Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs.
Please join me in supporting this Film project out of Spain. The premise: A family is about to celebrate a Pastafarian communion but they debate if they should invite the Christian conservative granny or not.
Check out Mike’s tattoo, he’s from Denmark. Amazing:
German courts have ruled that Pastafarians are not allowed to post announcements of services alongside those of other churches.
One of the signs that was ordered to be removed:
The German Pastafarians put these signs up years ago in Templin after other churches were allowed to post signs. There were complaints by locals who felt mocked, and it’s been in the Brandenburg state court system ever since.
It’s disappointing that the courts would discriminate against the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
From the New York Post,
Brandenburg state court ruled Wednesday the group can’t claim the rights of a religious or philosophical community. Judges said its criticism of others’ beliefs doesn’t constitute a philosophy.
I find the reasoning dishonest. They could have made a fair point to say Pastafarians do not share an unquestioning faith of our own Dogma in the way that happens in many religions – that we do not necessarily Truly Believe our outlandish stories in the way that others might – but it is an absurd idea that the majority of Pastafarians have joined the Church in order to criticize others’ beliefs. What a cynical view.
Is it hard to believe that people who are wired to reject faith could be drawn to a religion that respects Reason, one that is OK with Believers not fully swallowing Dogma? Perhaps there are people who enjoy the community of a church, without the necessity of denying Reality?
Aside from that, I do not feel that Pastafarians are inherently judgmental people — I haven’t yet experienced this “criticism of others’ beliefs” that the courts have projected onto our members. In fact that sort of judgmental criticism sounds like what I’ve seen in mainstream churches.
No matter. I’m confident that we’ll win in the end. And I think there is value when government institutions are forced to show their biases. They have ruled against us, but in doing so have exposed their own discriminatory attitude. It may be that the growth of the Church of the FSM is in part due to the reaction of fair-minded people, after these setbacks happen. In other words, a few small-minded people with power have asserted their Authority and “won”, but many more people will hear of what took place and form their own opinions, and that is a win for us.
I would like to thank the German Pastafarians for keeping up the fight. You are an inspiration to us all.
The best article about this court case is here. At the top right you can translate into English.
Congratulations and thanks to everyone who took part in the March For Science Rally. I’m relieved to see democracy in action by a sensible group of people.
Even though we Pastafarians are skeptical of “science” and “logical conjecture based on evidence”, we respect the idea of science – its search for knowledge – and we admire the people who dedicate their lives to the cause.
How then is it not a contradiction for Pastafarians, a faith-based group, to support science, or at least support scientists?
We Believe an all-mighty Flying Spaghetti Monster alters the universe in a way that makes it *appear* that the scientific method is sound, that humanity’s knowledge and its advancement out of caves and into spaceships is a direct result of this process. It appears that we can deductively infer conclusions through experiment and reason.
We can’t fault Scientists who have not yet seen the Light – they are doing their jobs, and they are intellectually honest. The same can not be said for some groups, including many groups who have a Belief structure that stems from faith.
So why is Pastafarianism correct, when it sometimes contradicts reason? Because the FSM says so, and we Believe1.
1. Circular Logic is allowed in religion.
Note — the FSM was spotted in Greenville, North Carolina — article here.
