Reader comments
Time to move on from big ol' Mormon joke

It would be helpful to know, or be informed, or suggestions where to go and what to do about.....
our objections to productions like this Mormon musical, and ALL OTHER jokes....put downs...and screwed up versions of peoples sacred beliefs and practices.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO FIGHT IT?
WHAT IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY OF PROTESTING..THE RIGHT WAY OF COURSE?
I feel helpless in the downsliding melee of society taking advantage of our "nice" and layed back not objecting and putting a strong
"NO, WE WON'T TAKE THIS ANY MORE !!"
Is there ANYONE out there that is willing to take a stand....on OUR side of keeping our faith and everything attached to it...respected and off limits to bad taste and lies?

The article is right on the spot. Parker and Stone are pretty fascinated with the church, and, as nasty as they sound, they end up being harmless. I know people who knew the church through the show, and they get the jokes. When they know me, they respect the church even more. Really, South Park (and all the rest) is no big deal.
I remember when The Simpsons made fun of Brazil. It was almost an internacional incident. IT'S A TV SHOW! They make fun of everyone, specially the US, so why should we be treated differently?
Come on, guys, getting mad about them is as dumb as they want us to be. Let them do their thing, and sometimes you can even get to take some good laughs.

The best way to protest is to ignore it. Don't send angry letters, don't forward useless email petitions, don't blog about it. All these things just give it free advertising. Ignore it and it will go away. Or if it doesn't, at least you will be happier about it. If anyone brings up the subject, shrug or laugh it off. "Take a stand" and you've just given them the attention they crave. You are powerless to stop them. The only power you have is to let the movie flop, let the comments die down, and DON'T let it get to you. Just like the bully on the playground, the one who gives the biggest reaction is the one who gets picked on over and over. If Jesus or even Joseph Smith had gone around trying to track down everyone who said something bad about them, they would have accomplished nothing in their lives. Please, please, please, just let it go.

Bad press is better than no press at all.

As the author says (in so many words), these things are hardly the worst of the worst that is out there. South Park pokes fun but there are vile, hate-filled opponents to the Church out there. But as members of the Church our attitude has to be simply to educate with patience and love. For example, the homosexual movement has made a big deal about their claim that they just want equal rights...they don't want to persecute any religion. Then prop 8 passes and what do they do? They name call, threaten, boycott, vandalize, investigate and send white powder to Mormons. I'm not saying that we just have to lie down and take it, but we do need to expect persecution and respond with a Christlike attitude.

True believers will always be mocked, scorned and misunderstood. When he was reviled, Paul had the attitude of gratitude for the blessing to suffer persecution for the name of Christ. This too should be our position.

You know, there is an old saying, there's no such thing as negative publicity.

An avid South Park watching coworker of mine claims that one of the writers actually was a member and was excommunicated. Is that just hear-say?

Thank you for your comments - sometimes it is hard when thing that mean so very much to you are being tashed the way the church is in the media and with individual people.

Just remember that God knows what is taking place and even if they get away with the slander here - they will have to answer for it before Christ. When I think of how that will feel for these people my anger turns to pity.

But oh, negative publicity will damage the church to a point that our reputation cannot be repairs. You are ignorant and have your head in the sand if you think any publicity is good publicity. What is wrong with some of you. The Church is fighting for survuval and acceptnce and this is all you can say. WEAK!

"Parker and Stone repeatedly skewer The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Parker says that his first girlfriend was a Mormon and ever since he has had a fascination with the church."

Luckily, this said girlfriend wised up and didn't marry the loser

Calling Trey Parker a loser is funny. He and Matt are immensely successful creative people. Anyone in the business would be lucky to have had the success of these two. What's more, they continue to be funny and inventive year after year. They have real talent! The regular networks would give their eyeteeth to have such creative talent working for them! By the way, they skewer many religions--they don't just pick on Mormons but lampoon almost any and every imaginable religion and group.

What did the Savior do? He 'opened not his mouth.' Why don't we try living our religion. Actions speak louder than words.

ya, Trey is a loser just like Micael J, Britney S and Paris H and the like. They may make small celebrity here but in the ages to come they lose. Where is the fun in that. When they are young what they do seems funny but when old age sets in all they will be is pathetic. .

Re: it's funny- I completely agree with you. Not only are these guys talented, but they address many controversial issues that society isn't even ready to address. And for everybody else who doesn't like Trey and Matt: DON'T WATCH THE SHOW. They obviously aren't trying to appeal to you. I, for one, love the show and look forward to seeing the new musical.

To Sharon in TN:

For me, I just let those who inquire, know that such "jokes" are gross mis-representations of the Church, and if they really want to know the facts about us, a visit to the LDS website will be quite revealing.

There IS a reason why we are the only Church to have Christ on our offical home page.

Brother Niv

All of the "South Park" portrayals of Mormons that I have seen are factual. Matt and Trey also present Mormon doctrines accurately. Watch the shows before you come to some other conclusion. One can find much to make fun of for any religion--including Mormons. Matt and Trey create satire, they don't seem interested in misrepresenting the various groups they satirize but rather let the oddness of these groups speak for itself. Watch the shows and see for yourself instead of relying on second hand hearsay.

Representations of mormons by most in theatre and art our actually spot on. The porblem is that mormons do not see themsleves or the church for who they are. There is no misrepresentation just a misguided self image on the lds church and culture part.

"There IS a reason why we are the only Church to have Christ on our offical home page."

Well then, that just proves it doesn't it! A web site that proves there is a god?

There is a reason that Mormons are disliked and the folks on the des news comments are no help for the LDS church cause.

As the media is being used to promote the church so is the media being used to degrade the church.The media will always be a negative force behind anything both bad and good.

Have you been living under a rock for the past 60 days? The Church needs no help with Negative publicity, this whole prop 8 mess that the LDS Church decided to publically support and push their members to push it in California has put the LDS Church back 30 Years. If Mitt Romney ever wanted to run for President again they sure runined that for him with this public support of this marriage ban. I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman myself, Just something the LDS Church should not have got involved in. They are doing more damage to themselves than any of these shows can possibly do.