Turkey is supposedly a secular state but has been pitching toward theocracy in recent years. Whatever its military wants, much of its population is still fairly religious, so it's of interest that a bizarre new television game is about to debut there:
It sounds like the beginning of a joke: what do you get when you put a Muslim imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk and 10 atheists in the same room?[snip]
Contestants will ponder whether to believe or not to believe when they pit their godless convictions against the possibilities of a new relationship with the almighty on Penitents Compete (Tovbekarlar Yarisiyor in Turkish), to be broadcast by the Kanal T station. Four spiritual guides from the different religions will seek to convert at least one of the 10 atheists in each programme to their faith.
Those persuaded will be rewarded with a pilgrimage to the spiritual home of their newly chosen creed - Mecca for Muslims, Jerusalem for Christians and Jews, and Tibet for Buddhists.
The programme's makers say they want to promote religious belief while educating Turkey's overwhelmingly Muslim population about other faiths. (Robert Tait, The Guardian)
The promoter's of this hilariously stupid idea claim to be encouraging religious belief, offering the "biggest prize ever: we represent the belief in God." They will reportedly use a commission of 8 theologians to certify contestants aren't believing louts only after a free trip to Mecca or Jerusalem. Opponents claim it trivializes religion.
Here's my positive spin: the mere existence of something like this shows that religion as a force in the modern world is in big, big trouble.
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Comments
Although any reasonable atheist wouldn't be on the show, let's ignore that and note that the good atheists in the bunch should spend their time trying to get the religious crazies to clash over their disagreements about irrelevant dogma.
Posted by: Nils Ros | July 5, 2009 8:47 AM
Sent you an email (not about this item).
Posted by: ssal | July 5, 2009 9:25 AM
A game show that sends the looser into exile? Isn't that a bit harsh?
Posted by: Ramel | July 5, 2009 9:30 AM
What kind of prize do the atheists get if they deconvert one or more of the "spiritual guides"?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | July 5, 2009 10:17 AM
Ahem, it's a *religious* show: Do you expect them not to cheat? My bet is there will be ten college-educated muslims, because there have to be winners or religions will look bad, so none of the ten can be actual atheists, but they must be able to fake atheism to a muslim audience.
Also note that in sharia apostasy demands immediate death. Renounce your faith, or change your faith, and you're dead. Nothing in the Quran prohibits feigning atheism to advance islamism.
Posted by: Nattering Nabob of Negativism | July 5, 2009 12:03 PM
Natt: It isn't the show itself. The idea of the show is clearly stupendously and colossally stupid. It is that there could even be such an idea: lots of different faiths and the godless acknowledged to exist. it is a profoundly suversive idea.
Posted by: revere | July 5, 2009 12:32 PM
This idea (of religions coexisting and fighting for converts while having no problems acknowledging other religions) was alive and well 2000 years ago. Monotheism is what killed it.
Yes, it's stupid. But it's not very surprising or unusual.
Posted by: Val | July 6, 2009 1:06 AM
That they could get religious leaders to be on such a show where the premise is that a conversion could happen in an hour or how ever long the show is shows the "depth" of their faith.
I came across this quote from Nietzsche which I like, it is along the lines of the "not even wrong" quote.
Mystical explanations are thought to be deep; the truth is that they are not even shallow.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Posted by: daedalus2u | July 6, 2009 6:45 PM
daedalus2u: Or as one wag put in another context: way down deep they're shallow.
Posted by: revere | July 6, 2009 6:52 PM
What, now Tibet is the "spiritual home" of Buddhism? The Lamaist PR department has really been working overtime.
Posted by: Otto | July 7, 2009 8:48 PM