'Mormon' musical: Pride in prejudice?

It has been nearly a week since "The Book of Mormon" musical scored nine Tony Awards and a whole lot of adulation in Broadway's landmark Beacon Theater. During that time the musical has received additional praise for its creativity, its taboo-toppling brashness and its perceived ability to make people of faith laugh at themselves. The musical's soundtrack has soared to No. 3 in the Billboard Top 100 — the first Broadway soundtrack to do so since "Hair" in 1969. And it can now boast the highest single-ticket price in Broadway history at $487.25.

As the week progressed, however, a number of pundits stepped forward to voice their concerns about the musical's philosophical underpinnings, and what its meteoric popularity says about the state of religious tolerance in contemporary society.

Alexandra Petri, a humor columnist for the Washington Post, took advantage of "The Book of Mormon's" success to take a tongue-in-cheek look at religious bigotry.

"Anti-Mormonism is more widespread among the self-proclaimed enlightened and tolerant than among almost anyone else," Petri wrote, referring to Mormonism as "the Thinking Man's Prejudice. 'This isn't prejudice,' they squeal, when pressed. 'It's just that they're wrong! Besides, it IS a choice, isn't it? Aren't I entitled to judge someone because he believes something I personally find asinine?"

According to Petri, "Freedom of religion would be worthless if it didn't encompass the freedom to believe things that many sane and rational people deem absurd . . . The trouble is that no one's religious beliefs look sound from the outside. That is why they are beliefs. Religious beliefs . . . always seem a bit silly when you try to explain them to others."

And that, Petri suggested, is the bottom line of "The Book of Mormon."

"Some say the show mocks Mormons," she wrote. "But after listening to the cast album I worry that those people didn't understand the show. It seems to me as though the show is mocking all of us, poking fun at everyone complacent enough to think that what he or she believes is not on some level silly."

Dr. Harold Pease, a history and political science professor at Taft College, was not nearly so light-hearted as he mused about "The Book of Mormon's" creators admission that the show was designed to "gently mock Mormons."