CHURCH OF THE SUBGENIUS TIMELINE
1953 (July 2): Douglas St. Clair Smith, who would later become known as Ivan Stang, a key co-founder of the Church of the SubGenius was born.
1979: Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond (born Steve Wilcox) co-founded the organisation in Dallas, Texas.
1980: The church’s first pamphlet titled “Pamphlet #1” was published.
1980s: Throughout the decade, the church grew its membership through a grassroots campaign that utilised a range of media forms.
1983: The Book of the SubGenius one of the main scriptures of the Church, was published.
1984: The “High Epopt” or “Overman First Degree” of the church, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, was reportedly assassinated by a disgruntled follower.
1992: Arise!: The Church of the SubGenius indoctrination videotape was released.
1994: Revelation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon was published as the second testament of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.
1998 (July 5): The “X-DAY” FESTIVAL was held.
2000s: The SubGenius Foundation continued to host annual festivals and devivals (evangelical rallies or parties), keeping the church culture alive.
2006: The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon was published as the third testament of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.
2009: The “Bulldada Time-Control Laboratories” online store was launched.
2009: Ivan Stang announced that he had transferred his apostolic powers to a three-person “Bulldada Time-Control Laboratories,” signalling a leadership transition.
2019: A feature documentary, “J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius,” premiered.
FOUNDER/GROUP HISTORY
In examining the origins of the Church of the SubGenius, one encounters a fascinating interplay between the founders of the mock religion and its central icon, J.R. “Bob” Dobbs. The lines between the founders [Reverend Ivan Stang (born Douglas St. Clair Smith) and Reverend Philo Drummond (born Steve Wilcox)] and the enigmatic figure of “Bob” are deliberately blurred, creating a rich tapestry of myth and meta-narrative that both enhances and confuses their individual identities and contributions to the Church’s creation.
J.R. “Bob” Dobbs emerged as the perfect satirical prophet, an irreverent figurehead around whom the Church could construct its lore. Decorated with a perpetually affixed, knowing smile and a pipe clenched between his teeth, Dobbs represented at once both the ultimate everyperson and a subversive saviour. [Image at right] He came to be known as the salesman par excellence, peddling not wares but rather a path to obtaining the elusive Slack that the Church espoused. “Bob” is married to “Connie” Dobbs, the only entity in the universe that may yield power greater than “Bob”’s, and 
the Church’s appropriation of feminist ideology as part of its overall worldview (SubGenius Foundation 1983). [Image at right]
As “Bob”‘s grandiose legend grew, he became inseparable from the Church’s narrative. The Church purported that “Bob” had a fateful divine encounter with the god-like alien JHVH-1 (pronounced Jehova-One) in 1953, leading to the establishment of the Church on January 2, 1980, by Stang and Drummond. However, it is crucial to note that “Bob” might be a fictional character (a concoction of Stang and Drummond) who provided the ultimate blank slate upon which the Church could project its riotous mix of beliefs.
The founders themselves, Reverend Ivan Stang and Reverend Philo Drummond, crafted an intricate and self-obfuscating history for the Church, often inserting themselves into its narrative in ways that blurred their real-life personas with their adopted ecclesiastical ones. [Image at right] Stang, whose persona became synonymous with the Church’s proselytising and organisational efforts, took on the mantle of primary spokesperson and writer, reveling in the Church’s esoteric jargon and ensuring its message maintained its mix of levity and critique (Boone 2019).
Drummond, on the other hand, remained somewhat more enigmatic, paralleling the traits of their invented deity. As the co-conspirator in the Church’s founding, Drummond’s contributions were crucial in establishing the philosophy of the organisation. Both founders created a space where their real identities and their religious alter-egos were intertwined to such an extent that deciphering the truth of their individual roles became an inexorable part of engaging with the Church.
This deliberate confusion served to elevate both the mythos of “Bob” and the Church’s appeal. Followers, or “SubGenii,” found themselves participating in a sort of “sacred game” where knowing smirks were exchanged over the conflation of creators and creation (Robertson 2016). It is in this playful ambiguity that the Church thrives, with Stang, Drummond, and “Bob” serving as symbol and substance, interchangeable parts of a whole, whose very indistinguishability underscores the Church’s larger commentary on the fluidity of myth, identity, and religion itself.
The Church of the SubGenius has a history as unconventional as its beliefs. The group’s inception dates back to January 2, 1980, but the seeds were sown earlier through the mingling of countercultural creativity between Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond, including relations with members of the Discordian Society, with elements of it featuring on the Church’s texts and imagery. As a new decade dawned, they launched a religious parody that would become a phenomenon in the subculture scenes of the United States and beyond.
Initially distributing humourous pamphlets mocking the religious tracts of the time, the duo tapped into a zeitgeist of disillusionment with mainstream culture and its institutions. The Church’s growth was fuelled by participatory involvement, where members, energised by the Church’s unconventional ethos, contributed their own art, literature, and narrative expansions. This approach to community engagement paralleled the rise of zine culture and prefigured many aspects of digital age participatory media.
