Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com
Subject: BOARDWATCH BLASTS ULC
Message-ID: <9511140738.0AQ8F00@support.com>
Organization: L.A. Valley College Public BBS (818)985-7150
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Distribution: world
Date: Tue, 14 Nov 95 07:38:13 -0800
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dmcclain@runet.edu (Dennis McClain-Furmanski)

Modemac (modemac@netcom.com) wrote:
>: Evidently the editors of "Boardwatch" magazine have got a VERY short
>: temper when it comes to religion, especially away-from-the-mainstream
>: religions such as the Church of the SubGenius or the Universal Life
>: Church.  After viciously blasting Scientology for its raid on Dennis
>: Erlich a couple of months ago, the magazine has now put forth an equally
>: venemous rant.  The primary target of this spiel seems to be the
>: Universal Life Church, but the mention of other sects in the piece
>: suggests that their intent is to flame far more than the ULC.

Dennis:
>Their editor -- singular. And they're proud of his vitriol. Can't say I
>blame them. He's good. Here's the response I just faxed (they dodn't put
>an e-mail address anywhere on their web site).
>
>=====
>
>Sirs,
>
>In regards to your recent editorial concerning the Universal Life Church, I
>wish to request corrections of some very pertinent facts regarding the Church
>of the SubGenius. First, our founder and spiritual leader, the man with the
>pipe, is J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, not Reverend Bob. The latter is a Dallas comedian.
>Second, the name is SubGenius, not sub-genius as per your editorial.
>
>As to the seriousness of our church, we have been operating for fifteen
>years, and in that time published four books, over 500 radio shows broadcast
>weekly on 17 stations, as well as several independent spin-off shows on other
>stations. We have produced television specials, one of which was shown
>repeatedly on MTV, and have a new one being released presently in Norway. We
>have over 3,000 registered ordained ministers, and have outreach ministries
>in Japan, Australia and several European countries. These are not the
>activities of a joke. Nor would a joke be investigated by the FBI, an
>investigation which turned up no evidence or even suspicion of wrong
>doing or un-American activity.
>
>While much of our teachings are couched in humorous content, this is done as
>a means of preventing our faith from being improperly repeated. It takes
>dedicated reading to discern our intent, and those who merely peruse the
>artwork will miss the point. This is intentional. Despite frequent
>misidentifications by some such as yourselves, our artwork has been used by
>many in the entertainment industry as iconic reference. Two notable instances
>are on the set of David Letterman's show, and the recent movie "Hackers".
>These uses of our artwork are frequently uncredited, but are allowed with our
>favor none the less. This is our contribution to American society.
>
>Most salient to your editorial, our church has seen fit to pay its taxes
>honestly and consistently throughout its existence. This has been a major
>tenet of our faith and is adhered to rigorously. The records of this are
>available at our headquarters. Many of our ministers, such as myself, refuse
>even payment or reimbursement for our travel and lodging when we are called
>to minister at far away gatherings. I myself even insist on paying the same
>admission fee as any ticket holder, even when I am a speaker.
>
>In searching for justification for your assertions, you unfairly categorized
>us with those whom we strive diligently to
>differentiate ourselves from -- particularly tax evaders. Given our
>purposeful efforts to remain on what we maintain is the lawful side of
>existence as an American institution, we feel it only fair to request
>retraction of your generalizations which do us injustice.
>
>Respectfully,
>
>Rev. Dennis McClain-Furmanski
>Church of the SubGenius,
>Clench of the One True Pipe Dream,
>Radford, VA, USA
>
>=====
>
>Whatdya think, sirs?
 
    Very well put.
    
    This could be routed one of two ways for approval and 
    permission to distribute:

    - to Stang and up to the Pipe

    - to arsCC                   
      
    Where do I sign?  Oh ... right here!
                                  /
                                /
                              /
                              
            +--------------------------------------+
           Rev. Dennis L Erlich  * * the inFormer * *
      dennis.l.erlich@support.com  +  inForm@primenet.com
                           "tar baby"