Catholics Need Their Own "Book of Mormon"

From: Patheos.com

Indulge me for just a second. Imagine the impossible. Let's agree for the sake of argument that the Catholic Church has a serious image problem where the world's concerned. To restore her to the public's good graces, a piquant musical comedy might be just the thing. It seems to be working for the Mormons.

Since its opening last week at New York's Eugene O'Neill theater, "The Book of Mormon" has been storming some well-fortified hearts. Times reviewer Ben Brantley declares it "an old-fashioned, pleasure-giving musical" and commands the public: "hie thee hence . . . and feast upon its sweetness."

On the surface, its plot, which plunks a pair of LDS missionaries into Uganda amid "a defeated, defensive group of villagers, riddled with AIDS," looks like a cheap shot at do-gooding and religion in general. This is exactly what anyone would expect from the show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone ("South Park"), and Robert Lopez ("Avenue Q"). But observers are finding in it an affirmation of faith and good works that is no less persuasive for being delivered with a backhand.

In the Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan writes that Parker and Stone, "seem to say as an empirical observation, we need a grander narrative; and if religion can do that, and bring compassion to the world, why should we stand in the way?"

Perhaps Sully, a believing Catholic, is an easy sell on this point. If so, that would place him squarely in the minority. At least until recently, the Church of Latter-day Saints was the most cheerfully maligned denomination in America. Before the 2008 primaries, Mike Huckabee asked, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus Christ and Satan are brothers?" The question struck many as mock ignorance, calculated to scare evangelical voters away from Mormon rival Mitt Romney. A few months later, opponents of California's Proposition 8 aired a TV spot in which two Mormon missionaries steal a lesbian couple's marriage certificate. Whether the sticky wicket was real social conservatism or alleged doctrinal weirdness, marginalizing Mormons was the one activity that could get Left and Right singing "Kumbaya" in close harmony.