Sharon IA Teens Talk On Nick Special

Jillian Bunis joined Sharon's Interfaith Action group this year, and "it's really changed me as a person."

Sunday night, Nickolodeon viewers will hear how.

The half-hour premiere of "Nick News With Linda Ellerbee," entitled, "Freedom to Believe ... or Not," features five Interfaith Action members -- Bunis, Dewey Yoo, Shreya Bhatia, Amal Cheema and Rahul Polu -- as well as kids from Murfreesboro, Tenn. and Auburn, Ala.

The show, which airs at 9 p.m., also includes commentary from Pat Robertson, host of The 700 Club, and Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

"What an amazing opportunity to be able to share what we do with the country," Bunis said.

Bunis said she's become "more open minded" since joining Interfaith Action.

"It really opened my eyes. I've made a lot of new friends of a lot of different faiths," she said.

According to a Nickolodeon press release, a Pew Research Center poll shows that 67 percent of Americans believe this is a Christian nation.

"For some kids, the freedom to believe has become truly personal,” Ellerbee said in the press release. 

“There are kids caught in a crossfire of belief in communities where to be different is to be scary.  There are kids who are atheists, who endure discrimination and sometimes persecution, although they have the right not to believe in a god. And there are kids who say that it’s not about what you believe, but the rights of other people to believe what they believe.”

Bunis said a Nick crew filmed some IA members doing a workshop for about 25 fourth- and fifth-graders at the , Bunis said.

Bhatia said the show poses the question, "Do we have the freedom to be?"

She said she originally joined IA because her sister belonged, and stayed because "I love it so much."

"It's an open environment where everyone is willing to listen to you," Bhatia said.

Bunis and Bhatia said they're eager to hearing about the activities in Tennessee and Alabama.

"I would love to see what other people are doing, so maybe we can take their ideas and build upon them ourselves," Bhatia said.