faiths


Around the World in 80 Faiths is a British television series which was first broadcast by the BBC on 2 January 2009. The series was presented by Anglican vicar Pete Owen-Jones, who was researching the various faiths from around the world.
There was also a book planned to accompany the series, written by Owen-Jones and published by BBC Books, but the book is not published.
WWW bbc.co.uk/80faiths

Episodes

The series was presented in eight episodes with the last one airing on 20 February 2009:

Episode One: Australasia and the Pacific Ring of Fire

Directed & Produced by Sian Salt, Camera Graham Veevers
  • Faith 1: Islam and Spirit Worship: Attends a sword-stabbing ritual performed by the Bugis people of Sulawesi, Indonesia.
  • Faith 2: Christianity and Ancestor worship – Attends a funeral rite performed by the Tana Toraja people of Sulawesi, Indonesia and reflects on their relationship with the dead.
  • Faith 3: Catholic Carabao festival: Visits the annual town festival of Pulilan, Bulacan, Philippines in honour of the town's patron saint, San Isidro Labrador. Carabaos, the traditional beast of burden, are made to kneel by the church's doors in veneration of the saint.
  • Faith 4: Catholic fertility ritual: Attends the Obando Fertility Rites in Obando, Bulacan, Philippines, a three-day pagan fertility festival now held to honour three Catholic saints. Locals dance to pray for fertility, out of tradition for past successful dances, and just to be a part of the festival. A priest prays and preaches before directing a large dance inside Obando Church. Peter reflects on the cross-fertilization between Catholicism and animism and suggests that instead of the Catholics simply incorporating the dance into a prayer to the saints the festival may instead be a mutual coupling of fertility and creation.
  • Faith 5: Aboriginal Dreaming: Visits Alice Springs to meet with the Indigenous Australian people, the Aborigines, to witness a baby smoking ritual. Peter accompanies a group of locals on a trip to find the bush used in the ritual. A baby is then held in a small sand pit containing smoldering leaves for a few seconds at a time. A local tells him that the ritual is done so that the baby will be healthy and strong. Peter hoped to witness some of the Aboriginal Dreaming rituals, however, a local tells him that baby smoking is not related to Dreamtime. Peter reflects that the ritual seems to have lost its meaning as the locals are sparse in their explanation of the spiritual aspects of the event. The women of the group then remove their shirts and paint their chest and arms. With feathers in their hair, they dance around a fire. The women tell Peter they are Christian and do not know of the old Aboriginal religion.
  • Faith 6: The Iraqi Mandaeans: Attends a regular baptism service inspired by John the Baptist and performed by the persecuted Mandaeans of Iraq in a park in Sydney, Australia.
  • Faith 7: Urban witchcraft: Visits a group of witches who have established their coven, led by Tim Hartridge, within Sydney, Australia.
  • Faith 8: Indigenous Kastom: Meets practitioners of the tribal faith of Kastomism on the South Pacific island of Tanna, Vanuatu.
  • Faith 9: John Frum cult – Meets practitioners of the new religion of John Frum of Tanna, inspired by the American presence on the island after the World War II.
  • Faith 10: Prophet Fred and Unity: Witnesses the religion of Unity and interviews their prophet, Fred from Tanna and Killian.

Episode Two: The Far East

Directed, Filmed & Series Produced by Graham Johnston

Episode Three: Africa

Directed, filmed & produced by Tom Sheahan

Episode Four: The Middle East

Directed, filmed & produced by Tom Sheahan

Episode Five: USA

Directed & Produced by Karen Selway. Camera Graham Veevers

Episode Six: India and Nepal

Directed, filmed & series produced by Graham Johnston

Episode Seven: Latin America

Directed & produced by Rob Cowling. Camera Graham Veevers
Peter Owen Jones then visited Bolivia, mentioning how the current president is the first native ethnic president of Bolivia.

Episode Eight: Europe

Directed, filmed and produced by Kevin Jarvis