The 1980s saw the burgeoning Church of the SubGenius wedged firmly within the underground punk and hacker movements. This countercultural alliance found a shared spirit in subverting norms and delighting in the fringe. Over time, the Church would seamlessly integrate with the rise of the Internet, where the participatory nature of its doctrine and the meme-like stickiness of its iconography found fertile ground (Logan 1998).
Moving beyond printed and mailed newsletters, the Church embraced the possibilities afforded by the digital revolution (podcasts, online forums), and social media allowed SubGenius teachings to disseminate more widely. This expansion has not compromised the Church’s commitment to pushing boundaries; if anything, it has sharpened its satirical edge, allowing it to adapt and remain relevant in an ever-shifting cultural landscape (Logan 1998).
Throughout its history, the Church of the SubGenius has celebrated its anti-establishment stance through festivals and gatherings like the end-times-themed “X-Day,” defying easy categorisation and embracing an evolving, playful spirit (Robertson 2016). This dynamism ensures that, even as it moves further from its initial inception, the Church of the SubGenius retains the power to challenge, amuse, and inspire those who encounter its enduring campaign against “the Conspiracy” and the pervasive pinkness of modern life.
DOCTRINES/BELIEFS
The Church of the SubGenius has been characterised as an “invented religion” (Cusack 2016), bearing many of the term’s characteristics: it is a melting pot of satire, absurdist humour, and a pastiche of religious tenets. At its core, the “church” is a send-up of organised religion, consumerism, and conspiracy theories, wrapped up in the guise of a religious movement. Its beliefs are deliberately outrageous and contradictory, crafted to lampoon the very nature of belief systems while simultaneously offering a sort of “meta-religion” where followers are in on the joke. Many of the doctrines (and associated rituals, see below) are exercises in subverting mainstream social traits in a way that resembles post-Marxian Situationist political approach (Cusack 2018). In the same way that in Situationism art, politics, and everyday life are to be treated as inseparable, the Church further includes religion in this list. The SubGenius doctrines and rituals, thus, are political and artistic acts, to be found in the members’ everyday life (Kirby 2012). The lists presented in this and the following section are derived from Cusack (2018) as well as from the Book of the SubGenius (SubGenius Foundation 1983), Revelation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon (SubGenius Foundation 1994) and the 2019 documentary (Boone 2019).
Slack: One of the most important concepts within the Church is “Slack.” According to SubGenius doctrine, Slack is an indefinable quality that represents ease, satisfaction, freedom, and an intrinsic understanding of the universe’s absurdity. Originating from the mystical visions of the figurehead J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, Slack is seen as the ultimate goal for all SubGeniuses (or SubGenii – the Church is bridging the etymological schism). Slack represents a form of spiritual liberation from societal expectations and conventional norms, embodying the very boundary-shifting between humour and religion, as it resists a clear definition and mocks the pursuit of more traditional forms of enlightenment.
J.R. “Bob” Dobbs: The smiling, pipe-smoking visage of “Bob” is the central figure within the Church. Presented as a salesman who achieved divine revelation, “Bob” serves as the prophet of Slack. His deliberately constructed image as a 1950s-style corporate archetype satirises the conformity of the era and invokes the kind of man who might appear trustworthy, while his philosophy inverts those appearances. “Bob” promotes indulgence in human desires and individual thinking, positioning himself as an anti-prophet for an anti-religion. “Bob”’s image emerged in an effort to parody the numerous pamphlets and flyers scattered throughout Stang and Drummond’s surroundings in Fort Worth – according to the documentary, their lacking of artistic skills and funds for an illustrator, led them to utilise clip art, specifically choosing a 1950s image of a smiling man with a pipe from a book directed to salesmen, to serve as the deity of their religion.
The Conspiracy: The Church rails against what it calls “The Conspiracy.” This is a catch-all term for the forces in society that rob individuals of their Slack. From governments and big businesses to organised religion and mainstream media, The Conspiracy is responsible for the constant suppression of the human spirit through work, consumerism, and the dissemination of pinkness, a derogative term for conventional, mundane thought patterns and behaviours devoid of originality or rebellion. Members are encouraged to resist conforming to the manufactured desires and expectations of these pervasive systems and hijack them by demonstrating their consequences by drawing them humourously to their extremes (from a 2003 online SubGenius newsgroup: “Don’t just EAT a hamburger. Eat the hell out of it and something from the$0.99 menu instead of buying the COMBO.” – Agent Lloyd).
“Pink Boys” and “Pinkness”: Those who unthinkingly adhere to the values imposed by The Conspiracy are often derisively termed “Pink Boys” or said to have succumbed to “Pinkness.” In SubGenius doctrine, these terms imply a lack of true Slack, a nature bereft of the Church’s revered sense of subversive humour and distinctiveness. Pinkness is seen as the antithesis of the Church’s teachings, and it is the pinkness of society that the SubGenius stands in opposition to (SubGenius Foundation 1983).
