Got God?

A familiar question has puzzled Morgan Freeman since he was a boy:  If God created the universe, then who or what created God?

That paradox is pondered in The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, a six-part series from the National Geographic Channel that also tackles other arcane matters at the heart of most religious faiths.

Where did humans come from? Is there an afterlife? Do miracles really happen? Does God exist? What is the real meaning of the apocalypse? From what or where does evil spring?

The point of the program (available on Hulu and iTunes) is not to provide absolute answers to life's biggest questions, says Freeman, the host and an executive producer. Rather, he says, it's to investigate the origins and evolution of religious belief s and to "open people's eyes and minds [to the idea] that there is more similarity in our beliefs than differences."

Embarking on a global odyssey, he and his production crew visited seven countries, querying historians, religious experts and scientists.

He stood beneath the sacred Bodhi Tree in India, where Buddha attained enlightenment.

He searched for the Garden of Eden in the Middle East. He chatted with a robot about what it would mean to become human. He descended beneath Egypt's pyramids, where pharaohs were said to have set off on their afterlives. He helicoptered to the ancient Guatemalan jungle city of Tikal, where early inhabitants believed humans sprang from maize.

One of the most fascinating places he visited was Varanasi, India. This holy city on the banks of the Ganges River is where families bring their dead, believing that throwing their cremated remains — and sometimes their bodies — into the water will bring salvation to the deceased.

Executive producer Lori McCreary, CEO of Freeman's Revelations Entertainment, says the idea for the series struck some nine years ago when she and Freeman were visiting the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul. Originally a church before it was turned into a mosque and later a museum, the site has some mosaics of Jesus that have survived across the centuries. They were surprised to learn that Jesus is considered a prophet in the Muslim religion.

James Younger, executive vice-president of factual productions at Revelations, says that as the producers began examining what makes various religions tick, they found a lot of common ground. "It was remarkable," he says.

The show also takes Freeman back to his Tennessee roots and the church he still attends when he's home on his ranch. Asked what he believes, Freeman, who played God in the film Bruce Almighty, says, "I'm pretty sure that God exists."

However, he adds, the series "is not about what I believe. It's totally about what the world believes."