# South Park Mormons **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 21, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578 "2003-11-21T21:37:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/61 "2003-11-22T21:44:37Z")
[**AH - HA!**](http://www.spscriptorium.com/SPinfo/ParkerAndStone.htm) > [@](#): > > Trey Parker (Randolph Severn Parker III) - born October 19, 1969, and grew up in Conifer, Jefferson County, CO., next to South Park County. \*\*He grew up around Mormons. \*\* As a third-grader he made a kid eat a worm. In fifth grade he duct-taped a boy to a bench and left him there all day. The boy was reported missing, and once found, tried to convice the teachers he duct-taped himself to the bench. Trey was never caught. Trey’s first acting experience was a sixth-grade skit called, The Dentist. In it, he shoved a drill into a friend’s throat and made fake blood shoot everywhere. He won the talent show, but had to go in front of the entire school and tell everyone that the dentist is your friend. In the 9th grade, he was one of the class clowns and once dressed as Wonder Woman. He attended West Jefferson Jr. High at Conifer and Evergreen High at Evergreen, both in Colorado. He also attended South Park High in Fairplay for a year. He begins to draw Mr. Hankey, an imaginary being used to persuade him to flush the toilet when he was a toddler (if he didn’t flush, Mr. Hankey would sing a little ditty and then kill him). He took classes in tae kwon do from the age of 12 to the age of 22, and has a black belt in it. When he was 15, he and David Goodman recorded an album called “Immature: A Collection of Love Ballads For The '80’s Man” and start selling the tape two years later. He was an honor student in high school and maintained an average between 3.5 and 4.0. He attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston for one semester, but transferred to the University of Colorado at Boulder (UCB) to study film and classical music. Had he not gone into cartoons, he might have become a film scorer. At the time he was double-majoring in music and Japanese. He lived in Japan for a while. Soon after the show began airing he bought himself a Steinway piano, an instrument he’s wanted to have since he was 14. Yes, he “grew up around Mormons.” Damn the cunning simplicity of it all. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/62 "2003-11-22T22:39:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Um no, no it’s not. > > Debatable, that is. \*\* I know some fundamentalist Christians who would argue with you. I think that makes it debatable. 🙂 You might (or might not be) surprised at the amount of anti-Mormon paranoia held by some fundies. I’ve listened to relatives rant about how they’re a cult, are trying to take over the world, have pentagrams all over their temples, etc. I, personally, wouldn’t argue with you though. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/63 "2003-11-22T22:57:57Z")
Well, we _are_ trying to take over the world. Why do you think we have so many kids? It’s the secret breeding program to take over by sheer population growth. Of course, now that you know, we’ll have to make sure you never tell…two young men will knock on your door very soon. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/64 "2003-11-23T00:30:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by laigle \* > Catholics aren’t considered a branch of Christianity. Guess what posting ignorant & incorrect assertions as though they’re fact reflect on you? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/65 "2003-11-23T00:53:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Catholics aren’t considered a branch of Christianity WTF are you talking about? Let’s be clear for some of those who are a little less informed. Catholics are Christians. Mormons are Christians. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/66 "2003-11-23T01:17:20Z")
Jesus effing Christ, I see some of you can’t be bothered to read past the first sentence. Admittedly, I should have put considered in italics for the impaired but still. Let’s look at what I actually said: Catholicism is the basis for Christianity as practiced in America and Western Europe. As such, they aren’t considered christians, they are. It’s the Protestants who would be a subject for debate. THAT is all. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/67 "2003-11-23T01:20:08Z")
Here’s a concept, laigle. When using English, use English and not some bizarre, known only to use grammar & syntax. & you’re still digging yourself a hole with your last posting above. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/68 "2003-11-23T01:22:56Z")
Edit my above comment in your mind to change the second instance of the word _use_ to _you_. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/69 "2003-11-23T01:48:22Z")
You still haven’t read the post for which you flamed me. But I highly doubt you ever will. You’ll just keep flaming me without reading what I post. So I’ll just bow out of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/70 "2003-11-23T02:01:37Z")
I read it. I am also competent in the English language and I thus read it the way someone competent in the English language reads such things. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/71 "2003-11-23T02:14:52Z")
**Monty** , I read **laigle** and understood him just fine the first time. And English is my first language, and I am considered quite competent in the comprehension department. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/72 "2003-11-23T02:29:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by genie \* > \*\*Well, we _are_ trying to take over the world. Why do you think we have so many kids? It’s the secret breeding program to take over by sheer population growth. Of course, now that you know, we’ll have to make sure you never tell…two young men will knock on your door very soon. > > 😃 \*\* Disinformation! You know thats not so; you are to have as many children as you want/can afford. The program was dropped, too obvious, you didn’t get the memo? ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/73 "2003-11-23T03:20:35Z")
The difference between Mormons and Catholics is that Catholics agree with Protestants on the nature of God, the relationship of the Father to the Son, and the necessity of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Catholics and Protestants disagree on the number of the sacraments, the authority of the Pope and the church hierarchy, prayers to saints, and the nature of the Eucharist, including the purpose of the Mass, but none of these are major. The LDS believe in Jesus, but the areas where you depart from Christian orthodoxy are substantial. That God was once a man That marriages can be sealed in Temples That one must perform ordinances to earn grace That Jesus was conceived by a physical act That souls pre-exist physical incarnation That the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and D&C are equal to the Bible That faithful Mormons can become Gods themselves That women can only attain the highest level of salvation through their husbands and so on. Now I don’t care to argue which is right, because it’s all mythology to me, but you must agree that the LDS and the other Christian sects have serious, mutually incompatible beliefs. And just from a purely secular view, the BoM is unadulterated eyewash–there were no Nephites, no Lamanites. no Alma, no Zeezrom, no Coriantumr, no Abinadi, no Jewish empires in the New World. Joseph Smith devised a clever work of fiction, but that’s all it is. And it’s very hard for me not to write, “Dum, Dum, Dum, Dum, Dum.” ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/74 "2003-11-23T05:35:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by emarkp \* > **See, you have to understand that statement is simply other-worldly. A missionary is screened beforehand, and he simply is not allowed to serve if he’s got moral problems.** Heh. I have a Mormon friend who’s currently on a mission in South America, and he’s smoked _a lot_ of pot, gotten drunk, and had sex outside of marriage. The Mormon in _Orgazmo_–who is very reluctant to get into “the business”, and never actually has sex on film–is a saint in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![aurelian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f4b2a3/32.png) [@aurelian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurelian)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/75 "2003-11-23T06:17:01Z")
**emarkp** said, regarding missionaries, > [@](#): > > See, you have to understand that statement is simply other-worldly. A missionary is screened beforehand, and he simply is not allowed to serve if he’s got moral problems. While I’m not saying all missionaries are perfect, they are engaged in work that we consider sacred (the sharing of the Gospel) and they strive to not only live the highest moral standards, but also not even give the impression of sin. Wow. I’m being earnest here, how do you do that? How is it possible to be human and not have ‘moral problems’? Saints have had crises of faith, popes have contradicted, even fought each other… a bit of a hijack, but sheesh… ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/76 "2003-11-23T06:25:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*WTF are you talking about? > > Let’s be clear for some of those who are a little less informed. > > Catholics are Christians. > Mormons are Christians. > > That is all. \*\* Some people don’t think so. In fact, some people believe that no other sect of Christianity other than their own can lay claim to the title. In my youth, I attended (well, visited, anyway) one Pentecostal church, and one Baptist church which bluntly said that while Catholics may _think_ that they’re Christians, they’re most certainly not. One pastor informed the congregation that Catholics worshipped the Whore of Babylon, as evinced by Revelation. (I think this is the same view espoused by Jack Chick.) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/77 "2003-11-23T06:39:36Z")
> [@](#): > > The LDS believe in Jesus, but the areas where you depart from Christian orthodoxy are substantial. > > That God was once a man > That marriages can be sealed in Temples > That one must perform ordinances to earn grace > That Jesus was conceived by a physical act > That souls pre-exist physical incarnation > That the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and D&C are equal to the Bible > That faithful Mormons can become Gods themselves > That women can only attain the highest level of salvation through their husbands > > and so on. **Gobear,** two or three of those are not accurate and have been debunked here before. Specifically, we have no doctrine on how Jesus was conceived (and I’ve never met anyone who thinks it was that way!), we do not believe that exaltation is confined only to faithful Mormons, and it is far more accurate to say that neither spouse can “attain the highest level of salvation” (that is, exaltation, which is different) without the other, since a marriage partnership is an intrinsic part of it. That’s a common twist anti-Mormons put in, in order to rile up feminist sensibilities–and as a feminist myself, I rather resent it. I could quibble a bit about some of the others, too; for example, we are often portrayed as works-obsessed and denying of grace, which is also incorrect. But that’s a longer post than I’m going to type up right now–I just got back from a play and it’s past my bedtime. And, I understood **laigle** ’s meaning, and thought it was pretty humorous too. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/78 "2003-11-23T06:40:27Z")
emarkp: Actually, I think the biggest problem with the missionary’s portrayal in the film is that he showed up at the house alone. ---
**Author:** ![Tradnor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cab0a1/32.png) [@Tradnor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tradnor)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/79 "2003-11-23T06:50:05Z")
Getting back to the South Park episode, one claim they made that I haven’t seen mentioned in this thread is that the Garden of Eden was really in Jackson County, Missouri. Is this an accurate depiction of Mormon belief? ---
**Author:** ![eli\_the\_fanatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ccd318/32.png) [@eli\_the\_fanatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eli_the_fanatic)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2003, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578/80 "2003-11-23T06:52:07Z")
Yes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-park-mormons/214578.md?page=5)