X-Day and the Rupture (not to be confused with the Rapture): X-Day, held on July 5 of each calendar year, is both an end-of-the-world prophecy and the most important holiday in the SubGenius calendar. It hilariously ciphers the Christian concept of the Rapture into the Rupture, promising that faithful SubGenii will be whisked away by extraterrestrials from the Planet X or “X-ists” (SubGenius Foundation 1983). While the original prophesised date of X-Day in 1998 came and passed without incident, the Church humourously adjusted their narrative to claim that either “Bob” got the date wrong or that the year 1998 refers to a calendar other than the Gregorian, and therefore should be stylised as “1998” (in quotation marks), leading to an annual celebration of the non-event as a testament to the Church’s adaptability and humour (SubGenius Foundation 1994; Cusack 2018).
Rewardians and Emergentiles: Within the tongue-in-cheek ideology of the Church, “Rewardians” are individuals who suggest that the only path towards achieving the absolute reward of Slack is to avoid work at any cost and exercise laziness. In contrast, “Emergentiles” are those who achieve Slack by working constantly, often under heavy pressure (even if self-imposed), albeit only to achieve the aims of their inner desires. The two approaches are considered to be a schism within the Church (SubGenius Foundation 1994).
“Short Duration Personal Saviors” (ShorDurPerSavs): This humourous doctrine encourages SubGeniuses to adopt or invent temporary personal saviours of any kind, to channel their devotions and aspirations momentarily before moving on. These saviours can be animate or inanimate, sensible or absurd (SubGenius Foundation 1983). This practice mocks the phenomena of worshipful transference so common in organised religions, highlighting the transitory nature of personal idols and ensuring that SubGeniuses remain sceptical of long-term spiritual leaders or gurus while playing on the idea of iconoclastic schisms in Christianity.
Bulldada: In the SubGenius lexicon, “Bulldada” refers to the surreal blend of the banal with the extraordinary, the culture jamming and appropriation of various elements of society to create something bizarre yet strangely meaningful. Bulldada is employed within the Church to create art, events, and literature that defy traditional categorisation, reinforcing the sense of irony and parody central to its worldview (SubGenius Foundation 1983). It is often a verbal expression of a universal synchronicity or coincidence, for example, when the sounding of a flat tire blowout coincides with that of undesired public flatulence, the SubGenius member can be heard saying “Bulldada!”
Yeti Origins: The Church espouses a belief regarding the origins of its members, linking them to the mythical Yeti. According to church lore, true SubGenius followers are actually descendants of these ancient Yetis, suggesting that their nonconformist attitudes and disdain for mainstream society are inherited traits from these elusive ancestors. This connection to the Yeti underscores the church’s broader narrative that champions individualism and resistance to societal norms. In this light, being a SubGenius is more than a spiritual choice; it’s an acknowledgment of one’s unique, prehistoric lineage, in a way which hijacks various widely circulated books from the 1970s-1980s period concerned with various types of sacred ancestry, or even extraterrestrial ancestry. It is of particular interest that the Yeti imagery is also used as a feminist device to comment on societal expectations as to bodily and facial hair (SubGenius Foundation 1983).
Patriopsychotic Anarchomaterialism: The SubGenius political party or ideology based on the rejection of all parties and/or ideologies (SubGenius Foundation 1983).
The Church has always thrived on the fringes of popular culture, delighting in its role as a cultural gadfly. It is a religion of sorts that not only lampoons other religions but also turns the mirror on itself, revelling in an eternally shifting pantheon of inside jokes and mythologies. While it might be easy to dismiss the Church of the SubGenius as nothing more than a complex joke, it does touch on some aspects of religious experience, most notably the human need for community and the quest for meaning in a seemingly indifferent universe—but it addresses these needs with a smirk rather than a solemn vow.
The Church of the SubGenius’s doctrines, its blend of hallowed humour, and its subversion of sacred tradition exemplify the fluid boundaries between what constitutes “real” religion and satire, ultimately challenging adherents and outsiders alike to question where one ends and the other begins. Through its ever-evolving narrative and irreverent take on spirituality, the Church creates a playful space for philosophical exploration, cultural criticism, and personal discovery, all within the orbit of Slack.
RITUALS/PRACTICES
The Church of the SubGenius, with its satirical, countercultural, and absurdist ethos, celebrates its rituals and practices with an oddball blend of subversion and sincerity. These customs not only reinforce the Church’s principles and philosophies but also provide a shared experience for its adherents, who are brought together by a love of the irreverent and the anomalous.
Devivals: Devivals are SubGenius revivals, events that parody religious services while remaining unique celebrations brimming with performance, ranting sermons, music, and art. They are designed to re-energise the spirit of “Slack” within participants and ridicule the solemnity often found in traditional religious gatherings. At Devivals, one can expect to see preaching by SubGenius clerics, bizarre rituals, and live performances, all skewering the self-importance of structured religious worship (Cusack 2018).
