Are you bored of old-fashioned TV game shows where boring hosts offer boring contestants the chance to win boring cash prizes? If so, you could be the perfect viewer for Penitents Compete, a new Turkish game show in which an imam, a Greek Orthodox priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk will attempt to convert 10 atheists to their faiths. Anyone who converts will be rewarded with a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Tibet or Mecca, depending on the faith they choose. The show is being marketed with inspiring slogans like "We give you the biggest prize ever: we represent the belief in God" and "You will find serenity in this competition".
Now, we're all for people trivialising religion in this manner, but don't the producers realise that New Humanist has already come up with a way to choose the best religion? It's simple - you just play a game of God Trumps. And we don't just give you four faiths to choose from – God Trumps has 24, covering everything from Methodist to Satanist, Agnostic to Zoroastrian. And we're giving packs away with the next two issues of New Humanist – make sure you subscribe to avoid missing out.
Friday, 3 July 2009
Zeal or no zeal?
Posted by Paul Sims at Friday, July 03, 2009
Labels: Game, God Trumps, religion, television, Turkey, Very Silly Things
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4 comments:
I started leaving a comment on this a few hours ago, but it turned into an unwieldy rant, so I gave it its own blog post. I'm almost surprised Endemol didn't come up with it first, really.
What kind of atheists would most likely apply for something like this, though? Do they want to get on the telly, or snag a free holiday, or are they going to be wishy-washy spiritual types who've just never settled down into a religion properly? I imagine they'll want to pick a few of the latter, if the nail-biting conclusion each week isn't going to amount to "Nope, sorry, we're still not buying it" every time.
Where would an atheist take a pilgrimage to?
Nobody, Mr Sims, is ever "bored of" anything. The correct construction is "bored with".
Good piece apart from that, however :D
If we're getting technical, LJH, a full stop always falls within double quotation marks. I.e., "bored with."
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