wfn.org | NCC Programs To Air On Broadcast TV In December

["Nat'l Council of Churches" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
E-Mail: dpomeroy@ncccusa.org; Web: www.ncccusa.org
NCC11/26/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sept. 11, AIDS, Forgiveness, Christmas Are Themes of NCC-Related Programs
Set to Air on Major Broadcast Television Networks in December

	November 21, 2001, NEW YORK CITY - The Sept. 11 tragedies, AIDS in Africa
and America, the Christmas story, and the heartrending, difficult journey
toward forgiveness are the themes of four broadcast network television
specials presented by or in cooperation with the National Council of
Churches and set to air in December.

	Three were produced in cooperation with the Interfaith Broadcasting
Commission (IBC), which includes the NCC, the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, the Broadcast Communications Group of the Southern Baptist
Convention and the Jewish Theological Seminary.  The fourth, the NBC-TV
Christmas special, is presented by the NCC.

Because the participating groups rotate their 	access to the network slots
from year to year, it is unusual for four NCC programs to appear in a single
season, much less in a single month.

Dates indicated for each program are the dates the networks will feed the
specials to local affiliates.  Each affiliate decides whether to air the
special and when.  Requests from the viewing public for stations to carry
the special religious programs are helpful in encouraging them to clear
their schedules and to air the programs in popular viewing times, said Dave
Pomeroy (dpomeroy@ncccusa.org), NCC Director for Electronic Media.

Details on the four programs follow:

7	Ngones Story: A Tale of Africas Orphans, produced by United Methodist
Communications for the National Council of Churches, focuses on a teenager
in Senegal whose father has died of AIDS and whose mother is HIV-positive.
The mother has kept the nature of her illness from Ngone (not her real name)
because of the stigma around AIDS in Africa - even in Senegal, one of the
more enlightened countries on the continent in controlling the disease.

Ngones Story is also about the strength and spirit of the Senegalese
family and the potential of Church World Services Moringa tree project.
While not a cure, the products of this highly nutritious tree can help
strengthen immunity.

Ngones story is paralleled by the plight of a Los Angeles mother with AIDS
who is struggling with how to tell her children about the nature of her
disease.

Jeneane Jones of United Methodist Communications is producer, narrator and
writer.  The one-hour Ngones Story is part of the Horizons of the
 Spirit series, produced in cooperation with the Interfaith Broadcasting
Commission for NBC stations.  The NBC-TV feed date is Nov. 28-29.  Several
stations will air Ngones Story on Sunday, Dec. 2; some may choose to air
it on Saturday, Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.  Check local listings for air date
and time in your area.

7	Journey Toward Forgiveness is an hour-long documentary about families
and individuals facing anger and forgiveness in the face of violent or
wrongful death, near-death from racial injustice, terminal illness and other
circumstances.  Part of the Vision and Values series and produced for the
National Council of Churches by Mennonite Media, the documentary powerfully
demonstrates that those who are able to embark on a process toward
forgiveness - though heartrending and difficult - find it to be the path to
inner healing.

Executive producers of Journey Toward Forgiveness are Dave Pomeroy of the
NCC and Burton Buller of Mennonite Media.  Producer is Jerry L. Holsopple of
Mennonite Media. Denominational partners include the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, United Methodist Church,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, Seventh-day Adventist
Church, Church of the Brethren and others.

The ABC-TV feed date is Dec. 2.  Check local listings for local air date and
time.

7	The Greatest Gift, a Christmas special produced for the National Council
of Churches by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, features Grammy
Award-winning recording artist Sandy Patty, world-renowned vocal artist
Wintley Phipps, the Harlem Boys Choir and the Brocton Advent Childrens
Choir, with Christmas reflections by Rear Admiral Barry C. Black, Chief of
Navy Chaplains.  It will include a special retelling of the Christmas Story
by individuals affected by the Sept. 11 tragedies.  The one-hour program
will be fed to NBC-TV stations on December 16 for airing during the
Christmas season.

7	Responding to Tragedy: Religion in a Time of Terror is a CBS-produced
interfaith discussion of religion and the terrorist acts of Sept. 11,
featuring National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar and other
panelists representing Muslim, Jewish, Catholic and Buddhist faith groups.

The religious leaders share their insights into how the world has changed
since Sept. 11 and what faith and faith groups can do to help one another in
this new time.  The panel, moderated by Ted Holmes, came together for taping
at the American Bible Society.

Dr. Edgar calls for more interfaith conversation so that we can learn more
about one another, and urges justice but not vengeance.  Rabbi James Rudin
of the American Jewish Committee picks up on this theme, saying that love
(an important religious term) comes out of justice.  Religious leaders
should not be saying that the Sept. 11 events are unbelievable, he says,
for after the Holocaust we know that anything that is evil may be
believable.

Dr. Elaine Pagels, professor of religion at Princeton University, spoke of
the ability of religions for self-correction; each faith tradition will find
ways to weed out extremism.  Moreover, we need to distinguish between
fundamentalists and those who would do violence, says Father Tom Reese of
America magazine.  Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of Al Farah Mosque in New York
City notes that Sept. 11 prompted the American Muslim community to look at
their traditions both as Muslims and Americans.  We must not perpetuate the
cycle of anger, he says, but rather respond out of the ethics of our own
religious perspectives.  Tibetan Buddhist monk Nicholas Vreeland pointed to
the letter sent to President Bush by the Dalai Lama, which said that
violence will only increase the cycle of violence.

This half-hour, CBS-TV Religion and Culture special will be fed to local
affiliates on December 16; check local listings for air date and time.

-end-