Regarding the religions/cult angle they were completely serious. Along with the daily intake of sacred herb and occasional psychedelic, the family practiced a regimen of vegetarianism, frequent nudity, polygamy (where the woman chose who she wanted to be with, and the man was supposed to meekly accept whoever approached him), and chanting of the name "Yahowha", the syllables of which were supposed to be charged with immense power, much like how Hari Krishnas believe their mantras to be spiritually charged.
It's unclear if Father Yod/Yahowha presented himself as God or simply a prophet/messenger. Lyrics to songs could be interpreted both ways. In any event, one of the frequent messages of the band was that "you are Jesus", so I tend to view Father as trying to get us to realize the god-self within.
The family also makes occasional mention of the coming cataclysm, of which they would of course survive, and lead the survivors into the new age.
I suspect the "cult" aspect of the band puts many people off, who tend to be dubious of organized religion. But when you consider that most good art/music is spiritually uplifting (for lack of a better term) and that bands like Magma, Sun Ra and his Arkestra, and even Julian Cope and his Black Sheep boys also operated with a clear message and dressed accordingly, I don't find the "cult" aspect of Yahowha 13 to be very troubling. In fact, if I had to choose a cult to live in, I think the Source Family would be the way to go.
There has been a good book released about them, plus two documentaries, in case you are more interested in their philosophy.
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