Dudeism: A Conversation with Founder Oliver Benjamin

Founded in 2005 by Oliver Benjamin, a journalist based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Dudeism's official organizational name is The Church of the Latter-Day Dude.

Religions often demand a lot of work. It could be going to Mass every Sunday, honouring the Shabbas every Friday or praying to Allah five times a day. Traditional faith thrives on the rigorous dedication of its followers but pop culture has served up a film-based religion that thrives on everything but, man. 

Dudeism, based on the Coen Brothers' 1998 comedy 'The Big Lebowski', idolises the catatonic laziness of its protagonist, The Dude, played by Jeff Bridges. From the film's opening, where the bearded hedonist walks around a supermarket in a robe, to its nihilistic end, it venerates apathy and mindful passivity. In other words, it's an anti-religion that appeals to the deadbeat in all of us. 

There are more than 200,000 followers worldwide, with the UK running close second to the US with thousands pledging allegiance to the Dude. The faith's only eight years old, but the founder and self-proclaimed 'Dudely Lama', Oliver Benjamin believes that it's "existed since the dawn of civilisation". 

"Everyone has a little bit of Dudeism in them." He said, sitting snugly in the token grey robe on Skype. 

Mr Benjamin, 45, now lives in Thailand, originally working as a travel journalist, but he was brought up in Southern California. He looked to The Dude as an answer to his questions about the way society operates: 

"From an early age, I felt somehow that the way people lived, at least in my corner of the States, wasn't right. I took to music, art and day-dreaming and coming up with more frugal efficient and contented ways to live as I got older,"

"That is probably why I spent most of my adulthood travelling around the world as a poor backpacker, studying lots of things. Yet it wasn't until I saw The Big Lebowski that I discovered that there is a long and respectable tradition to this sort of lifestyle,"

"It's sort of what Lin Yutang [a Chinese philosopher] called the "scamp".  It was on that day in 2005 that I became a Dudeist. It's just a name, but it helps make sense of the complexities of life"

While other religions impose such living criteria as sins and commandments on their followers, Dudeism simply requires you take it easy. This can come in a number of forms depending on the person.  

"We don't have a set of rituals or rules," Mr Benjamin said. 

"The thing that makes a Dudeist different from the non-Dudeist is that they make a point to resist societal, emotional and biological imperatives that impel us to over-complicate things or feel bad for no reason,"

"But what you actually do is whatever enhances the quality of your life without hurting others. How you choose to define that is up to you."

A faith based on a film may be frowned upon by sceptics, but Mr Benjamin maintains that the contemporary tradition modernises such "eternal" mythology as Taoism. 

"Probably its first true incarnation was the Chinese philosophy of Taoism. However, all the old religions and philosophies are a bit crusty by now and that's why The Big Lebowski works so well,"

"It's a modern mythic vehicle for an eternal worldview," he said. 

Mr Benjamin stressed that Dudeism opposes such possible aspects of mainstream religion as "idealism, arrogance, blind obedience and other propagandistic or superstitious distractions from living" yet he said that its ideology laid the groundwork for all modern faiths. 

"I believe that all religions started out as Dudeist. We certainly share meditative traditions, the emphasis on community and individual humility," he said. 

"But, after a time, the organisational power structure ossified around that creamy centre, making it hard to apprehend. Hopefully the same won't happen to us."

Despite the amusing image, there's a serious core to Dudeism that's amassing followers worldwide. With more than 150,000 priests across the globe, becoming ordained under the Church of the Latter Day Dude is as easy as filling out an online form on the website. 

In return for some basic details, prospective Dudeists can receive a free certification of ordination, giving them the power to preside over religious ceremonies within the faith. For a little bit of money, you can receive a framed copy on "embossed" paper. 

The website reads, beside a picture of Big Lebowski star, John Goodman,  holding a certificate: 

"Show the world that you've got what it takes to take it easy. As an ordained Dudeist Priest, you can minister over religious ceremonies in most U.S. States and assorted other countries. Preside over a wedding, funeral, or any kind of celebration with pride and authority."

Yes, Dudeist marriage exists, if the local laws allow it. The UK doesn't allow Dudeist marriage but Londoner, Lee Caldon, wedded a couple in California. He said:

"I was asked to perform the wedding, and had heard of The Church of the Latter-Day Dude, as it is based on one of my favourite movies,"

"I got an Ordination certificate from the website, and then I was ready to conduct the wedding. It was mostly a favour to a friend, but it was great fun."

There are no set traditions for a Dudeist wedding ceremony, with the prayers and costumes being under the couple's discretion. Mr Caldon's wedding was a modest affair. 

"It was exactly what you'd expect a Dudeist wedding to be. The groom was in a pair of trackies and a plain t-shirt and the bride was in a simple white gown. It was a pure expression of love, minus the ostentation of other religious ceremonies," he said. 

He continued to describe the faith as "humanist" and "non-metaphysical", which appealed to his "non-belief in a higher power". When asked whether he thought Dudeist marriage should be legalised alongside Same-Sex, he burst in emphatically. 

"Of course," he said. 

"I think people of all faiths should be able to marry in any way they want. Civil partnerships do the job legally, but why should you be treated differently based on the popularity of your faith?"

A picture of another wedding - recently posted on the religion's Facebook page that has more than 150,000 likes - shows the priest in t-shirt, shorts and loafers under an arch of leaves, the groom wearing a fedora hat with a rose pinned to his Pringle jumper and the bride wearing a long white gown underneath a grey cardigan. They're both holding a glass of the Dude's famed White Russian cocktail for good measure. 

As Christianity grew from scripture, Chief Dude, Oliver Benjamin, grew a faith from cinematic scripture. 

"We use the character of the Dude in the same way that Christians use the character of Jesus," he said. 

"We should all try to be more like the Dude. But we can't be the Dude. And if everyone was the Dude, the world would fall apart. That's part of what we mean by anti-idealism. Instead of thinking of good and evil and heaven and hell or nirvana and samsara, we everything as a continuum. It's much harder to be disappoint by things that way."

Mr Benjamin now makes a living from the faith, by selling T-shirts, books such as the 'Abide Guide' and other such merchandise. There's even a Dudeist charity called the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers. 

"Dudeism is pretty much my full-time job now," he said. 

"I'd like to work on other projects, but Dudeism just keeps getting bigger and bigger."

"This religion of laziness is turning out to be a lot of work."