X-Day Celebrations: One of the most significant rituals in the SubGenius calendar is the celebration of X-Day. As previously mentioned, X-Day was originally predicted to be the apocalypse for non-SubGeniuses and a day of salvation for the Church members. Each year, leading up to July 5, SubGeniuses gather to commemorate this ongoing non-event. The gatherings are filled with performances, mock proselytising, and tongue-in-cheek doomsday prophecies, culminating in collective countdowns that revel in the anti-climax of another survived year (Cusack 2018).
The Salute: As several secret organisations, SubGenii recognise each other by an official greeting. This “salute” is performed by raising one’s left hand and placing the right hand on one’s throat, uttering a vocal sound transcribed as “Eyiyiyi yah-e-e” or “Iyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi” (or another derivative) by juggling the vocal chords up and down. The sound is originating from vintage Warner Brothers cartoons and is usually heard when a character finds one’s self in a situation of sudden danger, for example, while Wile E. Coyote is running too fast, suddenly realises there is no firm ground underneath. For a split second, gravitation rules do not persist until the realisation (signalled by the sound) comes, rules come into application, and the character falls into the void, only to continue their Sisyphean quest.
Short Duration Personal Saviors (ShorDurPerSav): As part of the Church’s doctrine to evade the grasp of The Conspiracy, SubGeniuses are encouraged to find or invent a series of temporary personal saviors (SubGenius Foundation 1983). This ritual practice enables members to focus their devotion or blame on a rotating cast of characters and concepts. This could be as nonsensical as declaring a toaster as one’s savior for a day or as pointed as satirising a political figure. This ritual emphasises the ephemerality of fixation and the humour in devotion to anything less Slack-filled than “Bob”.
Short Duration Marriage (ShorDurMar): Within the Church of the SubGenius lexicon, ShorDurMar (Short Duration Marriage) is a ritual that satirically nods to matrimonial practices by facilitating temporary marriages for an explicitly brief period. The duration may vary based on the participants’ whim, emphasising the SubGenius dictum of personal liberty and the pursuit of immediate Slack. Unlike the traditional lifelong commitment, ShorDurMar is the Church’s irreverent answer to the fleeting nature of some relationships, yet it is celebrated with a semblance of ceremony and festivity SubGenius Foundation 1983). Ordained ministers of the Church, who are virtually any member that has paid a nominal fee for ministerial status, are eligible to officiate these ceremonies. These unions are not recognised legally at a universal level and in various regions hold no official validity outside the Church; being thus reduced to purely performative and parodic gestures representative of the Church’s subversive spirit. Upon membership acquisition, new members receive information about the latest updates as to which States in the US are recognising ShorDurMars.
The Rant: The Rant is a ritual practice where SubGenii let loose a stream of consciousness diatribe, often live before an audience SubGenius Website 2014). This is an important outlet for expressing frustrations with the world or The Conspiracy. For SubGeniuses, The Rant is both therapeutic and performative, an act of purging pinkness while entertaining their peers with impassioned vehemence.
Confessionals and ‘Frop Sanctuaries: The Church hosts parody confessionals where members air out not sins, but rather instances where they feel The Conspiracy may have gotten the best of them, where they inadvertently lost their Slack, or simply share absurd stories from their lives. (SubGenius Foundation 1983). This practice might be coupled with enjoying the sanctity of the Church’s “sacred herb” known as “’Frop,” which is facetiously claimed to be a powerful mind-altering substance, adding to the experiential aspect of these confessionals. ‘Frop, short for “habafropzipulops mariphasa lupina” is the herb that according to SubGenius cosmology only grows in Tibet or Dobbstown, Malaysia, where “Bob” has received his mystical indoctrination. ‘Frop is said to be grown by, and blooming in, moonlight while is consumption is associated with “Bob”’s grin, although there are multiple views within the Church as to whether “Bob”’s pipe has ‘Frop as its content (SubGenius Foundation 1983).
Ordinations, Cynisacreligion, and the Ministerial Hierarchy: The Church of the SubGenius allows members to become ordained ministers after paying a nominal fee (see also below). This process, in and of itself, is a ritual that pokes fun at the ease of achieving religious status in some circles. Once ordained, members are free to take on ecclesiastical duties and invent their religious hierarchy and title within the Church, hosting their events and contributing to the ever-expanding Slack of the universe (SubGenius Foundation 1983). Exercising the practice of inventing a religion forms an act of “cynisacreligion,” a devotional faith to cynicism and sacrilege that is dogmatically opposing any dogma including its own. Cynisacreligion is itself one of the Forbidden Sciences revealed to “Bob” in Malaysia.
“Bobtisms”: A riff on traditional baptisms, “Bobtisms” are SubGenius initiation and purification rituals. Rather than solemnly sprinkling holy water, Bobtisms involve dousing new members with beer or other preferred beverages, symbolising their cleansing from the seriousness of a conspiracy-ridden world SubGenius Foundation 1983).
