My husband has been known to say that life on a church staff feels like it has all the makings of a great TV reality show.  I usually take that kind of comment as evidence that my husband has a good sense of humor.  Some people, though, have come up with an even zanier idea and turned it into an actual program.

According to an article in the Reuters news service that is winging its way around the blogosphere this week, the Turkish television station Kanal T is preparing “to launch a gameshow where spiritual guides from the four faiths [Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism] will seek to convert a group of non-believers.”  The article mentions that there has been considerable resistance to this idea:

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.

The conflation of religion and entertainment happens all the time in this country, although perhaps it’s not always as blatant as this.  I have an Episcopal Church decal on my car; some people think that kind of gesture “cheapens religion.”  My biggest concern here is not the exhibitionist aspect of this (I am a blogger, after all, so one might argue that I have a higher-than-normal tolerance for that kind of thing) but the idea that “conversion” can happen under these circumstances.

This summer I’ve been taking a seminary class on the history of baptism and other rites of Christian initiation and, without going into detail about all that, I can say that the course is helping me clarify my views on what conversion is and how it happens, as well as what institutional structures can be put in place to help facilitate and formalize it.  Let’s just say that a reality show is not the ideal structure!

Conversion can happen at any age and in almost any set of circumstances, but once begun it is a lifelong process of turning one’s life over to God. Sometimes, but not always, it is marked by a dramatic rupture or shift that demands a more external manifestation, such as baptism or a reaffirmation of vows.  It is not normatively accomplished by coercion or even by argumentation or, l pray, by someone putting on the best show.  Aidan Kavanagh nailed the whole thing for me when he wrote, “Conversion in Christ involves broken hearts more than changes in mind.”

Maybe this whole religious reality show thing is too silly to even be taking so seriously. Or, then again, maybe people’s faith lives are too important to not speak out against such exploitation and trivialization.

The Jerusalem Post article about this show highlights Jewish reaction to it.  Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Department for Interreligious Affairs, is reported as saying,

“As a Jew, it is against our world outlook to seek to proselytize. [...]  We respect other people’s attachment to their faiths.”

Rosen added that proselytizing is dubious by nature and could be destructive to the religion and its reputation.

Rosen is also opposed to the show from a more universal perspective.

“I think it’s very tasteless,” he said. “Matters of faith, profession and lifestyle commitment are not something that should be decided on a reality show.”

Of course, when we regularly see couples deciding whom to marry (or hook up with, or whatever) and families making decisions about child-rearing within the context of so-called reality tv, it’s not surprising that religious faith would be the next target.  Not surprising, but still a mess.