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Subject: Re: What do u think of the Church of the Subgenius?
Written By: Foo Bar on 02/09/12 at 9:14 pm
Edit: Once upon a time, someone asked us "What do u think of the Church of the Subgenius?", and I replied...
What other religion offers eternal salvation or triple your money back?
Ha ha, only serious.
No, really, here's a 2009 70-page BA thesis entitled Ha Ha, Only Serious: A Preliminary Study of Joke Religions.
It covers Discordianism (the Godmother of all joke religions, whose Principia Discordia directly inspired the typesetting lunacy typically associated with classic SubGenius literature), Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (the currently trendy one of the internet), and mentions the obscure Duckist faith. It's an excellent, albeit serious, introduction to the concept.
By understanding what makes a joke religion tick, you understand what makes all religions - from a harmless associations of like-minded individuals who want to better their community, to the sorts of destructive and manipulative cults and ideologies that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of millions of people over the past century - tick.
Got thirty bucks? See you on the pleasure saucers in 8661! (Yes, I know the holy texts from the 80s say the world was supposed to end in 1998. The Great Salesman forgot that he was on the other side of the table and misread the date upside-down and backwards. But who wants an infallible spiritual leader? You wouldn't have to think, you could just follow. Where's the fun in that?)