As an ex-cultie, I must say that the Church of the Subgenius is awesome! Then again, I am a fan of RAW and those of his ilk.





Praise "Bob"!

RobotSquid, TFI would NOT be "an ideal religion for swingers/etc who were looking for some kind of theology that backed up their lifestyle", because there are so many more aspects to the family that outsiders and xer's don't discuss as much for one reason or another (borning, or delving too much into theology) and there is an ultimate giving up of oneself and one's hopes, dreams and ideals when in the family. it's not all about sex (altho how they view "sharing" might appeal to swingers) but that may be about it. you said chosing that "rather than the usual run where a theology demands some kind of personal sacrifice"... there is SO MUCH PERSONAL SACRIFICE involved in being in the family.

and no, you probably wouldn't notice them if they were where you lived. they're very security concious about letting strangers know. they usually go into town to go witnessing. and they don't sexually mix with the outside world. very strict about that. they don't want aids in the group (yet there's a lot of VD like herpes). it's certainly NOT a "Convenient religion that supports and encourages whatever lifestyle they choose to live",, it's a lifestyle that the leadership impose. it's not about the sex thing, since you asked, it IS about, give us all your money for our missionaries (AKA rent).

Cookie - That's a sobering response.. Makes a lot more sense than what I was considering.

I didn't realize the sexual side was all "inside only" - I thought the whole flirty-fishing thing was aimed at outsiders.

What a strange racket, overall.. The seeming success is mind boggling.

It's 2007, you'd think people would "know better" by now.. Although I've talked to young people who've never heard of Jim Jones or the People's Temple.

It seems to me that the concept of "cult" - if not the definition alone - is slowly fading in our language. Here in the U.S. anyway. Aside from the fiasco at WACO, which was years ago, I don't even hear it on the news anymore.

Kind of scary in a 1984 newspeak sort of way..

I seem to recall something from my youth - the difference between a "cult" and a bona fide "religion" being simply a matter of numbers (as in believers). I can't place this bit of rhetoric, but I know i've at least read it somewhere (as well as heard other people regurgitate it).

I personally don't agree with it - but I wonder if this is the governing rule that dictates what a cult is.

I also at one point read/heard that the Church of Mormon -- or was it the Scientologists themselves? bought the group CultWatch and removed themselves from their list.

Urban Folklore? I don't know.. I tried looking this up in google this morning but I couldn't find out anything solid (lots of references to a group called "CultWatch" but I couldn't tell who the "real" CultWatch was- the term is used a LOT across different religious sites).

I could be confusing the facts and the real story is that (whoever) bought the DOMAIN NAME "cultwatch" when some other (more reputable group) lost their lease on the name.. [if you know what i'm talking about here - please clarify!]

WHAT EVER THE CASE, the jumpy, almost paranoid level of Cult Awareness that I grew up with in the 70s and 80s seems not only completely gone now, but completely reversed: Everything and Anything you believe now is OK. All paths lead to "God". Yada Yada Yada.

I'm not saying I want the superstitions of the 700 Club's Golden Years to be ruling again (those were hard times for a kid into Dungeons and Dragons and satanic-lyric-riddled backmasked rock music), but there doesn't seem to be any middle/rational ground here.

It's like "Hey! Good news! there's no more cults anymore! Believe what ever you like, we won't say it's wrong, because that'd make us look mean, and we don't want to get sued!" or something..

lol. I don't know.

You may be thinking of the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), which was bought by the Scientologists and is now run by them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_Awareness_Network

Flirty Fishing WAS aimed at people outside the Family during the 1970s and early 1980s. The group's leadership restricted all sexual sharing to members in the late 1980s due to the spread of HIV and other STDs among group members. Since the Family now practices something called "marriage of the generations," the spread of certain STDs (such as herpes) occurs between younger and older members, who picked up the viruses through FFing back in the day.

What people choose to believe is one thing; how they choose to live is another. A term that is less values-laden than "cult" that is coming into greater use these days is "high demand organization."

Fake religions like SubGenius are really cool, since the fake's conscious (and funny) it's not dangerous like xFamily or whatever, even if it does attract sexy people too.