Religiosity in South Park: Struggles Over Institutional and Personal Piety Among Residents of a “Redneck Town”

Abstract

This article offers a critical examination of the portrayal of religion in South Park, a top-rated animated program. A close reading of the program suggests that the series cannot be dismissed as merely vulgar humor aimed at antisocial adolescents. Instead, South Park resonates with a growing cultural animosity toward hypocrisy, religious hierarchy, and intolerance of many forms. Moreover, like The Simpsons, South Park reinforces the postmodern religious culture of religious relativism and personal religiosity at the expense of institutional religious worship.