Based on the immensely popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by legendary broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, this national media project invites Americans from all walks of life to share brief essays describing the core values that guide their lives. Murrow and his co-producers conceived the original series as a means to engage tense Cold War America in public discourse -- a motive similar to the revival of This I Believe by producers Jay Allison and Dan Gediman, who see 21st century America, like it was in the 1950s, divided over political policy, ethics and beliefs. Similar to the first go-around, essays for the series include both commissioned works from prominent individuals -- Charles Barkley, Drew Barrymore, Sen. John McCain and John Updike to name a few -- and submissions from the general public, and represent "passionate, unique, interesting and innovative points of view."

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Q&A with producers Dan Gediman and Jay Allison

What inspired you to recreate this series?

Dan Gediman: The idea for the project began a few years ago when I was home sick with the flu. I found a book on our shelves that my wife had bought second-hand somewhere. It was a volume of essays published from the original This I Believe series. I was immediately transfixed by it and fascinated by the possibility of recreating it today. When I called my friend and long-time collaborator Jay Allison with the idea, he said it was a project we needed to bring to NPR.

Jay Allison: As in the 1950s, this is a time when belief is dividing the nation and the world. We are not listening well, not understanding each other -- we are simply disagreeing, or worse. Working in broadcast communication, there's a responsibility to change that, to cross borders, to encourage some empathy. That possibility is what inspires me about this series.

When and how did the original This I Believe get its start?

DG: It's an interesting story, very much of its time. It seems that at some point in 1949, four men had lunch together in Philadelphia: journalist Edward R. Murrow, advertising executive Ward Wheelock, CBS President William S. Paley, and Donald Thornburgh, General Manager of WCAU radio in Philadelphia. Over their meal they bemoaned the spiritual decline of the nation as it lurched toward unrestrained materialism. They decided they should do something about it. They would come up with a short daily radio series and each day invite a different person to tell what they deemed most important in life, and to give the rules by which they ran their lives. And like something out of an old Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney movie, they went around the table and figured out how each of them could contribute to the effort. I've imagined it something like this: 'Ed, you're the most respected person in radio -- you host the thing. Ward, you're a successful businessman -- you raise the money. Don, you run the local CBS station -- you air the series for a while and see if it will work like we think it can. And Bill, you own CBS -- if it goes over on Don's station, you agree to carry it on all the rest of the CBS Network.' And that is precisely how it worked. They went on the air in the summer of 1951 as a local Philadelphia show. By the fall, it was such a huge success that stations around the country clamored to put it on the air. Within six months, 196 stations were airing it daily.

When you listen to the original This I Believe essays, what common themes do you hear?

JA: Fear and hope.

DG: Yes, fear about the challenges the country and the world faced with possibility of atomic warfare, of increasing consumerism and a loss of spiritual values. Yet, with all that, we also hear tremendous optimism about the future. We hear a country moving toward more equality among the races and between genders. We hear parents writing essays that are letters to their newborn children expressing the hopes and dreams they have for them. And we hear the stories of faith that guide people in their daily experiences -- a faith that supports them in good times and bad.

How relevant are the old essays to today's audience?

JA: I think they give more than just a snapshot of an era; they let us feel the hearts of the people who lived in that era. This task of writing your core beliefs in a short statement was so intensely personal and yet so public that people were clearly challenged by it. Some said it was the hardest thing they ever did. With that kind of task, it is no wonder that the words and ideas abide.

As popular as the original series was, why did it end?

DG: By 1955, This I Believe had become a tremendous phenomenon reaching millions of people on radio, in newspapers and through a series of books. But all of that depended on the financial support of one man, Ward Wheelock. He was a Philadelphia advertising executive who created the series with Murrow. He personally bankrolled This I Believe from the beginning. But that winter, Wheelock and some of his family were vacationing in the Caribbean and they died in a boat accident off Bermuda. It was a tragedy for the family, and it ultimately meant the end of This I Believe. Neither Wheelock's company nor CBS were able to continue funding the series.

What makes this an important time for a new This I Believe ?

JA: We're afraid of each other again. We're afraid of the other, those far away. The patriotism of dissidence is called into question. Neighbors are asked to keep an eye on each other.

DG: Right after 9/11, people were scared to voice opinions. Fairly innocent writing and conversation can be considered seditious. Plus, so much of what we see and hear in the media today is based in conflict, argument and debate. We want to take a step back from reality TV and talk radio and encourage people to listen to one another. Our goal is to create a safe, respectful space where Americans from all walks of life can participate in a dialogue with the potential to inform, inspire and transform. Murrow realized people needed this in the 1950s, and we certainly need this today.

Who contributed essays to the original series and whom do you hope to hear from in the new series?

DG: It really covered the waterfront: statesmen and secretaries, business executives and taxi cab drivers, school teachers and concert violinists. It's wonderful to go back and read the personal beliefs of people we know from history -- Harry Truman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson, Margaret Mead and the like. But some of the most interesting essays are from regular folks. There is a wonderful piece from a high school girl in Cleveland explaining her struggle to understand faith at her young age. An elderly couple in New York City wrote a This I Believe essay together. It's an intimate, hopeful, spiritual love letter to each other and to humanity.

Beyond the radio broadcasts, how will you engage as many Americans as possible in this crucial dialogue?

DG: In many, many exciting ways. We're working with educators to develop curricula for high schools and colleges so our young people can write their own essays. We're creating tools for public libraries, places of worship, coffee shops and bookstores so they can encourage their patrons to write and to share the essays. And we'll partner with national magazines, local newspapers and public radio stations across the country to engage their readers and listeners in this process. This is something everyone can do and the more people who participate -- across the lines that we tend to separate ourselves by -- the more powerful and valuable This I Believe can be.

What will make This I Believe different from other conversations in the media today?

DG: What we're really inundated with is feelings and dogma. Precisely because we are inundated with that, everything stops having meaning. This I Believe will provide a filter for people.

JA: What we're trying to create is not more noise, but a quiet place. The essayists aren't yelling, they aren't bragging. They're a little bit the opposite of that. Attention will come to it, not because of its clamor, but because of its calm.

What are your overall goals for the new series?

JA: If you'll forgive the over-reaching: to create a different kind of national dialogue. One that's thoughtful, respectful, and personal. One that would encourage understanding and change.

DG: And not just in the United States. In the coming months and years, we hope to engage people around the world in this exploration of values and beliefs. We want to create a virtual space where people from a village in Africa, or a kibbutz in Israel, or major city in China can hear and share essays. This I Believe can offer us a safe way to explore our differences and to discover the hopes and dreams that many of us have in common.