# Church of the SubGenius **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [February 28, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678 "2000-02-28T19:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rev.Ivan\_Stang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5daacb/32.png) [@Rev.Ivan\_Stang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rev.Ivan_Stang)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678/1 "2000-02-28T19:21:00Z")
Your minion said: "Philosophically, the church owes it’s origin to the Discordian movement of the late 60’s and 70’s. The first pamphlet of the Church (“The World ends tomorrow and You may Die!”) reads a lot like the “bible” of Discordianism, “The Principia Discordia.” In fact, as Stang wrote in an e-mail to this author, “The only difference I’ve been able to see between Discordians and SubGeniuses, is that SubGeniuses get laid.” “Sadly, though, there are some who believe that Stang has gone around the bend and has started really believing his own joke.” Joke? I don’t understand. What joke? They were talking about the Church of the SubGenius and then they refer to some “joke.” …? Just to get the record straight, I did not see the Principia Discordia or even know of it until a few months after the SubGenius Pamphlet #1 was printed in Jan. 1980. Actually, I had seen references to it in Wilson and Shea’s ILLUMINATUS trilogy, but I assumed it was as made-up as everything else in that book. The Church of the SubGenius DOES owe a great debt to Robert Anton Wilson and the late Robert Shea for their incomprehensible, yet incredibly comprehensive, book. If somebody is “sad” about me believing my own jokes, eh… maybe you should consider the source. The same persons might have been quietly embarrassed when they saw that movie about Andy Kaufman. Some have to be hit over the head with the concept of “conceptual.” If you replace the word “sadly” with the word “hilariously”… well, I guess it would still be sad. Besides, “BOB” will SLAY all the UNBELIEVERS, and also those who think WRESTLING is fake, too! P.S. “Bob” never dropped the J.R. from his name, as your writer says. C’mon, even TIME magazine kept the J.R. when they grudgingly admitted he’d been voted Fraud of the Century on their online poll. You guys don’t want to look LESS reliable than TIME – and TIME claimed that “Bob” was just an invented, fictitious character! SHEESH!! ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2000, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678/2 "2000-02-28T21:10:00Z")
That minion was Eutys, and I guess that was this [mailbag answer](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbob.html) about Subgenius. I’m glad that you, Ivan Stang, have laid to rest the rumor that you believe in your own joke. I think we should leave it as an exercise for the reader whether it is the ‘belief’ or the ‘humor’ that you deny. That’d fix 'em, sad though they be. * * * rocks ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678/3 "2000-03-03T06:33:00Z")
Euty might have expected this kind of griping if he had offended the Servants of Cthulhu, but I thought you guys were into giving people a little slack. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2000, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678/4 "2000-03-03T13:49:00Z")
I read into the Church of the SubGenius. It was a very funny joke. Would you like to hear my opinion of people that know only one joke and won’t quit repeating it over and over and over again? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678/5 "2000-03-05T11:57:00Z")
Hmmm… If I get sick of being a Discordian, I can be a SubGenius? Well, I dunno about Bob Dobbs. Perhaps in truth there are many Bobs, as there are many dogs. Still… If I get sick of being a Discordian (admittedly, an anarcho-authoritarian, trans-syntheto-Eristic, \Green\ disco-Accordian) I can be SubGenius? How about SuperGenius? 😃 * * * I miss my html. _and_ I’m a member of the _Monarchist_ political party. ---
**Author:** ![Moose\_and\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Moose\_and\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moose_and_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2000, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678/6 "2000-03-24T21:27:00Z")
I bought the Church of the Subgenius book way back when and tried to read it. I got about 3 pages into it, then had to give up, as my brains began to leak out my ears… ---
**Author:** ![xekul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/838e76/32.png) [@xekul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xekul)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/church-of-the-subgenius/1678/7 "2000-04-05T23:23:00Z")
Hail Eris. * * * ``You’re just an empty cage girl if you kill the bird.’’ – Tori Amos.