Compass: Holy Switch

I’m not really sure who suggested this rather odd James Bond pose for two people appearing in Sunday night’s episode of Compass, but don’t let that put you off….

Compass has produced a series of episodes called “Holy Switch” in which people of different religions do a bit of a Wife Swap and trade places, living with families of different faiths.

In the first episode we see a Hindu Man from Sydney and an Anglican woman from Tasmania change places for two weeks. This impacts on the food they eat, the way they pray and what they wear. But how will it affect their belief system?

Six different faiths… Six young Australians. What will happen when they switch lives for two weeks?

When young people from observant religious families switch lives – beliefs and values will collide. What will Australian Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Anglican, Buddhist and Hindu communities discover about their own religious traditions and practice when they invite a young person from a completely different faith into their lives?

Holy Switch delves into the big questions facing Australians of faith today. In each episode two religious communities switch their young people for two weeks. And during the two week swap there is at least one significant religious event going on.

The six participants are all questioning young adults who, while observing their religious traditions or strongly held belief systems, are prepared to challenge themselves and others as they seek to experience what it’s like to live by a whole new set of rules, cultural practices and faith perspectives.

As with all young people there are the stresses and strains of becoming an adult and all that entails in contemporary Australia, but these six also have very strong beliefs and cultural frameworks in which these growing pains are played out and, in some cases, they find themselves unprepared for the differences they encounter.

6:30pm Sunday, 12 May ABC1.