General

Climate Change is a Touchy Subject

Posted on by Bobby Henderson

Trump’s Whitehouse is pushing its science officials to shut up about Climate Change, reports Politico:

A supervisor at the Energy Department’s international climate office told staff this week not to use the phrases “climate change,” “emissions reduction” or “Paris Agreement” in written memos, briefings or other written communication, sources have told POLITICO.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this since we Pastafarians are also skeptical about accepted causes of Climate Change. Years ago you’ll remember that we found a statistically significant relationship between the rise in average global temperature and the declining Pirate population.

I’ll note that even after 10 years, this data still has not been dis-proven by the science community, which we interpret as implicit acceptance of it’s Truth.

So we’re sympathetic to Team Trump’s misgivings of Established Science based on “evidence” and “peer-review” and so on.

But, we’re also fans of not needlessly destroying the planet. And while we may not agree with the causes of Climate change, we believe it is happening.

More, we Pastafarians are pragmatic. Even if you have some skepticism about Climate Change (perhaps all that data is being altered by a Supernatural being of some sort) — let’s maybe err on the side of reigning in pollution and old wasteful technologies with their excess CO2 production — and instead let’s support emerging technologies which can provide clean, renewable power. Not to mention jobs.

For this reason, I think Team Trump and the GOP are acting like tools.

Again, I hate to mention politics on our Church site, but I felt that we Pastafarians, as fellow science-skeptics, should say something.

What do you guys think?

Evangelism, General

Victoria driver’s license

Posted on by Bobby Henderson
Marcus Bowring out of Victoria, Australia, was successful in getting his Driver’s license photo taken while wearing Pastafarian religious headgear. marcusID
“I kept the strainer in a bag until it was time to take the photo because I was bit worried that there were a few bigots around that might not accept it,” he said. “But the young guy that was taking the photo was quite happy. He said something along the lines of ‘respect’ or ‘well done’. He was perfectly fine with it.”
marcusColander Australians are interesting — the people are clearly enlightened and have a sense of humor but, at the same time, we hear stories of bureaucratic resistance to Pastafarianism coming from Australia more than just about anywhere. I’ve heard of several denied attempts at getting an Australian ID card colander’ed photo. So I was extra pleased to hear that Marcus had pulled it off. Here’s the full article in TheAge about how it went down. … Every small victory adds to the weight of legitimacy. Each wedding officiated by an FSM Minister and each ID photo taken while wearing Pastafarian headgear (and so on) is an implicit acknowledgement by a government worker that Pastafarianism is a bonafide religious organization. Over time, I imagine there will be less resistance to what we’re doing — it’ll become clear that we’re not mocking anyone’s beliefs, only fighting for our own idea of what religion is about, and making a stand against religious inequality. Also, on the topic of Australia — I want to give props to the Australia Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster. This group is incredibly well organized and engaged in promoting Pastafarianism as a legitimate religion — and they are doing amazing things in ongoing court battles. I would urge anyone in the area to check them out and get involved.
General, Holiday Celebrations

happy Holidays everybody

Posted on by Bobby Henderson

The Holiday[1] season is here again. How to Spread the Word of the FSM? Here are a few ideas:

• The Holiday e-Card machine is up and running again this year.

You can send a festive Holiday e-Card to your friends and family with a personalized message here. Below are a few of the designs:

 

 

• FSM Ministry Nominations

Also — this season, if you know someone with impeccable character, ready to serve as a spiritual leader, you can nominate them to the FSM Ministry.

FSM Ministers will receive Lithograph Paper Certificates and PVC Minister’s ID cards, and will be added to the official registry. You can order here.

 

 

• Or how about a festive FSM tree (this one courtesy of Trevor)

fsmtree

 

Here’s Tarun’s tree:

taruntree2

 

Amy spotted this amazing display on her neighbor’s house in Everett, WA:

houstlights

 

 

[1] A note on Holiday: years ago, we noticed there was a shift in the way people expressed winter greetings — fewer “Merry Christmas’s” and more “happy holidays”. We concluded that these people were most likely Pastafarians (albeit many of them in secret) wishing people a happy Holiday – referring to our winter celebration Holiday, also known as ChriFSMas.

Evangelism, Secular Vs. Religious

Struggle for Religious Expression in Illinois

Posted on by Bobby Henderson

illinois

The struggle for Pastafarian acceptance continues, in Illinois. From the Chicago Tribue:

College student Rachel Hoover, of Arlington Heights, went to get her license renewed at the Illinois Secretary of State facility in Schaumburg. She told employees that she wanted to wear a metal colander on her head for the photo in honor of her religious beliefs. Employees balked, but Hoover insisted.

…

But when the central office discovered that employees had relented and allowed Hoover to be photographed with the strainer on her head, administrators drew the line, even though her face was clearly visible.

…

They told Hoover her license will be revoked July 29 unless she gets a new, strainer-free photo taken.

…

State officials are “just trying to use a little common sense,” secretary of state spokesman Dave Druker told Tribune freelance reporter Lee V. Gaines. “It almost looks like Pastafarians are a mockery of religion.”

During a time when people are doing reprehensible things in the Name of Religion, I wonder why officials are hassling us, out of all religious groups. Do these officials prevent people from wearing Yamulkes or Hijabs or Turbans — and if not, is it because they appear to have such earnest beliefs, and Pastafarians do not take themselves so seriously?

If Pastafarians had more scary dogmatic True-Believers, would we encounter less resistance to the privileges other religious groups are granted?

While I don’t agree with the Chicago Tribune’s stance that FSM is a “broad spoof”, I found the article well written and clever — it’s worth the read and can be found here.