From: Modemac <modemac@modemac.com>
Newsgroups: alt.slack,sci.skeptic,alt.paranormal,alt.alien.visitors,alt.gossip.celebrities
Followup-To: alt.slack,alt.paranormal
Date: Tue, Dec 31, 2002 6:09 AM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: The SubGenius Foundation, Inc., http://www.subgenius.com/
Fax: (216) 320-9528
jesus@subgenius.com, stang@subgenius.com
UFO CULT GATHERS IN NEW YORK FOR APOCALYPSE
AUSTIN, Texas, December 31, 2002: The Church of the
SubGenius has
announced that the end of the world will take place
on Saturday, July
5, 2003. In preparation for the fulfillment of this
doomsday prophecy,
the Church is requesting that all of its members participate
in a
bizarre religious ceremony taking place in upstate New
York, during
the final weekend before the arrival of the apocalypse.
Since its inception in 1953, Church founder J.R. "Bob"
Dobbs has
predicted that a fleet of flying saucers will arrive
at the beginning
of July to destroy the worldwide Conspiracy against
the Church of the
SubGenius, while all ordained SubGenius ministers will
be rescued by
escape vessels piloted by the Alien Sex Goddesses, also
known as the
Xists.
The Church is inviting all of its members worldwide
to gather together
for the final hours in Sherman, New York from July 2
to July 6, at a
clothing-optional outdoor campground called Brushwood
Folklore Center.
The first gathering at this compound took place in 1996,
and the event
has increased in size and participants each following
year. 1998 was
designated the first true "X-Day," and each
successive year has added
one to the total. This year's celebration in 2003 is
X-Day 6, or
X-Day VI.
The Church has been engaged in a massive recruitment
campaign to
increase the numbers of its membership before the arrival
of the
Xists. According to Church records, the organization
currently has
approximately 100,000 members worldwide. SubGenius recruitment
has
been especially dedicated among the ranks of people
who refuse to
conform to the norms of society, including disbelievers,
blasphemers,
pranksters, rebels, hackers, pornographers, geeks, and
outcasts.
The Church is seeking performers and producers from
the adult
entertainment industry in particular, because sexual
freedom has been
an important part of Church doctrine from the start.
X-Day will be a
celebration of pornography and adult entertainment,
and certain parts
of the event will be restricted to adults only. Only
ordained
ministers of the Church of the SubGenius are allowed
at the event, but
the Church is accepting memberships at its standard
rate of $30 up
until the final hours of July 4.
The Church stresses that no one is REQUIRED to perform
at X-Day,
including the professional entertainers invited to the
event. All
participants will be encouraged to take part on a voluntary
basis, and
no one is required to do anything. The event can be
seen as a weekend
of rest and relaxation for anyone who wants to travel
to X-Day and
observe the events; though audience participation is
encouraged.
The Church of the SubGenius has been no stranger to
controversy since
its foundation, and the upcoming X-Day celebration promises
to be no
different. In the late 1980s, members of the Church
were accused of
spreading a virus in Macintosh computers known as the
"Peace Virus."
Numerous articles have been written on the Church in
such noteworthy
publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post,
Wired Online,
the Boston Globe, U.S. News and World Report; broadcast
reports have
been produced by CNN and NPR. In April 1999, officials
of the city of
Cambridge, Massachusetts shut down an official SubGenius
Devival
gathering in the belief that the Church was affiliated
with the
Trenchcoat Mafia (the organization blamed for the Columbine
high
school shootings), though authorities later realized
the association
was mistaken. In its January 1, 2000 issue, a "Time"
magazine poll
declared J.R. "Bob" Dobbs the biggest fraud
of the 20th century.
Detailed information about X-Day can be found on the
World Wide Web at
the X-Day Web site:
http://www.modemac.com/x-day
The official home page of the Church of the SubGenius can be found at:
http://www.subgenius.com
Photographers, entertainers, production companies, radio
broadcasters,
and all media producers are encouraged to contact the
Church at its
Austin, Texas headquarters, via the SubGenius World
Wide Web site.