Religious discourse

            There are many shows like South Park that like to poke fun at religious and political discourse, such as Family Guy and the Daily Show. Both shows do a good job at addressing subject matters, which might seem a bit too offensive to talk about. A chapter called Muhammad’s Ghost: Religion, Censorship, and the Politics of Intimidation by Ted Gournelos discusses the controversial episode of South Park called “Cartoon Wars I”, which addresses the blasphemes taboos of creating a character out of the Profit Muhammad. While South Park has very witty and timely reactions to discourse from around the world, there are some shows that are addressing perpetual discourse of on going topics. The musical, The Book of Mormon, is an example of a religious discourse because it is overtly talking about the Mormon religion.  The musical is a nine time Tony winner and was written by South Park creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The plot of the musical is based around religious satire that pokes fun at the Mormon religion. 

This YouTube clip is from the opening scene of musical, and is a good depiction of the religion satire that Parker and Stone are trying to convey. The characters in the opening number are made to look like the nicest people you will ever meet, but from 1:40 to 1:44 you can see the crazy of the religion come out. It is found that "Mormons (Latter-day Saints) volunteer and donate at much higher levels than other groups" (Curtis, Cnaan, Evans 2014, 2015). So, through the use of religious satire, The Book of Mormon has been created to address and depict the inner workings of the Mormon religion by over exaggerating the personalities and practices of Mormons. 

1.  Curtis, Daniel,
2. Cnaan, Ram. A, and
3. Evans, Van. "Motivating Mormons."Nonprofit Management and Leadership. October 18, 2014. Accessed April 5, 2015