Puzzling Evidence and Disbelief: A unique practice of the Church is embracing the concept of “Puzzling Evidence,” which involves the collection and often public display of the bizarre, incongruent, or unexplained phenomena. It is a ritualistic reinforcement of the Church’s view that the world is stranger than any traditional religion acknowledges (SubGenius Foundation 1983). Coupled with this practice is the ritual of disbelief, wherein SubGeniuses are encouraged to question everything, even (and especially) the tenets of their own Church, ensuring a culture of perpetual skepticism and reflection. Puzzling Evidence is also the pseudonym of a SubGenius member who has been active as an artist for the Church and SubGenius-related content creator on the YouTube platform under the same moniker.
Dobbshead Iconography: The image of “Bob” serves as a central icon in many rituals. Whether the Dobbshead is printed on materials, worn, or displayed during gatherings, it serves as a rallying point for shared consciousness and group identity. The act of creating Dobbshead art is itself a form of ritualised expression within the Church, allowing members to materially connect to the abstract concept of Slack SubGenius Foundation 1983). This and the above rituals (such as ‘frop ceremonies) are all further associated with opening of SubGenii’s “third nostrils,” as opposed to the more widely discussed more-or-less metaphorical concept of the “third eye.” Dobbsheads have appeared in various circumstances and unexpected places, in the form of street art or video references (a notable example is the short appearance of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs’s head in one episode of the cartoon series SpongeBob SquarePants) while the creator’s affiliation to the Church has not been confirmed.
Anointment of the Luck Plane: The Church teaches of different planes of existence, one being the “Luck Plane,” from which SubGenii can draw positive fortunes. Certain rituals involve activities designed to increase one’s attunement to the Luck Plane, such as gambling, risk-taking, or the pursuit of odd coincidences, with a jovial acknowledgment of the arbitrary nature of luck itself (SubGenius Foundation 1994). One can enter the Luck Plane by meditating on “Bob”’s smile, pipe, or eyes. It is almost synonymous with the opening of one’s third nostril (SubGenius Foundation 1994).
In reflecting on the rituals and practices of the Church of the SubGenius, it becomes evident that they are crafted to defy traditional religious orthodoxy while creating a space for community, parody, and creative expression. Through these practices, the Church continues to tread the fine line between humour and heresy, offering a release from the unyielding seriousness of conventional religious observance and from the burdens levied by societal norms.
ORGANIZATION/LEADERSHIP
The Church of the SubGenius, in keeping with its satirical nature, takes a playful and intentionally convoluted approach to organisational structure and leadership (Robertson 2016). The organisation defines itself with a pseudo-hierarchical framework that parodies established religious institutions, yet at the same time operates as a decentralised entity that largely empowers its members to define their roles within the church.
Leadership and Titles: The Church’s pseudo-hierarchy is crowned by the figurehead of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, signified as the “High Epopt” or “Living Slack Master.” However, since Dobbs is a fictional character, the operational leadership historically fell to the original founders: Ivan Stang, also known as Reverend Ivan Stang, and Philo Drummond, also styled as Reverend Doctor Philo Drummond. These titles themselves are lampoons of formal religious designations, highlighting the Church’s approach to spoofing the trappings of organised religion while engaging a serious critique of it. All formal memberships of ordainment are signed by both “Bob” and Stang.
Other leaders within the Church often take on grandiose titles that they either create themselves or are humourously bestowed. These self-styled designations, ranging from hyperbolic religious appellations to absurdly bureaucratic monikers, reflect the Church’s encouragement of individual expression and autonomy. For instance, a member might choose to identify as a “Doktor [sic] of the Forbidden Sciences,” a “Saint of Slack,” or more bureaucratically, a “Divine Liaison of Celestial Ministries.” Ordainment packages contain a certificate of one’s doktorate [sic] of the Forbidden Sciences, thus extending to every member the knowledge acquired by “Bob” during his own mystical ordainment in Tibet and Malaysia.
System of Titles: The system of selecting one’s own title is a hallmark of the Church that confers instant “ministerial” status upon any member willing to pay the membership fee, which includes ordination. The process is intentionally devoid of formal vetting or qualifications, underscoring the Church’s challenge to the legitimacy of ecclesiastical authority structures. Once ordained, members are encouraged to adopt or invent titles that resonate with their personal interests or humour, be it reverends, doctors, or any creative variation thereof (Holland and Smith 1992).
This system also serves to mock the commercialism and ease with which religious titles can be obtained in the real world, further blurring the lines between genuine belief systems and the SubGenius’ crafted “anti-religion,” akin to early 20th century “anti-art” movements such as Dadaism (cf. “Bulldada” above) (Robertson 2016, Kirby 2012).
Membership: Becoming a member of the Church of the SubGenius primarily involves paying a membership fee, which symbolically represents a transactional mockery of salvation (Holland and Smith 1992). [Image at right] In exchange for this fee, new members receive an ordination package that includes a membership card, an official minister’s card, and various Church literature (pamphlets, stickers, doctrinal information, and more). The price varies according to financial periods, and by the time writing it surmounts to fifty U.S. dollars.
