Forget 90210 or reruns of CSI. Tuesday night, I’ll be edumacating myself about the B-I-B-L-E (Yes, that’s the book for me!) and expanding my horizons beyond the silly drivel of Sunday school sermons. Whether or not you believe in the man (or woman) upstairs, it’d be worth your time to take a look at NOVA’s newest documentary: “The Bible’s Buried Secrets.” Sounds exciting, no?

Okay, so probably not. If anything, it’s like a spruced up version of your ConWest lecture with low-budget CGI animation and a Liev Schreiber voiceover. But still, even with the campy special effects, the subject matter is certainly interesting. Like, how did the Israelites come up with the idea of one god? Or, did God have a wife?

Twenty-five minutes worth of clips from the documentary were shown to an audience last Thursday at a panel discussion hosted by NOVA and the Interfaith Center of New York. The discussion was a lot more interesting than clips of out-of-breath, elderly archaeologists.

The panel discussion, “Science and Faith: Complimentary or Contradictory,” was comprised of Reverend James Forbes, Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, Imam Shamsi Ali, William G. Dever (an archaeologist), and Gary Glassman (the director). So you had two probable atheists (or agnostics), a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim sitting in the same room, discussing religion. A recipe for disaster, right?

Surprisingly not. In fact, that was what surprised me the most that evening. I was actually witnessing a civil discussion about religion. No cursing, yelling, or fist shaking. Maybe, perhaps, there is hope for this world after all.

In addition to the unexpected civility, the panelists made some interesting comments. Revered Forbes said that “religious people need to be disabused of [the idea of] scientific verification of religious matters” when asked if what was in the Bible needed to be proved. As to who owns the land where most of the archaeological digs took place, Rabbi Visotzky said that we should “acknowledge that we share a common ancestry” and that “we are brothers and sisters,” alluding to constant conflict between the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Furthermore, he thinks that the ability to disagree with God is a divine gift. Which to me meant that science is not the Devil’s work. Good to know.

However, the most interesting comment to come from the panelists was made by Imam Shamsi Ali. He spoke about the Islamic belief that God transgresses all boundaries, making Him undefinable. Which means – and this blew my mind – God has no gender. So God is for sure not a dude. How crazy is that?
So, regardless of your religious beliefs (or lack thereof), this documentary is worth checking out. It premieres Tuesday, November 18th at 8 pm on PBS (channel 12 on NYU Cable). I want to know if God had a missus. Don’t you?