Coffee brews up a little bit of humor

Although it was hardly their intent any more than it was their intent to get front-page publicity for their business, Ed Beazer and Van Lidell, owners of the Just Add Coffee store in Taylorsville, provided us with a nice reminder about what a beautiful thing it is to live in the land of the free and the home of the religiously tolerant.

At first blush, the minor showdown between Just Add Coffee and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints might seem like just the opposite of a primer in freedom, religious or otherwise, since it involved the church requesting that an image of the Angel Moroni, which is trademarked, not be used in the coffee store's advertisements and on its T-shirts.

But after that request, two ordinary yet remarkable things occurred.

First, Beazer and Lidell stopped using the trademark.

Then they made other T-shirts, without the angel, that continue to poke fun at the LDS Church's ban on coffee.

The slogan on the new T's: "The Lord Giveth, And A Church Taketh Away."

Whether you think that's funny or not is up to you, but the point is we live in a country where, as long as there is no infringement of legal rights, you can make fun of the resident religion, or any religion, without worrying about starting riots, death threats or jail time.

And while it's true this tolerance can open the door to lame and obnoxious humor just as much as to the clever stuff, it can also pave the way to not taking ourselves too seriously.

I checked in with Ed Beazer and Van Lidell at Just Add Coffee midmorning Friday.

They were swamped. They'd just received a new batch of T-shirts because the last shipment had flown out the door. Nothing like a media-fueled controversy to pump up demand.

"People don't seem to be offended," said Ed of the great coffee controversy. "To be honest, we've had one angry phone call. That's it. Everything else has been positive."

He stressed that Just Add Coffee has no bone to pick with the LDS Church (well, other than maybe that whole no-coffee thing).

"We're not anti-Mormon, we're just poking fun," he said. "We make fun of everything. That's our personalities."

He held up the other T-shirt in their line. It reads: "Friends Don't Let Friends Go To Starbucks."

So they are equal opportunity fun-pokers — they take on people who hate coffee and people who love coffee.

It is a free country.

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.