South Park has a way with making complicated concepts pretty simple...and pretty stupid. Here they've explained the Mormon faith and its basis, which, to me, is just as silly and superstitious and based on manmade ideas as much as any other religion.
However, they've also depicted a Mormon family in a pretty positive light. They're nice, they're fun, and they're a lot more functional than Stan's crazy family. Stan eventually tells the new Mormon kid off because he doesn't want to be indoctrinated by him--and the kid simply responds that he wasn't trying to indoctrinate Stan. He says he just wanted to be friends, but since Stan was going to be such a jerk about his religion and all, to basically piss off!
I love this episode, and I love its portrayal of religion (as ever). It reminds us that no matter the religion (whether it be Judaism, Mormonism, Islam, whatever), there are nice, caring families that partake in it--families that you could be neighbors with, friends with, and definitely have in your life. It doesn't have to separate us. In fact, it means that we can be brothers and sisters with multiple (or no) faiths, and that we don't need to use it to kill one another or cause other conflicts.
And that doesn't mean that you have to be the same religion, either.
It also shows, as South Park typically does with religion, how silly it is to hang onto strange superstitions invented by humans many years (or, in this case, not so many years!) ago. And, if I can add something, how stupid it is to use those ideals to promote things like homophobia, discrimination, and sexism.
The portrayal with Joseph Smith (and the whole "dum-dum-dum-dum-dum," after which an objector was dubbed with "smart-smart-smart-smart-smart," was hilarious!) was both funny and insightful, as any religion, broken down as simply as such, would look ludicrous to anyone once shown in such a light.
And while I wouldn't begrudge anyone of their faith, I would implore everyone to question his or her faith and to explore all options--and, above all, to never allow religion to keep you from making new friends, segregating yourself from others, and especially basing laws on your own faith and expecting millions of other people to abide by them, too. Keep faith as choice, not an obligation, and be open-minded to all that is.
Nicely done, Trey and Matt!
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