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Nicholi believes in God, but he does not load the dice. In 2002 he told the Harvard Gazette, "Students always ask me, which side are you on? . . . What I do is try to present an objective, dispassionate, critical assessment of both worldviews."

Thus Freud is shown as a loving husband and father, and as a caring physician who sought to heal hysterics rather than warehouse them. In the home movies, we see a sick and aging Freud playfully welcoming a little girl to his home and chatting amiably with friends. We also hear Lewis's despairing questioning of God after the death of his wife Joy. "The Question of God" deals fairly with its subjects, presenting them in moments of pain and loss as well as their joys and passionate pursuits. Neither is painted as a bounder or a hero.

"The Question of God" further personalizes the Big Question by sandwiching segments of a roundtable discussion between the historical scenes. Nicholi chose seven intelligent, attractive, and well-spoken people to discuss the issues: miracles, transcendent experiences, wish fulfillment and the Exalted Father, the nature of morality, and so forth. Once again, the dice are not loaded. Various flavors of religion and irreligion are represented, and one of the most warmly sympathetic characters is the professional atheist, Michael Shermer, publisher of The Skeptic magazine. Yet Christians (a former ambassador and a medical researcher), spiritual-but-not-religious people (a Jungian analyst and a spiritual writer) and an agnostic (a lawyer) all have their say on God, morality, and afterlife.

Historically, formal atheism was framed by skeptical arguments. Show me. Prove it. Give me the evidence. Believers have sometimes responded in kind, matching logic for logic. Remember that evangelical bestseller, Evidence that Demands a Verdict? The title said it all.

But in this video, those with the spiritual worldview echo Pascal's famous Pensée 277: "Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point." ("The heart has its reasons that reason knows not of.") They rightly refuse to let empiricism frame the discussion and insist that there are many ways of knowing. Jungian analyst Margaret Klenck is particularly passionate at this point, but writer Winifred Gallagher (Working on God and Spiritual Genius) and the self-identified Christians are equally firm. Defining the question empirically would render the dialogue flat and devoid of rich human dynamics. Why gut the question just to make it manageable?

"The Question of God" is "think TV." It is also an excellent opportunity for church groups to watch and then discuss. (A discussion guide can be downloaded from the program's website.) Better yet, it is an opportunity for Christians to gather and talk (rather than argue) with the polymorphously spiritual, the agnostic, and the atheistic.

David Neff is editor of Christianity Today, executive editor of Christian History and Biography, and editorial vice-president of Christianity Today International. More Christian history, including a list of events that occurred this week in the church's past, is available at ChristianHistory.net. Subscriptions to the quarterly print magazine are also available.

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September (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48