AAMTV > Constitutionalism and Religion: Ideas Behind the Principles of Democracy

America Abroad Media (AAM) and Turkish Radio and Television, (TRT), have partnered to produce a three-part television series entitled “Religion, Liberty and Constitutionalism” for broadcast in Turkey. This series is funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Program 1 – “Is Religion Back?”

In April 2009, AAM and TRT produced “Is Religion Back?”, a one-hour televised town meeting coinciding with JTF’s “Religious Liberty, Law and Flourishing Societies” conference in Istanbul, Turkey. The conference brought together scholars from around the world to offer some of the best forward thinking and empirical research on religious liberty, constitutionalism, and flourishing societies.

Hosted by TRT’s lead anchor, Mithat Bereket, “Is Religion Back” included an expert panel of scholars and a live audience of 400 academics, students and journalists.The program focused on the growing salience of religion in public and private life around the world, the challenges to religious liberty posed by state regulation of religious life, and recommendations on how to promote religious pluralism.

Broadcast on June 7, 2009, "Is Religion Back?" reached more than a quarter of a million viewers in Turkey.

Program 2 – “Religious Freedom and the American Experience”

In June 2009, AAM again partnered with TRT and Mithat Bereket to produce “Religious Freedom and the American Experience,” a one-hour documentary exploring the constitutional origins and evolution of religious freedom in America. The AAM television team traveled with Bereket and his camera crew to Philadelphia, Williamsburg and Washington, DC to provide Turkish audiences with a visual representation of the American experience from the colonial period through the ratification of the Constitution and early 19th century America.

In addition to interviews with scholars, the program featured perspectives from such historical figures as "Benjamin Franklin" and "Thomas Jefferson", portrayed by actors in Philadelphia and Willamsburg. The resulting documentary not only explored the American experience in developing the relationship between religion, government and society, but also provided Turkish audiences with background on religious movements throughout Europe beginning in the Middle Ages, the corruption of the Catholic Church, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, the birth of Protestantism, the split between the Church of England and the Catholic Church, and the Puritans flight to the “New World.”

Broadcast as a special episode of Bereket’s weekly show, Pusula, the documentary was viewed by 1.5 million people, Bereket's largest audience of the year, and over half a million more through repeat airings.

Program 3 – “Examining Religious Diversity in America”

AAM, TRT and Mithat Bereket are now in the final planning stage for a new documentary, “Examining Religious Diversity in America,” the last program of the series. Production will begin fall 2009, for broadcast late 2009 or early 2010 on TRT.