The promise of membership is multifaceted. On one hand, the Church offers a belief-based promise of ‘Slack,’ freedom from the constraints and illusions perpetuated by ‘The Conspiracy,’ and salvation aboard the Pleasure Saucers of the X-ists come X-Day. On the other hand, the actual deliverable is the immediate entitlement to the Church’s cultural cache, including its unique lexicon, a sense of belonging within a community of like-minded nonconformists, and the empowerment to perform SubGenius rituals and ceremonies (Cusack 2016; SubGenius Foundation 1994).
Belief Promises and Practical Benefits: From a belief perspective, members are summoned to embrace the Church’s enigmatic and paradoxical doctrines, chiefly the pursuit of ‘Slack,’ opposition to ‘The Conspiracy,’ and a life lived in ironic contradiction to mainstream norms. The supposed benefits are largely intangible and spiritually ironic, including the possibility of escaping the mundanity of conventional existence and being whisked away by the alien X-ists. Notably, members with bought memberships are promised to receive “eternal salvation of triple [their] money back” – while salvation is associated with the mystical connection between the payee/ordained member’s bank account and “Bob”’s wallet (SubGenius Foundation 1983).
Practically, members are promised a variety of materials upon joining that are part-cultural artefacts and part-instructional manuals for participating in SubGenius life. These can include the Church’s sacred scripture, “The Book of the SubGenius,” and its sequels, as well as access to member-exclusive online fora and discounts on Church merchandise.
SubGenius groups and events are also a significant benefit, providing avenues for networking and camaraderie among members. The Church’s gatherings offer opportunities to engage in collective practices and celebrations and experience the communal aspect of SubGenius culture. Moreover, and as mentioned above, due to the ordinances that make every paid member an ordained minister, believers are given the ironic ability to perform legal wedding ceremonies in many places that recognise the Church’s ordinations as valid.
The Church’s official website serves as the central hub for all things SubGenius. It’s the digital “pamphlet” where the curious and faithful alike can dive into the lore, mythos, and satirical teachings of the Church. Packed with information on the organisation’s history, doctrines, rituals, and an oft-updated repository of resources, the website also functions as a gateway for new memberships, ordinations, and a catalogue for Church merchandise. Easy to navigate yet brimming with insider humour, the Internet presence is reflective of the Church’s ability to adapt to modern mediums of communication while retaining its foundational kitsch (Logan 1998). It should be noted that the Church has taken advantage of the Internet’s earlier days of participatory communication through USENET, notably through thealt.binaries.slack newsgroup archived on the website (SubGenius website n.d.).
Hour of Slack Radio Show and Podcast: One of the most venerable methods of outreach has been the “Hour of Slack”, a radio program that has been produced and hosted by Reverend Ivan Stang since 1985. This show is a blend of sermons, music, rants, and comedic sketches or radio plays that encapsulate the spirit of the Church. Initially broadcast via radio, “Hour of Slack” has since transitioned into the podcast format as well, making it accessible to a global audience. Through this platform, Stang and a cavalcade of other SubGenius personalities share updates, insights, and the inherently absurdist humour of the Church with listeners, keeping the community connected and informed (https://www.subgenius.com/ts/hos.html).
Bandcamp Account and Music Compilations: Understanding the importance of music in culture and connection and involving several musicians since its early years, the Church of the SubGenius also maintains a Bandcamp account where they feature compilations of songs by SubGenius members. This creative outlet allows the members not only to share their musical endeavours but also to contribute to the soundscape of the Church, further diversifying the ways in which the message of “Slack” and satire can be spread. The musical compilations range from the outlandish to the profound, often punctuated with the esoteric humour that characterises the Church’s identity. The Bandcamp webpage offers another direct way for members to support the Church by purchasing streamable and downloadable albums in digital format while becoming directly familiarised with numerous prominent SubGenius members such as Little Fyodor and Reverend Bleepo Abernathy, or SubGenius bands such as Einstein’s Secret Orchestra, Collins Kids/Media Sapiens, Buck Naked, Andrew the Impaled, Reverend Suzie the Floozey, and Mutant Mountain Boys. An accessible entry into the SubGenius history and world-system is the ‘Ballad of J.R. “Bob” Dobbs’ as performed by Dr. Ahmed Fishmonger. Several of these musicians have followed a musical career not directly related to their SubGenius identities, while the Church prides itself for being name checked a few times by eccentric musical pioneer Frank Zappa, although Zappa himself was not a member.
