TinWiki: Church of the SubGenius

The Church of the SubGenius is a satirical pseudo-religious organization founded in 1980, currently based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is known for deliberately mocking many aspects of New Age culture, including religious cults, fringe theories and pseudo-sciences, and conspiracy theories (and their authors).

The Churches icon

The icon of the Church of the SubGenius is a clip-art image known as J.R. "Bob" Dobbs. His pipe-smoking face has become an icon of many skeptical Internet sites, ranking alongside the Invisible Pink Unicorn and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Doctrine

SubGenius literature can be seen as a spoof of many of the most well-known and popular conspiracy theories (and some of the lesser-known ones as well). The Church even bases its dogma on the idea that a vast, worldwide "Conspiracy" is seeking to persecute members of the Church of the SubGenius. According to Church lore, all beings are born in a Nirvana-like state called "Slack," but this Slack has been stolen away by the worldwide Conspiracy. Getting Slack from the Conspiracy is a crucial goal in life for SubGeniuses, in a manner that can be equated in several different ways from "taking advantage of the System" to "fighting the Man" to simply "something for nothing" and "slacking off."

Founders

The Church is managed by Rev. Ivan Stang, who is known among a number of well-known conspiracy theorists. In addition to being a friend and collaborator with the late Robert Anton Wilson, Stang was the compiler and editor of the 1988 book High Weirdness By Mail, a catalogue of fringe groups that looked at many conspiracy-oriented groups, from religious to political. (He also wrote the introduction to Doug Moench's The Big Book of Conspiracies.)

Notable members of the Church of the SubGenius include comic book artists Robert Crumb and Paul Mavrides.









External Links

Church of the SubGenius home page
Pamphlet #1: an explanation of "The Conspiracy"
The High Weirdness Project: TinWiki -- SubGenius wiki encyclopedia entry for TinWiki

All Hail Bob!

Give me Slack or Give me Death!

Sub-genius Pope: "Salvation for $1!"
Passerby: "No thank you. I don't need Salvation."
Sub-genius Pope: "Son, did you know that on July 5th, 2012 when all the world is suffering from a hangover from the 4th of July celebrations the night before, the Reptilian Alien Overlords will arrive in their cosmic fleet of Motherships to invade the earth, and enslave mankind, turning them into hairy pink apes to spend the rest of their pathetic lives mining irradiated ore for them on Betelgeuse Prime? Is that what you want, son?"
Passerby: "Uh, not really. That sounds like it would blow."
Sub-genius Pope: "Yes sir it would. But J.R. Bob Dobbs has shown us a way to be free from eternal servitude to the Reptilian Alien Overlords, and you too can be free from that fate by paying the Church of the Sub-Genius a single dollar for your Salvation.
Passerby: "Does that mean I won't be turned into a hairy pink ape?"
Sub-genius Pope: "Well son, you'll still be transformed into a hairy pink ape, but at least you won't be a slave to the Reptilian Alien Overlords."

Good Wiki Entry, btw.

i stumbled upon this site on one of their sister's websites. my take is they're a bunch of shady who deceive others so they can get slack. maybe it is just meant to be a joke: "love is like a tonka truck , hell, love is a tonka truck" tasteless humor.

Administrator Edit: Please do not circumvent the language censor.

[edit on 9-12-2009 by William One Sac]