The Book of Mormon begins as missionaries Kevin Price and Arnold Cunningham eagerly await a location assignment for their two‐year mission. Religious fundamentalism is the real problem that The Book of Mormon and South Park usually have in mind when they tackle the topic of religion. Throughout this chapter, the author explains The Book of Mormon and South Park expose the way of believing for what it really is: a naive and arrogant approach to God, the world, and what it (...) means to be human. Fundamentalist thinkers have the luxury of living in a black and white world of cold absolutes. The rest of us, fortunately or unfortunately, don't. Rather, we have no choice but to live in the real world, a world of difficult questions and deep ambiguities. But the real world is also a fascinating place of brilliant color and real diversity. (shrink)

This chapter shows how The Daily Show targets those political and religious leaders who claim to receive clear revelations from the divine, either by their own particular religious experiences and practices or through sacred texts. It considers some of the ways Stewart calls into question their apparently unquestionable grasp of the mind of God. Philosophers like the famous English thinker John Locke have made their living by carefully examining not only the nature of the world around us, but also the (...) more puzzling aspects of human behavior. For instance, Locke describes and critiques the sort of “enthusiasm” by recognizing that such religiously convicted individuals: “persuade themselves that they are under the peculiar guidance of heaven in their actions and opinions, especially in those of them which they cannot account for by the ordinary methods of knowledge and principles of reason. (shrink)