Dobbstown Mirror Magazine: For the more print-inclined followers, the Church publishes “The Dobbstown Mirror,” a magazine that offers a compendium of articles, artwork, and musings reflective of the SubGenius philosophy. [Image at right] It harks back to zine culture and offers a tangible piece of SubGenius culture, accepting contributions from any member and subscriber. Subscription to the magazine can be purchased through Patreon’s member-based subscription model and patreons enter in direct communication with Reverend Onan Canobite who is, by the time writing, chiefly responsible for the magazine’s editorial process
Member-Only Discord Channel and Other Social Media: In line with keeping up with the digital age, the Church of the SubGenius has embraced the interactive platform Discord by offering a member-only channel. This virtual space allows for real-time communication among the Church’s members, fostering a community that spans geographical boundaries. Here, members can engage in discussions, share media, orchestrate online events, and support each other in their quests for “Slack.” It is in this virtual meeting ground that ideas are exchanged, camaraderie is built, and the Church’s countercultural spirit is bolstered. The SubGenius Foundation has its own Mastodon domain and representations across most well-known (or lesser-known) social media platforms, while individual members upload several videos on YouTube or images on Instagram. PuzzlingEvidenceTV is a great example of a historical member’s YouTube channel devoted to SubGenius material, while the following YouTube list, curated by another member (and author of the present text) contains seven musical videos that may act as a good audio introduction to the Church’s lore.
Further Media Available for Members and Non-Members: The Church of the SubGenius website offers a host of items for individuals to purchase, from books and pamphlets to CDs and DVDs. By the time writing, the most recent addition, and with a friendly nod Discordianism, is the SubGenius Foundation’s publication of the collected “Jailbird: The Dreadlock Recollections,” one-shot edition of Discordianism co-founder Kerry Wendell Thornley’s memoir as “second-patsy” in the assassination of John F. Kennedy collecting further texts about Discordianism and an informative introduction by Stang and Reverend Onan Canobite.
ISSUES/CHALLENGES
The Church of the SubGenius, by virtue of its satirical and subversive nature, has navigated through a series of issues, challenges, and controversies throughout its existence. While the Church portrays itself with a veneer of facetious irreverence, it has not been wholly immune to the internal and external problems that befall both genuine religious groups and social movements.
Perception and Misunderstanding: Given its satire of religious culture, one of the key challenges the Church of the SubGenius has faced is the potential for misinterpretation. Outsiders have occasionally misconstrued the organisation as a genuine doomsday cult, particularly due to its emphasis on the apocalyptic X-Day. Jokes about conspiracies, alien invaders, and elaborate narratives about battling the mediocrity of mainstream society could easily be taken at face value by those unfamiliar with the Church’s modus operandi. This has sometimes led to undesired scrutiny from law enforcement or mainstream religious groups who misunderstand the Church’s parodic intent.
Literal Believers and Schisms: Despite its foundation as a parody, the Church of the SubGenius has sometimes had to address the issue of members who adopt its doctrines more literally than intended. According to the 2019 documentary (Boone 2019), there have been instances where some followers, perhaps drawn by the community and the sense of belonging, begin to blur the distinction between humour and earnest belief. This has led to some degree of schism, where factions within the Church may splinter based on differing interpretations of what the Church should represent: some more comedic, others more earnestly critical of society, and some a blend of both. There is a further perceived and declared schism which serves as part of the Church’s pro-schism approach, between Ivangelicals (led by Rev. Ivan Stang) and Holocaustals (initially led by Papa Joe Mama, and then by Dr. K’Taden Legume) and relates to the fate of humans after X-Day. For Ivangelicals, pink boys/normal humans who will survive the X-Day have to be enslaved by and serve the SubGenii species, while the Holocaustals suggest they should be completely exterminated.
The SubGenius mock dogma is prone to personal interpretations, sometimes resulting in conflicting internal narratives about the direction and purpose of the Church. The fluidity of the Church’s theology allows for a spectrum of belief, but this same flexibility has led to varying degrees of existential contention within its ranks.
The Church also has elicited controversy with its unapologetic mockery of sacred cows, courting challenges from those who do not appreciate or recognise its critiques’ satirical nature. Its use of religious parody, especially the spoofing of Christianity and other established religions, has led to accusations of blasphemy or sacrilege. The irreverent treatment of deeply held beliefs sometimes places the Church in the crosshairs of public debate over the limits of free speech and religious satire.
Furthermore, the Church’s iconography and literature deliberately provoke. This audacity has put the SubGenius in the position of answering public concerns and media inquiries about the intent and content of its materials, often needing to clarify the difference between earnest hatred and satirical commentary on counterculture.
Artwork and Copyright: Allied to this, with the exception of the initially collaged “Dobbshead” originating from the aforementioned 1950s book for salesmen, SubGenius artwork is original, with artists being commissioned to create intentionally vintage-like looking material that is copyrighted (a notable example is the artistry of Paul Mavrides who illustrated a large proportion of the Book of the SubGenius and Revelation X) (Kirby 2012). However, as Stang declared in the documentary, several people, including members, consider the entirety of this material collaged and tend to reuse them without permission (Boone 2019). Nevertheless, legal permissions about artistic content reuse are themselves an issue of controversy within Church members.
Sustainability and Membership: In terms of sustainability, the question arises whether the Church can maintain its membership numbers over time, especially as its foundational generation ages. Given that the Church’s appeal lies in its ability to attract those with alternative, often subversive, worldviews, it faces the challenge of remaining relevant to newer generations who might not share the same cultural reference points as its founders. The changing landscape of humour, parody, and social engagement has required the Church to continuously evolve to maintain its appeal.
