Ronald Eyre

In the 1100 churches of Indianapolis, we see bewildering multiplicity of Protestantism. Churches with the seating and styling of deluxe first-run theaters. Services conducted with the professionalism of television spectaculars. And congregations that occupy every seat at four staggered services every Sunday. All are features of the US church-going boom. We discover that religion is not in a state of apathy in America; in some quarters it is decidedly...

An American Film Festival Red Ribbon winner, THE LONG SEARCH series gives a balanced treatment of a force that is sadly neglected in most educations, the basic beliefs of the major religions in the world today. Ronald Eyre takes the viewer on a pilgrimage beginning in London and spanning 150,000 miles including India, Japan, Israel, Rumania, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, the United States, Egypt, and South Africa.

What is it that makes a Jew a Jew? In New York, Elie Wiesel, author and survivor of the concentration camps, tries to define it. In London, Nobert Brainin and the Amadeus Quartet carry the argument further, both in words and music. Inevitably the search takes us to Jerusalem, where Dr. Pinchas Peli, tenth generation rabbi and fourth generation Jerusalemite, explains the meaning of prayer and acts as our guide through the religious schools, the synagogues...

It is said in Islam that every child is born Muslim by nature: he has the belief in his heart of one God. Over 400 million people profess Islam, and its numbers are said to be growing. In this program we travel to Egypt to explore the Islamic experience in an oasis village 50 miles from Cairo at a wedding, in the market town of El Fayoum for dawn prayers, and in Cairo itself.

If the Buddha of India met the Buddha of Japan, would they recognize each other? To find out, this program talks to the staff in a Tokyo restaurant who keep regular Zen meditation schedules as part of their job, then on to the classical Zen calligraphy, swordfighting, archery and tea ceremony.

The Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe seem to be bound to the Communist states in essentially loveless marriages, except in Rumania. The Rumanian Orthodox Church is still seen as an important aspect of Rumania's cultural heritage and ethnic identity. The Orthodox liturgy is one of the oldest and longest in Christendom, and the spirituality of the services intensified by the Byzantine splendor of the setting and the beauty of some of the most inspiring...

In this episode Ronald Eyre asks himself some questions. It is not a film in which he hands out diplomas to believers of the religion that pleased him best. The search, for him, began long before this series got off the ground and will continue long into the future. There are no winners and no losers. There is an element of personal stocktaking, however, and before doing so, Eyre reveals his own background, the mental furniture that he of necessity...