In 1977, there was a scene in the popular television show Happy Days where the always-cool “Fonzie” was water-sking in his trademark leather jacket and literally jumped over a shark.  Afterwards, the television show went into decline and soon disappeared into TV history.  But, the phrase has come to mean a “tipping point” in cultural acceptance.

Sunday, we attended the “Book of Mormon” play and wondered if we had witnessed a “jumping the shark” moment or not.  That play is brutally funny about all things religious, maybe more brutal than funny.  If it was a “jumping the shark” moment, would that mean that stereotypes of all things, people  and symbols religious have peaked in popularity and will decline, or does it mean that caricatures of those stereotypes of those things have peaked in popularity and will now decline?

Written by the creators of the TV program South Park, which is either brilliant or stupid but always politically-incorrect, I do suspect that the “Book of Mormon” represents either the zenith of disrespect for organized religion or the nadir of respect for it.  Either way, it is a cultural tipping point, indeed.