'Religion as a Window of Culture' documents Hoosier religious diversity

By Yolanda Smith

A new six-part educational video series, created by the Polis Center on the IUPUI campus, explores the meaning and practice of religion in Indianapolis. The series first will be shown March 31 at Fatima Retreat House, Indianapolis, during a workshop and will be offered, along with a curriculum guide, for sale.

"'Religion as a Window on Culture' illustrates something very important about Indianapolis and American society, and that is, how religiously diverse we are," said David Bodenhamer, director of the Polis Center. "America has always been a melting pot of religions, not just a melting pot of people, and Indianapolis is a great place to illustrate what all of this means," he said.

The film focuses on four major themes important to various religions: sacred space, sacred time, sacred memory and sacred journey.

Bodenhamer

"All religious traditions share these concepts, even though they may interpret them differently," Bodenhamer said.

A cross-section of religious traditions, from large, white congregations to mainstream African-American congregations, to small storefront churches are shown.

Nineteenth Star, Inc., which has done work for the Discovery Channel, the Learning Channel and PBS, filmed the new series. Crews spent more than 50 hours filming segments for the video, beginning in September 1996.

Assisting in the development of the project was the Department of Religious Studies at IUPUI and religious educators throughout the city and beyond.

Featured are Rabbi Sandy Sasso of Temple Beth-El Zedeck; Sayyid Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America; the Rev. E. Anne Henning Byfield, senior pastor of Robinson Community African Methodist Episcopal Church; and University of Chicago Professor Martin Marty, the nation's preeminent scholar of the American religious experience.

The video is part of the Understanding Religion component of the Polis Center's Project on Religion and Urban Culture, which is funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. For more information, call 317-274-2455.