Bible quiz show on Game Show Network: Catholics wanted!

This August, the Game Show Network (GSN) will be debuting a game show testing contestants' knowledge of the Bible — and they're recruiting candidates who know their Bible right now.

The show, "The American Bible Challenge," will be hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy, host of "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" Not everything Foxworthy has done has been family friendly, but it looks like this show will be. And while I appreciate the random educational value of watching trivia game shows from "Jeopardy!" to "Cash Cab," a game show about the Bible could help raise the Biblical literacy of countless viewers.

From their website it looks like casting is mostly over — there were events in Chicago and Texas — but they are still apparently casting in Los Angeles, though the website doesn't list locations. I'll post more details if I hear anything.

Interestingly, the casting form includes a dropdown for "Religious Affiliation," listed alphabetically, with "Catholic" as the top option. I don't know how many Catholics will be on the show, but it would be great to see biblically literate Catholics compete on the show … so if you're a Catholic in the LA area and you really know your Bible, fill out the form.

In high school I competed for two years in a national Assemblies of God–based Bible quiz program that focused each year on a New Testament book or group of books. One year we did the Gospel of Luke, the next year 1 and 2 Corinthians.

Our team won the New Jersey championship both years, but we got crushed in interstate regional competition. With competition limited to individual books, your team could basically memorize the entire book over the course of the season — and you had to, since word for word quotations (in the King James!) were an important part of play.

A game show based on the entire Bible is a much more formidable proposition. I watch almost zero television … and I'm not 100 pecent sure I get GSN … but this is one game show I'd like to check out.