Anti-Mormons, dum-de-dum-dum-dum

The creators of South Park play a vital function in our society, of questioning established institutions, and challenging the status quo. Thankfully they have decided to dedicate much of their time on the Mormons.

Mormons have continuously been strengthened in their faith by critics, who, thinking they have found a hole in our doctrine, have stuck their finger in, only to unleash a geyser of new information that supports and substantiates the story of Joseph Smith.

The South Park episode "All About the Mormons" (Season 7 Episode 12) oversimplifies Joseph Smith, which can be forgiven, because it is a cartoon. Nevertheless, the idea that Joseph was well-received by an easily-duped public distorts history, for people in the 1800s were just as skeptical of Joseph then as they are now (if for different reasons), and rather than a receiving a sunny welcome, Joseph was persecuted, imprisoned, beaten, and murdered.

The fatal weak point in South Park's criticism, shared by many anti-mormons, is a failure to explain the Book of Mormon itself. Joseph may have been a lazy half-wit from the backwoods of New York, who made up stories of angels to dupe people into loving him and giving him money, but he did produce a 588 page manuscript of history, war-tactics, hebraisms, and sermons—quite the feat for a lazy half-wit.

The Book of Mormon could not have been written by a dumbass, and a genius would not have had access to the resources (mental and documental) necessary to mock-up the kind of historical document the Book of Mormon claims to be (see Nibley's Book of Mormon challenge).

Until a serious criticism is made of the Book of Mormon, any discrediting criticism of Joseph Smith's own explanation of its origin only makes the existence of such a book that much more miraculous.