If a mature religion is one that can laugh at itself, then Mormonism is growing up. The ranks of the heretofore slim world of LDS satirists (dominated by cartoonists Pat Bagley and Calvin Grondahl and columnist Robert Kirby) have been swelled by the next generation: this compilation of ruthlessly funny articles is as irreverent as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is decorous. The book is edited by Bigelow, coauthor of Mormonism for Dummies and cofounder of the Sugar Beet
(an LDS version of the satirical publication the Onion
). Bigelow and his staff of Sugar Beet
writers, whose identities are hidden behind ultra-Mormon pseudonyms, ferret out the delicious humor tucked away in Mormonism's quirkiest doctrines and cultural extremes in articles like "Gay polygamists make bid for legitimacy"; "Zions Bank offers financing for scrapbookers"; and "Elvis Presley accepts posthumous baptism." The humor grows mostly out of the rich soil of Wasatch Front culture, so some of it may go over the heads of converts to the faith, and many stalwart Mormons would declare the writing dangerously "light-minded." But a solid core of LDS (and LDS-raised) readers will find The Enquirer
a tie-loosening, glue-gun melting pleasure—and an excellent Christmas gift for friends and family. (Nov. 6)
