Pastafarianism ~(O_O)~Pastafarianism:
a new
religion that worships Flying Spaghetti Monster, initially created to protest the Kansas State School Board's decision to teach "Intelligent Design" in schools.
Also known as the FSM cult
Codes of conduct:
# Prayers are ended with the word RAmen rather than Amen.
Benefits of conversion:
# Like the great noodles they worship, Flying Spaghetti Monsterists have flimsy moral standards.
# Promise of a stripper factory and a beer volcano in Heaven.
(?) A rival faction, based on SPAM (Spaghetti & Pulsar Activating Meatballs), has formed and is calling for a Holy War against FSM. SPAMation claims to have the One True Letter to the Kansas School Board.
pastafarian:
Worshipper and follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Pastafarian (noun) Someone who believes in the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Pastafarian (adjective) Having qualities relating to a Pastafarianistic ideal.
FSM = Flying Spaghetti Monster:
What would FSM do?
WWFSMD?
Flying Spaghetti Monster:
The alleged deity of The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) theory which was first publicly postulated in an open letter to the Kansas School Board during the debates on whether or not to introduce Intelligent Design in to the science curriculum. The FSM is theorized to manipulate observable data such as carbon dating results via 'His' Noodly Appendage. We are also taught that The FSM hates when its subjects do not dress as pirates. FSM followers claim that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s.
If Intelligent Design can be taught in schools as a scientific theory than so can Flying Spaghetti Monster theory.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is a deity in a creation story. This story was created in response to the Kansas (US) School Board trying to change teaching guidelines so that Intelligent Design would be taught alongside Evolution in Public School science class.
Flying Spaghetti Monsterism holds that The FSM created everything with His Noodly Appendage. Also The FSM is keeping his identity secret by making Evolution look like such a scientific certainty.
The creator of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism has written an open letter to the Kansas School Board so that it will be taught alongside Intelligent Design and Evolution. He has also started a fund to pursue this through legal action if necessary. Or buy himself a boat, whichever comes first.
RAmen
"If The Flying Spaghetti Monster wanted me to pay my debt he would provide me with the money with His Noodly Appendage."
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is a deity in a creation story. This story was created in response to the Kansas (US) School Board trying to change teaching guidelines so that Intelligent Design would be taught alongside Evolution in Public School science class.
Flying Spaghetti Monsterism holds that The FSM created everything with His Noodly Appendage. Also The FSM is keeping his identity secret by making Evolution look like such a scientific certainty.
The creator of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism has written an open letter to the Kansas School Board so that it will be taught alongside Intelligent Design and Evolution. He has also started a fund to pursue this through legal action if necessary. Or buy himself a boat, whichever comes first.
RAmen
"I'm not going to pay my credit card debt from buying Mad Max memerobelia on Ebay. If The Flying Spaghetti Monster wanted me to pay my debt he would provide me with the money with His Noodly Appendage."
The being that desinged the world through Intelligent Design. He is impossible to see and manipulates our scientific insturments to hide His presence. In the begining He designed a mountain, trees, and a midget. When spreading the good news about Him one must wear full pirate regalia. FSMism is composed to loose moral obligations, every friday is a holiday, and heaven has a stripper factory and beer volcano. RAmen.
"As part of our science lesson, we will learn about the theories of evolution, Intelligent Design, and Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, so I hope y'all brought your pirate regalia. Yarrrr."
~(O_O)~
The Flying Spaghetti Monster! Oooh!
~(O_O)~ is the infamous Flying Spaghetti Monster. (I hope I spelled Spaghetti right.)
pirate:
1. n. Arch rival of the ninja.
2. n. Devotee of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
3. Pirates are way cooler than ninjas.
4. You "must" wear full pirate regalia to worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster properly.
It has been said that "You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s." ... "there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature."
Wikipedia says: The Flying Spaghetti Monster (also known as the Spaghedeity) is the deity of a parody religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.[1] The religion was founded in 2005 by Oregon State University physics graduate Bobby Henderson to protest against the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. In an open letter sent to the education board, Henderson professes belief in a supernatural Creator called the Flying Spaghetti Monster which resembles spaghetti and meatballs.[2] He furthermore calls for the "Pastafarian" theory of creation to be taught in science classrooms.[3]
Due to its recent popularity and media exposure, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is used by atheists and agnostics (known by Pastafarians as "spagnostics") as a modern version of Russell's teapot.[4]
One quote by Bobby Henderson states, "I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."
Niklas Jansson's adaptation of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam depicts the Flying Spaghetti Monster in its typical guise as a clump of tangled spaghetti with two eyestalks, two meatballs, and many "noodly appendages".
Motivation
The Flying Spaghetti Monster was created as a reaction to the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to allow Intelligent Design to be taught in science classes.
