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OCTOBER 5, 2017 BY MEGAN SCHMIDT

A Mirror for Humanity: Exploring “The Story of Us” WithMorgan Freeman

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by Megan Schmidt

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CC/Pixabay.com

We are living in achallenging era of humanhistory.

Last week, events unfoldedthat both divided us andunited us. NFL players tooka knee during the national

anthem to protest inequality and police brutality against peopleof color. The mass shooting in Las Vegas, which was the deadliestin recent American history, took 59 lives and injured hundredsmore.

“How did we get here? Why are we here? Where will this lead? Ithink we’re in wait-and-see mode,” said Morgan Freeman, whenasked how he felt about the state of America days before the LasVegas attack.

How often we forget that what unites us is stronger than what

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divides us.

“The Story of Us” will explore how love, belief, power, war andpeace, rebellion and freedom shape cultures around the world insix, hour-long episodes. Viewers will join Oscar-winning actorand documentary producer Freeman on a mission to uncover thefundamental ties that keep our societies together, and to revealthe common humanity found within each person — regardless ofwhere we live or what we believe.

Freeman was joined by fellow executive producers Lori McCrearyand James Younger, the team behind the predecessor series “TheStory of God,” to discuss their new National Geographic show.They also shared what they learned about humanity in theprocess.

The timing of this introspective and eye-opening series wasn’t acoincidence.

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Courtesy of NatGeo

“In our lifetime, this seemsto be the perfect time tobring out the sameness in usand play down thedifferences, much ofwhich are just imagineddifferences,” Freeman said.“We have had genocides andwars predicated on differences. Well, let’s look at what’s sodifferent here. What’s so different that you need to fight aboutit?”

It seems as though humankind is wired for tribalism. Forthousands of years, humans have stuck to their own anddemonized outsiders. While our tribes used to be based ongeography, we became good at finding new ways to distanceourselves from each other — whether based on race, politics,gender, religion, economic status, sexual orientation and more.

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But, at least we’re talking about it, Younger said. The creators ofthe series hope to bring new insight to the national and globaldiscourse about mending these racial, cultural and ideologicalfault lines.

“Now is the time in our history that we must learn how to getbeyond that, how to keep the positive aspects of culture … andthrow away the negative aspects of culture, the culture wars, thelabeling other people as different or being full of bad traits,”Younger said.

The series is a testament to the power of personal experience andstorytelling. Freeman will interview people who have foundthemselves in high places, low places and everywhere in between.Here’s a peek at a few of the individuals he meets:

Albert Woodfox: A man who was put in solitaryconfinement for 43 years at a Louisiana jail for killing a

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corrections officer. His conviction was overturned in 2014.He was finally released in 2016.Paul Kagame: The president of Rwanda, a nation thathealed after a horrific civil war. Freeman also speaks witha Tutsi who forgave the Hutu who killed her family.Joshua Coombes: A London hairstylist who sparked aglobal movement to carryout everyday, random acts ofkindness.President Bill Clinton: The former U.S. president will sharewhat it was like to lead the world’s dominant superpowernation.Patrisse Cullors: A founder of the Black Lives Mattermovement will open up about how the abuse of her brotherby police inspired her to take a stand.

Younger said that the inspiring and courageous people that

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Morgan Freeman meets with Megan Phelps-Roper. Courtesy of NatGeo.

viewers will hear from have figured out how to reach across thedivides and are making a difference in the world. They’ve pavedthe path for all of us to follow in this pursuit.

A name that surfacedin the interview wasex-Westboro BaptistChurch (WBC)member MeganPhelps-Roper, whoPatheos also spokewith about herinvolvement in the

series. Granddaughter of church founder Fred Phelps-Roper,Megan Phelps-Roper shared her experience growing up on theWBC picket lines, wielding signs that said “God Hates Fags,” “NoPeace for the Wicked,” and “Rabbis Rape Kids.”

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She faced a crisis of faith after befriending the very people shewas taught to despise while managing WBC’s Twitter page.Phelps-Roper said that engaging with people she met on Twitterchallenged her in ways she hadn’t experienced before.

“I was more open to those challenges because they were comingfrom people I had come to in spite of myself, and had grown toeven like,” Phelps-Roper said. “I am not just seeing them on apicket line angrily debating, I got to see them joking around withtheir friends and sharing pop culture references.”

Diving into the nuances of WBC doctrine with her debateopponents and friends on Twitter was also a crucial factor thatled to her departure from the church in 2012, she said.

“Before I ever had a question or a doubt, I already had the answerand the memorized chapter and verse as to why those otherpeople and ideas were wrong. It’s like a mental wall put betweenyou and the rest of the world. It’s especially powerful when paired

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with a fear of the outside and what will happen if you join them,”she said.

From her story, she hopes people will learn that it is possible tochange, as well as understand the blinding nature of certainty.

“The importance of doubt is crucial, because if you’re certain thatyou’re right and other people are wrong, you’re not going to beable to hear evidence that contradicts you because of the powerof conformation bias,” Phelps-Roper said. “We are designed toprotect these ideas that we have enshrined into our worldview.That’s why it’s so important to talk about these ideas withkindness and compassion and understand that even when peopledeeply disagree with each other, generally it’s not coming from aplace of ill will.”

There are many stories like Phelps-Roper’s in the series — storiesabout children who grew up in mental or physical prisons, whofaced extreme hardship and dire circumstances. Somehow, they

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overcame them and emerged with enough compassion in theirhearts to plant seeds of change in the world.

“What really grabs you is thinking about the fact that you’relistening to someone tell you about their childhood. My childhoodwas running around, playing, being nice, having fun, notworrying too much about anything at that age,” Freeman said.

Freeman said to think of the episodes as templates for howwe could manage our own lives on a planet that’s getting smallerand smaller.

For McCreary, her wish is that the series brings hope to a dividedAmerica.

“After seeing how these communities could come together aftersomething so horrific like the Rwanda genocide, maybe it willmake us more hopeful as we look at our country and worry aboutour future,” she said.

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Tune in starting Oct. 11 on National Geographic to watch “The Story ofUs.”

Megan Schmidt is a staff writer at Patheos.

TAGGED WITH: CULTUR E GLO B ALIZAT IO N HUM ANITY M O R GAN F R EEM AN PEACE

THE S TO R Y O F US WAR

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Bob Foy • 5 days ago

At this time I just want to say, Love casts out all fear.

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