The Story of God with Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman explores how different religions past and present explain what happens when we die.

Exploring how faith traditions predict the End of Days.

Beginning a quest to discover who God is and how he, she or they have evolved over human history.

In the premiere episode of "The Story of God," Morgan Freeman traverses the globe to ask Where did we come from, and what happened "in the beginning?" Humanitys first question remains one of its most intensely debated. For many believers, it is impossible to understand who and what we are without first understanding how we got here...and who (or what) is behind it. Were we created in the image of God, or are we the result of a 13.8 millionyearold singularity? Morgan meets with papal representatives at the Vatican and Islamic scholars in Cairo. He visits Hindu philosophers in India and archeologists digging up the ancient Mayan past in the rain forests of Central America. He takes part in sacred Navajo rituals in New Mexico and goes looking for clues to the Garden of Eden in Jerusalem. And in Turkey, Morgan investigates the ancient cities of Çatalhöyük and Gobekli Tepe, where civilization itself first arose.

Where does evil come from? In a maximum security prison, Morgan comes face to face with a serial killer, and looks for the physical root of evil in his brain. In an ancient tomb, Egyptologist Salima Ikram shows Morgan a depiction of the "weighing of the heart", and the birth of the belief that what you did in this life mattered in the next. Psychologist Jesse Bering has discovered that children who believe they are being watching by an invisible being obey the rules more than those who don t. Morgan encounters Zoroastrianism, whose belief in a cosmic balance of good and evil inspired the Christian Devil. In India, he discovers that Hindu believes evil stems from the tormented souls of one s ancestors, who are merely in need of release. Morgan explores the idea of redemption, when he meets former Neo Nazi skinhead Bryon Widner, who turned his back on a life of evil.

What are miracles, and what might they mean? Morgan goes to Manhattan to meet a man who fell 47 stories and lived, and to Jerusalem, where he learns at Passover that miracles are the foundation of the Jewish faith. In Rome, he discovers how the Vatican makes saints through their miracles, and how ancient Romans believed the gods controlled every aspect of their lives. He explores the Chinese tradition of Daoism, in which miracles can happen because our lives are connected by a universal energy. Is a psychologist correct when he says miracles could be nothing more than random chance? Or could miracles come from the power of our minds? Cancer survivor Tom Renfro claims his recovery stemmed from the power of prayer. In India, at the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment, Morgan discovers that Buddhists believe all of us are capable of miracles, if we focus our minds.