Church of the SubGenius
[10][11] The popularization of the Internet in the mid-1990s brought a new surge of interest in the church, resulting in dozens of homemade, elaborately decorated websites and two Usenet newsgroups, alt.slack and alt.binaries.slack.
[9] The Church teaches that they are part of the Elder Gods, who are committed to human pain, but that Jehovah 1 is "relatively good" in comparison.
[2] Stang has said the image was taken from Yellow Pages clip art,[19] and it has been likened to Ward Cleaver,[10] Mark Trail,[15] or a 1950s-era salesman.
[22] In one version of the Church's mythology, Jehovah 1 intended Dobbs to lead a powerful conspiracy and brainwash individuals to make them work for a living.
Church leaders have taught that he was a very intelligent child and, as he grew older, studied several religious traditions, including Sufism, Rosicrucianism, and the Fourth Way.
[23] Another key event in his life occurred when he traveled to Tibet, where he learned vital truths about topics including Yetis; the Church teaches that SubGenius members are descended from them.
[14] Church literature has variously described Dobbs's occupation as "drilling equipment" or fluoride sales,[9][15] and accounts of his life generally emphasize his good fortune rather than intelligence.
[21] They maintain that their followers, but not the pinks, are capable of developing an imagination; the Church teaches that Dobbs has empowered its members to see through these illusions.
[9] Cultural studies scholar Solomon Davidoff states that the Church develops a "satiric commentary" on religion, morality, and conspiracies.
[2][29] Church members seek to acquire Slack and believe it will allow them the free, comfortable life (without hard work or responsibility) they claim as an entitlement.
[7] References to the Church are present in several works of art,[42] including the Internet-based collaborative fiction Ong's Hat, the comic book The Middleman, the band Sublime's album 40oz.
[43][44][45] Church leaders have issued instructions to their followers;[46] Robert Latham of the University of California, Riverside, calls their ideology "anarcholibertarian".
[32] Cusack compares the style of the services to Pentecostal revivalism;[28] David Giffels of the Akron Beacon Journal calls them "campy preaching sessions".
[11] Cusack posits that these events are examples of Peter Lamborn Wilson's concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones, spaces in which the ordinary constraints of social control are suspended.
[51] On one occasion, the presence of a Church leader's wife at a SubGenius meeting that included public nudity and a goat costume contributed to her losing custody of her children in a court case.
[52] The Church also celebrates several holidays in honor of characters from fiction and popular culture, such as Monty Python, Dracula, and Klaatu.
[55] The Cyclone of Slack[56][57] was a devival in Portland, Oregon, in October 2009 put on by the Church of the SubGenius[58] and the organizers of Esozone[definition needed].
When their appearance was not detected using the technology available at the time, Stang produced a sacred piece of paper with "Bob"s handwritten date of X-day, proving judgment was officially scheduled for 1998.
[64] The Church was a pioneer in the religious use of zines;[65] Cusack notes that its use of the medium can be seen as a rejection of the alienation of labor practices[further explanation needed].
[5] The Book of the SubGenius, which discusses Slack at length, was published by Simon & Schuster and sold 30,000 copies in its first five years in print.
[5][31] The Church of the SubGenius hosts several radio shows throughout the world, including broadcasters in Atlanta, Ohio, Maryland, and California.
Several radio stations in the United States and two in Canada broadcast The Hour of Slack, the Church's most popular audio production.
[5] Church leaders have said that Dobbs met L. Ron Hubbard, and SubGenius narratives echo extraterrestrial themes found in Scientology.
[72] Cusack compares the Church of the SubGenius to the Ranters, a radical 17th-century pantheist movement in England that made statements that shocked many hearers, attacking traditional notions of religious orthodoxy and political authority.
Eris, the goddess of chaos worshiped by adherents of the latter, is believed by members of the Church of the SubGenius to be Jehovah 1's wife and an ally to humans.
[69] Both groups were heavily influenced by the writings of Robert Anton Wilson, whom SubGenius members call "Pope Bob".
[21][75] Kirby states that the two groups have elements of bricolage and absurdity in common, but the Church of the SubGenius more explicitly remixes pop culture.
[2] Kirby posits that the Church is a religion masquerading as a joke, rather than the reverse: in her view, it is a spiritual manifestation of a cultural shift toward irony.
[78] She calls their remixing of popular culture sources an "explicitly creative process",[22] maintaining that it prompts the reader to adopt some of the group's views by forcing "the individual to reconsider normative methods of approaching the content".
In 1992, allegations of cult-like behavior also appeared in the newspaper Bedfordshire on Sunday after a spate of SubGenius-themed vandalism struck the English town of Bedford.
