I am — I admit it! — a huge fan of the CBS “reality” show, Survivor. (That said, it is the only “reality” show — other than “Top Chef” — that I can stand.)
The new season opened this past Thursday. I was predisposed to be grumpy about the opening episode, because I so regret the show’s decision to put this season’s players in China. (The decision strikes me as another example of “hey, let’s celebrate how great China is, notwithstanding the forced abortions, slave labor, and oppression . . . The Olympics are coming up, you know!”).
One of the typically, hilariously “diverse” cast of players — Leslie — is described as a “Christian talk-radio host.” The opening segment of the first episode involves a “traditional welcome ceremony” at a Buddhist temple. The show’s host, Jeff Probst, assures the players that he understands people have “different beliefs” and that the ceremony is not a “worship” service. The players are then escorted into the temple, and led through an interesting ritual involving lighting candles and bowing down before statues.
Leslie, “the Christian talk-radio host”, “quietly stepped out of the ceremony and wept for her own reason. ‘I’m a believer in Jesus Christ and in the Bible it said thou shall not bow down to any other god. It really felt like worship.'” (I’m quoting from the network’s re-cap page.)
For what it’s worth, my reaction was the same as Leslie’s. Certainly, no public-school in America would be permitted to require, or even invite, participation in such an event. Unfortunately, Jeff Probst singled Leslie out, and embarassed her by suggesting that she was hypersensitive and narrow-minded (thereby pretty much guaranteeing that she is going to lose).
Even more unfortunately, Leslie was the only one who opted out. I am appropriately skeptical about over-reaching “Christian America” claims, but I was, nonetheless, quite struck by the fact that out of 16 players, only one felt that conscience precluded him or her from participating in (not observing, or appreciating, but participating in) another religion’s very-worship-like ritual. I wonder, what did Survivor’s many millions of viewers think? Did they think that Leslie was an uptight, arrogant, intolerant holy-roller? Or, did they wonder why the show’s writers thought that it made perfect sense to (in effect) require participants to worship idols?
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