Resumen de Mourning and affirmation: recuperating religious pluralism through "faith and doubt at ground zero"
Televised one year after the September 11 attacks, the Public Broadcasting Service�s Frontline documentary �Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero� focuses specifically on how that day has affected attitudes toward religion. With its form as a dramatic narrative framing its content of individuals� struggles with faith, the documentary lends itself readily to a dramatistic rhetorical critique. Set within the scene of an ostensibly neutral, but contextually positioned, public affairs program, the act of the documentary depends upon the agencies of premise, tone, and editing to facilitate the agents� � the viewers� � participation in the interviewees� meditations, an invitation based on ecumenical inclusivity. In this way, viewers, recognized as witnesses to September 11, join those more directly affected by that day in confronting what might have been lost and considering what might be recovered in terms of religious commitments within the United States.
Ultimately, this film posits religious pluralism as a healing force and an affirmative enactment of American identity in response to the religious absolutism credited with instigating the September 11 attacks and provoking agonizing and divisive crises of faith.
