Saintspeak

Saintspeak (1981) is a satirical look at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by LDS author Orson Scott Card. It is modeled after The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

Originally published in 1981, Saintspeak is currently out of print. Its publication was timely, with numerous references to the Equal Rights Amendment and the antiquated way missionaries gave lessons to investigators. However, a great deal of the humor still applies to the way things are run and the way people behave today.

For the most part, the book is light-hearted and winks at the shortcomings and idiosyncrasies of Mormons, but there are entries that are downright harsh. Frequent targets include hypocritical behavior by church members, the church's repression and denial of its history, and fanatics who take church doctrines a bit too far.

Card pre-emptively and humorously strikes against anyone who takes offense too deeply by including a satiric introduction where he claims Ambrose Bierce appeared to him in a vision and presented the text of this book to him (paralleling the Angel Moroni appearing to Joseph Smith and telling him about the Golden plates that composed the Book of Mormon). Thus, he isn't responsible for anyone being offended by it; it's all Bierce's fault.