Amish supporters protest new UPN show

LOS ANGELES, March 4 (UPI) -- Amish supporters are protesting a new UPN reality show, "Amish in the City," claiming the U.S. program may ridicule the rural, pious Amish community.

Fifty-one lawmakers and rural advocacy groups are among those asking CBS, which owns the UPN network, to forgo the show, which is still in development, the New York Times reported Thursday.

"For almost three centuries, the Amish lived the way they do out of Christian piety and conviction, not out of ignorance," said a letter written by lawmakers, including two U.S. senators from Pennsylvania, where a large Amish population resides.

"If, by producing this show, you fail to respect that," the letter said, "you will be opening yourselves to charges of bigotry."

The show, which has no air date, will follow Amish teens who are brought to a big city for the first time and record their shocks and temptations.