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May 11, 2007

KCPT to Air "THE MORMONS" May 13 & 20

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and FRONTLINE Profile Mormon Faith


(KANSAS CITY)— KCPT will broadcast the groundbreaking two-part documentary "The Mormons" May 13 and 20 at 3 p.m.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of America's fastest-growing religions and, relative to its size, one of the richest. Church membership, now at more than 12 million and growing, sweeps the globe. But from the moment of its founding in 1830, the church has been controversial. Within a month, it had 40 converts and almost as many enemies. In the early years, Mormons were hated, ridiculed, persecuted and feared. Yet, in the past several decades, the Mormon Church has transformed itself from a fringe sect into a thriving religion that embraces mainstream American values; its members include prominent and powerful politicians, university presidents and corporate leaders.

Mormons have always had a peculiar hold on the American imagination, but few know who the Mormons actually are, or who they claim to be, and their story is one of the great neglected American narratives.

AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and FRONTLINE, two of PBS' most acclaimed series, join forces to present THE MORMONS, a new documentary series about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In two, two-hour episodes, filmmaker Helen Whitney ("John Paul II: The Millennial Pope" and "Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero") explores both the history and the current reality of the Mormon faith.

Whitney gained unusual access to Mormon archives and church leaders as well as dissident exiles, historians and scholars both within and outside the faith. "Through this film, I hope to take the viewer inside one of the most compelling and misunderstood religions of our time," says Whitney

Devout Mormons believe that in 1827 in the town of Palmyra, New York, 21-year-old Joseph Smith dug up a set of golden tablets that contained the seeds of a new religion. According to Smith, he was guided to that spot by an angel who appeared to him in a vision. "The kind of revelation that Joseph describes is the scandal of Mormonism, in the same way that the resurrection of Christ is the scandal of Christianity," says Terryl Givens, the author of several books on Mormon history. But Smith's visions, which reportedly began when he was 14, are central to Mormons' faith. "We declare without equivocation that God the father and his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, appeared in person to the boy, Joseph Smith," says Gordon Hinckley, LDS president. "Our whole strength rests on the validity of that vision."

THE MORMONS begins Sunday May 13 at 3 p.m. on KCPT with the turbulent early history of the Mormon faith, from Joseph Smith's astonishing visions and the creation of The Book of Mormon through the Mormons' contentious and sometimes violent confrontations with their neighbors and the founding and ultimate abandonment of three major religious communities ?\ in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois. "The persecution of the Mormons was officially sanctioned by at least two different state governments," says Dallin Oaks, elder of the Mormon Church. Adds Truman Madsen, author and historian, "House burning, rapings, abuse, taking over land and possessions, all that was part of it, but it was also denunciation from every other level, from state houses to pulpits."

THE MORMONS continues on Sunday, May 20 at 3 p.m. with a look at the contemporary realities of the Mormon Church. Whitney explores the massive missionary program, how the church has entered the mainstream of American culture, the intricacies of Mormon theology and ritual, and the excommunication of those who challenge church doctrine or who do not follow its teachings.

KCPT provides programming and services that entertain, educate and enrich the Kansas City community. For more information about KCPT's programs and services go to www.KCPT.org.



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