Henderson claims,
“ I don't have a problem with religion. What I have a problem with is religion posing as science. If there is a god and he's intelligent, then I would guess he has a sense of humor.[5] ”
He is surprised by the success of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, claiming that he "wrote the letter for [his] own amusement as much as anything."[6]
Beliefs
A Pastafarian depiction of the creation of the universe sent in an open letter to the Kansas School Board. It includes the Monster, a tree-covered mountain, and a midgit.[sic]Henderson proposed many of the beliefs in reaction to common arguments by proponents of intelligent design.[7]
The canonical beliefs of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism are set forth by Henderson in the Open Letter,[2] the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and on Henderson's web site,[8] where he is described as a "prophet."
The central belief is that there is an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster, which created the entire universe "after drinking heavily."[6] All evidence for evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, in an effort to test Pastafarians' faith; a form of the Omphalos hypothesis. When scientific measurements, such as radiocarbon dating, are made, the Flying Spaghetti Monster "is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage."[2]
The Pastafarian belief of heaven stresses that it contains beer volcanoes and a stripper factory.[9] Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale and the strippers have VD.[10]
The religious text of the Pastafarian religion is called the Loose Canon. In place of the Ten Commandments, it contains The Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts, which is arguably a somewhat looser moral code.
The official conclusion to prayers is "RAmen", contained in certain sections of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and so on. It is a portmanteau of the Semitic term "Amen" (used in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and Ramen, a noodle. While it is typically spelled with both a capital "R" and "A", it is also acceptable to spell it with only a capital R.
Pirates and global warming
Chart comparing Number of Pirates versus Global Warming; an example of the fact that correlation does not equal causation. The labels on the x-axis are deliberately misleading.According to the Pastafarian belief system, pirates are "absolute divine beings" and the original Pastafarians.[2] Their image as "thieves and outcasts" is misinformation spread by Christian theologians in the Middle Ages and Hare Krishnas. Pastafarianism says that they were in fact "peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will" who distributed candy to small children.
The inclusion of pirates in Pastafarianism was part of Henderson's original letter to the Kansas School Board. It illustrated that correlation does not equal causation. Henderson put forth the argument that "global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of pirates since the 1800s."[2] A chart accompanying the letter shows that as the number of pirates decreased, global temperatures increased; the absurdity of this demonstrates how statistically significant correlations do not imply a causal relationship (see confounding).
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
The Gospel of The Flying Spaghetti MonsterMain article: The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
In December 2005, Bobby Henderson received a reported USD $80,000 advance to pen The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Henderson said he plans to use the proceeds from the sale of the book to build a pirate ship, with which he may travel the world in order to convert heathens to the Pastafarian religion.[11] The book was released on March 28, 2006 (ISBN 0-8129-7656-8).
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the Pastafarian equivalent of the Bible. It parodies biblical figures with characters such as Captain Mosey, a pirate and the FSM equivalent of Moses. The Gospel contains the aforementioned Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts." It also provides information on how to convert non-"Pastafarians" and explains many of the religion's beliefs (for example, that lack of pirates causes global warming).
History and developments
The FSM logo is a parody of the Ichthys or "Jesus Fish". It contains the basic body shape of the Ichthys, two eye stalks, six "noodly appendages", and the initials "FSM" for Flying Spaghetti Monster.The first public exposure of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its eponymous deity can be dated to January 2005, when Bobby Henderson sent his open letter regarding the FSM and the teaching of intelligent design in science classes to the Kansas Board of Education. Henderson suggested that his theory and intelligent design had equal validity, stating "if the Intelligent Design theory is not based on faith, but instead another scientific theory, as is claimed, then you must also allow our theory to be taught, as it is also based on science, not on faith."[2]
The Board only responded after Henderson posted the letter on his website, gaining significant public interest.[12] Henderson subsequently published the responses[13] he received from board members.
As word of Henderson's challenge to the board spread, the website and Henderson's cause gathered more attention and support. The satiric nature of Henderson's argument made the Flying Spaghetti Monster popular with bloggers as well as humor and internet culture websites. The site was featured on Sensible Erection on June 17, 2005,[14] and also on websites such as Boing Boing, Something Awful, Uncyclopedia and Fark.com. The mainstream media quickly picked up on the phenomenon as the Flying Spaghetti Monster became a symbol for the case against intelligent design theory in public education.[15][16][17]
In August 2005, in response to a challenge from a reader, BoingBoing.net announced a $250,000 challenge, later raised to $1,000,000, of "Intelligently Designed currency" by other bloggers, payable to any individual who could produce empirical evidence proving that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, though Jesus is not a part of Pastafarianism.[18] The challenge is modeled after a similar challenge issued by young-Earth creationist Kent Hovind (an award of $250,000 to anyone who can prove evolution "is the only possible way" that the Universe and life arose) that has been criticized by scientists as being logically flawed in design.[19]
The Flying Spaghetti Monster in the news and popular culture
Billboard in Baltimore spoofing the city's "BELIEVE" campaign and local dialect.In August, 2005, the Swedish concept designer Niklas Jansson created, "pretty much free to use for press and such as far as I'm concerned"[20], a subverted adaptation of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam (superimposing the Flying Spaghetti Monster over God) which became and remains today the FSM's de facto brand image.
