Alone and Unobserved

I recently watched the South Park episode “All about Mormons,” and thought it was amusing on many different levels. Examples of things that made me laugh:

• The presentation of the Joseph Smith story, with the sly refrain (“Many people believed Joseph, dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb! And that night he saw an angel, dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb!”).
• The depiction of the Mormon family, fresh from Utah, with their passel of perky children and penchant for bizarre group activities. It’s never specified, but I bet they come from Utah County–families like that are endemic to the region.
• The laissez-faire ecumenicalism the Mormons displayed. I haven’t heard many Mormons say (sincerely), “There are a lot of beliefs out there, and ours just works for us! To each his own!” A key tenet of Mormonism is that there is only one true belief system, and that system works for everyone.

I don’t have anything against the Mormon church in particular, and one of the things that puzzles me the most is when members of other denominations laugh at the Joseph Smith story (or the story of Mohammed, or the Hindu creation myth) and don’t realize that their own religious beliefs are just as ridiculous when viewed from the outside.