

Jeff Foxworthy (GSN)

For one hour, Foxworthy will grill contestants on their knowledge of the Bible, GSN — which once stood for Game Show Network — told advertisers Wednesday morning in Manhattan.

GSN said the questions will be “designed to acknowledge and celebrate the Bible’s continuing importance in contemporary life and culture.” Can’t wait for the stoning-of-adulteresses question.

It appears contestants will be selected on the basis of their back-stories, because GSN says contestants are going to share them with viewers at home and the studio audience.

And teams of contestants will represent “worthy faith-based organizations,” said GSN, without elaborating as to how it planned to weed out the unworthy ones.

“I am excited to be hosting a show about the bestselling book of all time,” Foxworthy, who already hosts GSN’s “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” said in Wednesday’s announcement.

“It will be interesting to find out what people really know, and an opportunity to present the Bible in a fun and entertaining way,” Foxworthy added.

Among the show’s consulting producers are members of Odyssey Networks, a nonprofit organization that features, on its Web site, a video addressing, “Is America Ready to Vote for a Mormon President?”

Foxworthy recently joined Romney on the Alabama campaign trail after endorsing the GOP candidate via Twitter:

“Time for Republicans to unite behind Governor Romney, a great leader who can win the White House and rebuild our economy for all Americans,” the comic and self-proclaimed redneck tweeted.

The Blue Collar Comedy Tour headliner campaigned in support of Romney in Mobile, Ala., and Biloxi and Richland, Miss.

“The American Bible Challenge” is produced for GSN by a company called RelativityREAL, whose TV credits — according to its Web site and other sites — include the Showtime reality series “Gigolos,” TV Guide Network’s “Hollywood Girls Night,” TLC’s docu “Ted Haggard: Scandalous,” episodes of the TLC series “Cell Block 6,” Animal Planet’s “My Extreme Animal Phobia” and TruTV’s “The Wiener’s Circle.”

Also serving as exec producer is Michael Davies — the exec producer of GSN’s “The Newlywed Game” as well as Andy Cohen’s late-night talk show on Bravo.

“The American Bible Challenge” was just one of several new shows in various stages of development or greenlit-ness, outlined to advertisers by GSN’s new programming chief, Amy Introcaso-Davis. Also in the works are a series called “Pure Gold,” about people trying to sell their gold things to a national chain of gold buyers; and a show about a car dealership in Middlebury, Vt., where “trade-in” can mean anything from coffins to pigs.

Another potential series, “I Do, Now I Don’t,” follows a New York business that buys and sells secondhand engagement rings — each with a back-story of love gone wrong.

And “Crowning Glory” will celebrate the world of “alternative pageants. Think Miss Klingon Empire, and Zombie Pin-Up competition.