God in America and the New York Times

Paul Harvey

In today's New York Times, Samuel Freedman does a nice overview of the making of "God in America," to be shown on PBS Oct. 11-13. A brief excerpt:

Having always considered Jefferson “cerebral and slightly allergic to religion,” she recently recalled, [show producer Marilyn] Mellowes was instantly intrigued. The story of the Jefferson Bible, as the refashioned scripture became known, did not fit into Ms. Mellowes’s documentary about nascent Christianity. But it stuck in her memory. And the paradoxical idea that the man credited with creating the metaphor of a wall between church and state cared and studied so deeply about Christianity helped to inspire a documentary about the history and influence of religion in American public life. The result, a six-hour series titled “God in America,” will be broadcast on PBS for three nights starting Oct. 11.

More on this show as we get closer to the premiere!