Burgeoning new religion The Church of the Latter-Day Dude now has its own publication- The Dudespaper. Dubbed “A Lifestyle Magazine for the Deeply Casual", the website takes the philosophies of robe wearing, sandals-clad bearded messiah The Dude from the cult Coen brothers movie The Big Lebowski, and applies them to life, the universe and everything.
Of course, this particular messiah’s robe is of the bath variety, his sandals are flip-flops and his beard has the tell-tale white stains of the dedicated milk-based cocktail drinker, so articles promoting the Protestant work-ethic and strict moral commandments are not on the agenda.
Instead, as befits a belief system who central tenet is the maxim “the universe wants us to take it easy”, The Dudespaper focuses on advancing a more… sedate way of life, a bit like a frazzled, Taoist, American version of the Idler.
Articles range from ‘Doctor Dudelittle’ – an extended meditation on “The Inherent Dudeism of Animals” (the Desert Tortoise is apparently The Ultimate Dude) – to the timely ‘She’s Got to Feed The Monkey’, a look at the sage financial lessons embedded in The Big Lebowski as well as ways to make a living or augment your income without, y’know, selling your soul.
Written by The Dudely Lama and a few of his 30,000 currently ordained ‘Dudeist Priests’ dotted across the globe, the site is seeking more contributors. All that’s required to become a priest (and “dude” is an officially non-gender specific term by the way) is to fill in the free on-line form, with ordination bringing the handy ability of being able to legally perform all varieties of religious ceremonies in most U.S. States.
So if the twin contemporary religious horns of nerdy soulless science-ism and manic monotheistic fundamentalism are bumming you out, why not try the altogether more relaxed Third Way of Dudeism? Or, you know, you could just go bowling or something. Whatever.
