Saints & Strangers

"E Pluribus Unum" ("out of many, one")--the motto for the Great Seal, proposed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson in 1776--definitely applied to our emerging country's religious composition, and this engrossing and enlightening program clearly shows how the various ecumenical strains flourishing in the American colonies came to be united in one nation under God. Onsite location footage, maps, and documents are combined with historical commentary to explore the religious influences of the Church of England in Jamestown, the educational legacy of the Plymouth Pilgrims, rudimentary democracy in Providence, the "holy experiment" of the Quakers in Pennsylvania, and the Great Awakening revival movement which stretched from Massachusetts through the South. Saints & Strangers beautifully comes full circle at the only remaining church from the colonial period in New York--St. Paul's; a spiritual refuge for George Washington, it came to serve as a place of shelter and sustenance for workers at Ground Zero after 9/11. Reminding us that the “original principles that seeded separate threads in the tapestry that is America” were (and remain) strengthened by its religious tradition, this excellent historical survey is highly recommended. Aud: H, P. (J. Reed)