AustLit

A weekly investigative documentary series produced and broadcast on ABC Television, Compass explores human beliefs and values by critically examining issues that exist in both the historical and contemporary worlds. It engages with personal and political issues, religious and secular beliefs, and ethical and ideological concerns, both in Australia and around the globe. According to the Compass website, the series attempts 'to illuminate the spiritual and ethical journey, so revealing the broader issues of community and the shared experience of being human.'

Presented by Geraldine Doogue for much of its run, the series is primarily interested in exploring the interface between religion and life as experienced by individuals and communities, including ordinary Australians, public leaders, religious thinkers, ethicists, and philosophers. It avoids restricting itself solely to religious institutions, also illustrating the liveliness of public debate encouraged by religious issues. The series also analyses social phenomena, current affairs, and trends, and examines secular community issues from a theological and practical perspective. Stories have covered all the major and minority faiths, Indigenous belief systems, New Age phenomena, more individualised forms of belief, and social issues as diverse as the ethical dimension of taxation, IVF, the internet, sexuality, or cloning.

The principal purpose of Compass is to provide an opportunity for viewers to make connections, to see into the underlying sources by which people live their lives and make their commitments.

Source: Compass website (sighted 17/08/10)