The Book Of Mormon

[gumbycross]

I've been hearing a lot about this play for a while now so today I went and got the cd. Haven't listened to it all the way but I am realllly love'in it. Its fucking hilarious and the singing is fantastic. Has anyone seen it or thinking about seeing it? Thoughts?

[popquizkid]

I know a bunch of people who have seen it and everyone has said it's amazing. I am don't go to a ton of plays but definitely want to see this—and it's doing really well so I think they will probably extend it.

[gumbycross]

yeah, I heard that it was sold out up till September or something like that and if its doing that well I don't believe it will go on tour anytime soon.

[kidamnesiac]

Last I heard there was going to be a tour in 2012.

[gumbycross]

^ and your right. Hope it comes to Dallas.

[oakland]

Yeah, but do you know any MORMONS who have seen it? Huh?

[lokithelion]

Great musical. Respectful in a way of Mormons but still brutally mocking.

[gumbycross]

Yeah, but do you know any MORMONS who have seen it? Huh?

I heard Mormons think its funny. If this is true, what a sense of humor they have.

[oakland]

I can assure you the Mormons I've met won't find this funny. Thankfully I don't give a shit what Mormons think so I will be seeing this asap.

[mcm1610]

I remember when it first came out there was a lot of talk about how many Mormons were kind of grateful that someone was paying attention to them. They as a general group seemed to roll with the punches and laugh it off. And it's apparently not all negative.

[clarklizard23]

I want to see it, and I'm a mormon, hahaha.

[mcm1610]

I don't understand how people take Mormonism seriously. Do people honestly believe a dude from New York State who got repeatedly shunned from society ended up in Utah and magically found a book from God only he could read? Or whatever the story is there.

I don't mean to be insensitive, but as far as religions go, this one is comical in its beginnings.

[themean]

No more comical than the rest of them. Just more recent.

[kidamnesiac]

No more comical than the rest of them. Just more recent.

[mcm1610]

True, but the older religions are established in tradition from a time when people didn't have explanations for the world around them.

From wikipedia:

"According to Smith's account, and also according to the book's narrative, the Book of Mormon was originally written in otherwise unknown characters referred to as "reformed Egyptian" [2] engraved on golden plates. Smith said that he received these plates in 1827 from an angel named Moroni,[3] whom Smith identified as a resurrected[4] inhabitant of the Americas who had written and abridged parts of the book over a millennium prior to the encounter. According to Smith, Moroni had buried the plates in a stone box, along with other ancient artifacts,[5] in a hill near Smith's home in Manchester, New York."

How did/do people take Smith seriously?

[almightyseancore]

not to mention all the people that have spent countless hours excavating this location trying to find said plates.

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[gumbycross]

^ that just made my day.

All religions have a relatively comical aspect to them. Its the 21st century.

[brammyg]

I went to NYC for the first time about a month ago and WISH I got a chance to see this. I've heard but nothing but incredible things. One day, one day.

[somethingvinyl]

I spent a large amount of time in college and graduate school studying religion, philosophy and theology. If we grade religions based on their logical operations according to the laws of logic and their testability within the realms of historical and textual criticism, nearly all of the ancient religions will rank higher than anything birthed in the last 200 years.

On this scale, Mormonism ranks rather poorly.

[eleaf]

Great musical. Respectful in a way of Mormons but still brutally mocking.

Respectful my ass.

No, I'm not Mormon, but I Dan recognize straight up mocking while pointing fingers and laughing when I see it.

[eleaf]

I don't understand how people take Mormonism seriously. Do people honestly believe a dude from New York State who got repeatedly shunned from society ended up in Utah and magically found a book from God only he could read? Or whatever the story is there.

I don't mean to be insensitive, but as far as religions go, this one is comical in its beginnings.

Is that somehow less believable than a guy who sat in a whale's stomach for 3 days then was spat out on a beach, or another tale about a dude who walked on water before rising from the dead?

[eleaf]

Great musical. Respectful in a way of Mormons but still brutally mocking.

Actually, I don't think it's all that funny. There are certainly funny parts, but it simply tries to hard to go out of its way to be as disrespectful as possible all of the time.

It seems to me that it's only getting attention because of how it speaks out against institutionalized religion. If this were about the religion of environmentalism, the critics would have something very different to say about it.

[mcm1610]

I don't understand how people take Mormonism seriously. Do people honestly believe a dude from New York State who got repeatedly shunned from society ended up in Utah and magically found a book from God only he could read? Or whatever the story is there.

I don't mean to be insensitive, but as far as religions go, this one is comical in its beginnings.

Is that somehow less believable than a guy who sat in a whale's stomach for 3 days then was spat out on a beach, or another tale about a dude who walked on water before rising from the dead?

Not at all, but you have to look at it in context. That was supposedly thousands of years ago when most of the world was illiterate and couldn't explain the natural world. If enough people went around preaching miracles, people would believe them because they were uneducated. Fast forward to the 1820s. You've got a wildly more-educated population, yet they still fell for this guys shenanigans. THAT is why I place a harder emphasis on their lack of reasoning.

When the whole world doesn't know any better because of periods of intellectual darkness, fine, they can have a pass. But we're not in that age of darkness anymore. What basis does religion have in reality?

[somethingvinyl]

^^^^^

From Wiki:

"Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to explain the origin of life or the universe. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

Sounds like there's some reason in reality.

Matt, I presume you have no belief in a particular religion, and I understand that. It does seem, however, like you disdain religion or religious people and for that I am perplexed. Why so much effort for something you don't even accept as true?