The band New York Dolls added the FSM to their music video "Dance like a Monkey".[21]
A section of the open letter to the Kansas School Board appeared in the January 2006 edition of Playboy.
The popular sprite comic Bob and George featured the Flying Spaghetti Monster during a brief series of gags explaining why there were no new comics in the current storyline. The comic also references the Invisible Pink Unicorn.[22]
Bryan Killian, a High School student in Buncombe County in North Carolina, was suspended for wearing "pirate regalia", which he said was part of his faith. Killian protested the suspension, saying it violated his right to religious freedom.[23]
The Flying Spaghetti Monster has been used by Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion, to demonstrate ideas from that book. It has also been featured in several other media outlets, including The Colbert Report, The IT Crowd and Science Friday.[24] Dawkins' animated counterpart in the South Park episode "Go God Go" references the Monster in an argument against religion.
The Hunger Artists Theatre Company produced a comedy called The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant in December of 2006, detailing the history of Pastafarianism.[25]
The Flying Spaghetti Monster was featured in the Dec/Jan issue of the science magazine Seed in a section dedicated to the year in review 2005.[26]
On 2007-08-03, In the Netherlands, a demonstration was set up by Pastafarians to protest against the Evangelische Omroep -a public broadcaster with a strong evangelical background- after the EO censored a BBC documentary by leaving out the parts about evolution.[27]
Friday, September 7, 2007
Last modified Saturday, September 24, 2005 10:44 PM PDT
Flying Spaghetti Monster gains following
ROSEBURG (AP) — With his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, sort of, Bobby Henderson has injected his Flying Spaghetti Monster into the straight-laced squabble over the creation of humanity.
Henderson and his growing legion of "Pastafarian" followers say they believe the universe was created by a giant Flying Spaghetti Monster, a clump of tangled spaghetti with two eyes and "noodly appendages."
His Web site, www.venganza.org, has drawn more than 30 million hits in recent months.
Pastafarians say if alternatives to evolution such as intelligent design must be taught in schools, then the Spaghetti Monster theory, which is just as well founded, deserves equal time.
The Web site features letters, games, scientific testimonials, fan art and a forum for the debate of the finer points of Pastafarianism.
It has a fan base, but the humor escapes some people. A Web site illustration shows Spaghetti Monster seated at the table of the Last Supper.
One message told him to blow his face off with a shotgun, and that one was relatively mild.
"I am not too worried about the angry religious people who e-mail me," Henderson said. He said the project is an attack on dogma, not on religion.
Henderson, 25, a recent Oregon State University science graduate who is between jobs, wrote to the Kansas Board of Education in response to its plans to allow evolution and intelligent design to be taught side-by-side.
If the Intelligent Design theory is not based on faith, but instead another scientific theory, as is claimed, then you must also allow our theory to be taught, as it is also based on science, not on faith.
"We tend to be very secretive, as many people claim our beliefs are not substantiated by observable evidence," he told the Kansas board.
He said the Spaghetti Monster built the world to make us think it is older than it really is by fooling with the Carbon-14 system used to date artifacts.
"What our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage," he wrote.
And so forth.
He said he posted the letter online after getting no answer from Kansas.
He's since received some sympathetic e-mails from liberally inclined school board members. But nobody has said whether Flying Spaghetti Monster will join Darwin and the Diety in Kansas classrooms.
Advocates of teaching intelligent design, who include President Bush, say evolutionism, Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection and gradual biological changes cannot address how life originated.
They conclude that guidance from some external intelligence must be involved.
Critics call it religion masquerading as science.
As the Web site has grown, it's attracted more acolytes. Luke Bovard of Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the moderators for the site's message boards. More than 1,100 people are registered members of the site's online family.
To handle the huge volume of traffic, Henderson has leased a dedicated server. He also sells Flying Spaghetti Monster T-shirts, posters, coffee mugs and other paraphernalia through the site.
That helps pay for the server and a cubicle.
Henderson gets hundreds of e-mails a day now.
Topics range from topics such as Viking pirate spaghetti to serious debates on evolution and religion.
"Hopefully this will continue," wrote Bovard, the Web site moderator. " The community will continue to grow and grow so we can have many more intelligent debates about science and many other things.
"Who else knows who needs to be touched by his Noodly Appendage?"
Will you convert?
