Editing Church of the SubGenius (section)

===Comparative religion===
The Church's teachings have been perceived as satirizing Christianity and Scientology,{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=84}} earning the Church a reputation as a [[parody religion]].{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=83}} Church leaders have said that Dobbs met [[L.&nbsp;Ron Hubbard]], and SubGenius narratives echo [[Space opera in Scientology|extraterrestrial themes found in Scientology]].{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=105}} Cusack notes Jehovah&nbsp;1 bears similarities to [[Xenu]], a powerful alien found in some Scientologist writings.{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=87}} The Church's rhetoric text has also been described as a satirical imitation of the [[televangelism]] of the 1980s.{{sfn|Callahan|1996}} Cusack sees the Church's faux commercialism as [[culture jamming]] targeting [[prosperity theology]],{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=104}} calling the faux commercialism "a strikingly original innovation in contemporary religion".{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=111}} Religious scholar Thomas Alberts of the [[University of London]] views the Church as attempting to "subvert the idea of authenticity in religion" by mirroring other religions to create a sense of both similarity and [[alterity]].{{sfn|Alberts|2008|p=127}}

Cusack compares the Church of the SubGenius to the [[Ranter]]s, a radical 17th-century pantheist movement in England that made statements that shocked many hearers, attacking traditional notions of religious orthodoxy and political authority. In her view, this demonstrates that the Church of the SubGenius has "legitimate pedigree in the history of Western religion".{{sfn|Cusack|2010|pp=106–107}} The American journalist [[Michael Muhammad Knight]] likens the Church to the [[Moorish Orthodox Church of America]], a 20th-century American [[syncretism|syncretic]] religious movement, citing their shared emphasis on freedom.{{sfn|Knight|2012|p=96}}

There are a number of similarities between the Church of the SubGenius and [[Discordianism]]. Eris, the goddess of chaos worshiped by adherents of the latter, is believed by members of the Church of the SubGenius to be Jehovah&nbsp;1's wife and an ally to humans. Like Discordianism, the Church of the SubGenius rejects absolute truth and embraces contradictions and paradoxes.{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=88}} Religious scholar David Chidester of the [[University of Cape Town]] views the Church as a "Discordian offshoot",{{sfn|Chidester|2005|p=198}} and Kirby sees it as "a child of the Discordians".{{sfn|Kirby|2012|p=48}} Both groups were heavily influenced by the writings of [[Robert Anton Wilson]], whom SubGenius members call "Pope Bob".{{sfn|Cusack|2010|p=88}}{{sfn|''The Daily Telegraph'', "Robert Anton Wilson"}} Kirby states that the two groups have elements of bricolage and absurdity in common, but the Church of the SubGenius more explicitly remixes pop culture.{{sfn|Kirby|2012|p=49}}