Great White North Dudes in Ontario

[StAugustineDude]

Right on Rev Al

[RandoRock]

I couldn't agree more Reverend Al, it's the fact that religion has become so ingrained with this sense of seriousness that it's damn near impossible for people to accept the fact that something can be both religious and light hearted at the same time. There is no mandatory suffering in Dudeism and therefore it can't be taken seriously as a real religion. Religion has become synonymous with sacrifice so when we come around cracking jokes and takin it easy people almost feel obligated to write us off as a parody.

Another issue we face is people can't seem to wrap their head around a religion that takes a majority of its teachings from a movie. They are quick to quote stories about talking bushes, devious snakes, invisible space boss, and magic babies but if they hear a quote from The Big Lebowski its treated as this ridiculous thing because it wasn't written 2000 years ago and there is hardly any magic.

[Reverend Al]

...Another issue we face is people can't seem to wrap their head around a religion that takes a majority of its teachings from a movie. They are quick to quote stories about talking bushes, devious snakes, invisible space boss, and magic babies but if they hear a quote from The Big Lebowski its treated as this ridiculous thing because it wasn't written 2000 years ago and there is hardly any magic.

Well, that's the other issue.  The Big Lebowski is the inspiration for Dudeism, but the "What is Dudeism?" page on the main site even says "Probably the earliest form of Dudeism was the original form of Chinese Taoism..."  And Taoism's basic text, the Tao Te Ching, dates back to the 4th century BCE; not quite as old as the earliest texts of the Bible, but a worthy adversary.  Granted, most people completely miss that connection and, in all fairness, if it weren't for the Dudely Lama's epiphany it's possible none of us would have made that connection either.  And even though the Tao Te Ching may take an entire lifetime to understand, at least it doesn't mention talking bushes, devious snakes, invisible space bosses, magic babies, or zombie saviors.

Of course, we Dudeists aren't strictly limited to the Tao Te Ching.  We're reasonably free to incorporate wisdom regardless of the source.  But the fact that we have such a valued document to tie our room together means we aren't children wandering into a movie with no frame of reference.

[jgiffin]

I think we're missing the point.

What did Lao-Tzu think of The Big Lebowski? Was he a fan?

[ZoeAbides]

I think we're missing the point.

What did Lao-Tzu think of The Big Lebowski? Was he a fan?

Well Tao-d, we just don't know.

[RandoRock]

I think we're missing the point.

What did Lao-Tzu think of The Big Lebowski? Was he a fan?

Without critics there are no fans, without fans there is no performance, with the performance there can be no critics.... Or something like that, I'm fairly certain he never gave a straight answer to anything.

[BikerDude]

I'm sticking with my statement.
We are "disrespectful" of religion but in a Dude way.
We aren't a poke in the eye like the pastafarians but none the less we  micturate on the same rugs in the same sense that any parody traffics in comic effect at the expense of the actual dick or rod or johnson.

par?o?dy
ˈperədē/
noun
1.
an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect.
"the movie is a parody of the horror genre"
synonyms:   satire, burlesque, lampoon, pastiche, caricature, imitation, mockery; More
verb
1.
produce a humorously exaggerated imitation of (a writer, artist, or genre).
"his specialty was parodying schoolgirl fiction"

And that's cool. I mean didn't it ever occur to you? Sir?

[RandoRock]

We don't really fit the definition of a parody because we aren't imitating anything. If we want to be regarded as a real religion then we can't think of ourselves as an imitation. The fact that we incorporate humor into our ideals doesn't make them any less legitimate. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster makes it a point to emphasize the fact that most of the things they do are satire of the more established religions but Dudeism doesn't really do that. Sure Dudeism uses The Big Lebowski for inspiration but it does so in a way that doesn't mock the mainstream religions, instead it uses The Big Lebowski as a frame of reference to create something entirely new. A religion that doesn't take it's self too seriously and yet is still as real as any other.

[BikerDude]

We don't really fit the definition of a parody because we aren't imitating anything.

Really?
It must just be me but as far as I can see we generally revel in mocking iconography.





Etc..
All of which I dig.

[Reverend Al]

We don't really fit the definition of a parody because we aren't imitating anything.

Really?
It must just be me but as far as I can see we generally revel in mocking iconography...

Mocking, yes.  Imitating, no. 

[RandoRock]

I suppose this is one of those agree to disagree situations since I am in no position to tell you what Dudeism means to you, and vise versa. So in the true spirit I say fuck it , Dude, let's go bowling!