ISTANBUL (Reuters) - What happens when you put a Muslim imam, a Christian priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk in a room with 10 atheists?

Turkish television station Kanal T hopes the answer is a ratings success as it prepares to launch a gameshow where spiritual guides from the four faiths will seek to convert a group of non-believers.

The prize for converts will be a pilgrimage to a holy site of their chosen religion -- Mecca for Muslims, the Vatican for Christians, Jerusalem for Jews and Tibet for Buddhists.

But religious authorities in Muslim but secular Turkey are not amused by the twist on the popular reality game show format and the Religious Affairs Directorate is refusing to provide an imam for the show.

"Doing something like this for the sake of ratings is disrespectful to all religions. Religion should not be a subject for entertainment programs," High Board of Religious Affairs Chairman Hamza Aktan told state news agency Anatolian after news of the planned program emerged.

The makers of "Penitents Compete" are unrepentant and reject claims that the show, scheduled to begin broadcasting in September, will cheapen religion.

"We are giving the biggest prize in the world, the gift of belief in God," Kanal T chief executive Seyhan Soylu told Reuters.

"We don't approve of anyone being an atheist. God is great and it doesn't matter which religion you believe in. The important thing is to believe," Soylu said.

The project focuses attention on the issue of religious identity in European Union-candidate Turkey, where rights groups have raised concerns over freedom of religion for non-Muslim minorities.

Detractors of the ruling AK Party government, which is rooted in political Islam but officially secular, accuse it of having a hidden Islamist agenda, a charge it denies.

Some 200 people have so far applied to take part in the show and the 10 contestants will be chosen next month.

A team of theologians will ensure that the atheists are truly non-believers and are not just seeking fame or a free holiday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainme...&rpc=22&sp=true

I'll say I'm Buddhist for a free ticket to Tibet.

There aren't any black chicks or rap music in Tibet, you know.

Lame. I'm a christian, but have no desire to ever visit the Vatican.

I have an iPod and a whole stable full of ho's. I can supply my own.

Looks like the Tibetan whigger plague of '09 is on.

Would be a lot more interesting if the roles were reversed.

Not really... Atheism and the Religious are just the opposite sides of the same coin.

It'd be more interesting if either could be converted to admitting that there's no possible way to know, one way or the other.

Agnostics need to shit or get off the pot.

you've got ho's in different country codes.

I'm the Mac Daddy of Lhasa.

Did you just call religion a toilet?

Yeah. Probably one of the nicer things I've said about it too.

Hey Pepsi, there's a box on a table, it could be empty or there could be something in it.

What's in it?


HURRY UP, ASSHOLE!

God?

Nice analogy :)

:lol:

Is that a question? Shit or get off the pot.

This section of the site is a true celebration of diversity.

OK. There's shit in the pot then.

cat