Additionally, the ephemeral nature of the membership, where followers are often drawn by novelty more than a lasting doctrinal commitment, means retention can be a challenge. The membership experience is predicated on a sense of countercultural community, but as societal norms change, the church needs to balance its identity to remain at the vanguard of subversion.
Internal Governance: Issues within the internal governance of the Church also mirror those of other organisations. Leadership succession and the direction of the Church’s mission can be contentious. While Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond have been central figures, the question of how to sustain leadership without diluting the Church’s unique ethos has been an ongoing discussion. The less formalised structure of the Church is both a strength and a weakness, creating a versatile and adaptable organisation but also leaving room for ambiguity regarding its administrative future.
Technological Advancements and the Internet: With the rise of the Internet, the Church has found both a boon and a battleground. While the Web has allowed for broader dissemination of SubGenius teachings and easier gathering of like-minded individuals, it has also necessitated the Church’s doctrinal adaptation to a world where countercultural and conspiratorial material is more commonplace and with practical (often lethal) effects. Therefore, the Church may have to position itself more strongly as to the endorsement or not of several conspiratorial statements which would otherwise serve as a springboard for playful ambiguity (Logan 1998; Boone 2019).
External Conflicts: Externally, the Church must contend with a society that may alternately embrace it as a symbol of freedom of expression or vilify it. Certain social and political climates may view the Church’s existence as an affront, increasing the tension between its members and the public and authorities – a situation similar to other religions of this kind, such as Discordianism and Pastafarianism.
The Church of the SubGenius thus wades through a unique blend of issues, challenges, and controversies that test the boundaries of religious satire. The complexities of sustaining a parody religion in an ever-changing cultural landscape, addressing divisions among its followers, and grappling with misconceptions and external pressures create a dynamic environment where the Church must navigate cautiously. It stands as a testament to the volatile interplay between belief, scepticism, and the enduring need for critical humour in the examination of societal norms. Whether it can maintain its membership and influence will depend on its ability to adapt and continue resonating with those who seek an alternative to mainstream religiosity and its accompanying orthodoxies.
IMAGES
Image #1: J.R. “Bob” Dobbs.
Image #2: Connie” Dobbs.
Image #3: Reverend Ivan Stang and Reverend Philo Drummond.
Image #4: Church of SubGenius depiction of salvation.
Image #5: Dobbstown Mirror Magazine
REFERENCES
Boone, S. K. 2019. “Slacking Towards Bethlehem: J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius.” Documentary. Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Qcnuk-w7k on 10 February 2024.
Church of the SubGenius website. 2024. Accessed from https://www.subgenius.com/ on 24 January 2024.
Cusack, Carole M. 2018. “Celebrating With the Church of the SubGenius: X-Day Rituals of Bad Taste, Burning ‘Bob’, and the End of the World (Not). Enjoying religion.” Pp. 147-64. Accessed from https://www.academia.edu/download/50513323/CUSACK_Celebrate_With_the_Church_of_the_SubGenius_PRE-PUBLICATION.pdf on 02 February 2024.
Cusack, Carole M. 2016. Invented Religions: Imagination, fiction and faith. Londona: Routledge.
Cusack, Carole M. 2015. “The Messiah is a Salesman, Yet Consumerism is a Con(spiracy) The Church of the SubGenius, Work, and the Pursuit of Slack as a Spiritual Ideal. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 19:49-64. Accessed from https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article-abstract/19/2/49/71148 on 02 February 2024 on 10 February 2024.
Kirby, Danielle. 2012. “Occultural Bricolage and Popular Culture: Remix and Art in Discordianism, the Church of the SubGenius, and the Temple of Psychick Youth.” Pp. 47-57 in the Handbook of Hyper-Real Religions, edited by Adam Possamai. Leiden: Brill.
Logan, Richard. 1998. “Cults on the Internet.” (文学部紀要=). Bulletin of the Faculty of Language and Literature 11:53-165. Accessed from https://bunkyo.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=1053&item_no=1&attribute_id=37&file_no=1 on 02 February 2024.
Robertson, David. 2016. “SubGenius vs The Conspiracy: playfulness and sincerity in invented religions.” Pp. 212-26 in Fiction, Invention and Hyper-reality, edited by Carole M. Cusack and Pavol Kosnáč. London: Routledge.
Stang, Ivan. 2006. The SubGenius Psychlopaedia of Slack: The Bobliographon. New York: The SubGenius FoundatioSubGenius Foundation, 1994. Revelation X: The “Bob” Apocryphon. New York: The SubGenius Foundation.
SubGenius Foundation. 1983. The Book of the SubGenius. New York: The SubGenius Foundation.
Church of SubGenius website. n.d. Accessed from https://www.subgenius.com/ on 10 February 2024.
Publication Date:
11 February 2024
