Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Israel News

Such a Deal! Find God, Win a Trip

‘A Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist and a Jew walk into a house with 10 atheists…”

What sounds like the start of a bad joke actually will be brought to life on Turkish television this fall. If you don’t believe in God, perhaps a stint on reality TV will help change your mind. At least that is what the creators of “Penitents Compete” are hoping for.

The new reality show is set to premiere in September on the Turkish television station Kanal T, The Jerusalem Post reported July 6. The program places 10 atheists with four religious leaders who each represent a different religion. Throughout the course of the show, they will try their best to convert the contestants into God-fearing believers. Up for grabs is a trip to the converter’s religious holy site — Mecca for converted Muslims, the Vatican for converted Christians, Tibet for converted Buddhists and Jerusalem for converted Jews.

Not everyone, however, is happy with the show’s concept. In the same Jerusalem Post article, Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Department for Interreligious Affairs, noted that it is against the religious law of Jews to attempt to recruit someone into the Jewish faith.

Regardless of your opinion of the show, “Penitents Compete” demonstrates that America is not the only country with crazy ideas for reality television.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.