Category Archives: General

Pastafarian Council Member Wins Re-Election

Congratulations to Pastafarian Christopher Schaeffer for winning re-election to the Pomfret New York Town Council.

Mr. Schaeffer enjoyed (perhaps suffered) internet fame when he wore a Colander during his first swearing-in ceremony in 2014.

To my knowledge no elected Pastafarian has yet worn Full Pirate Regalia in an official photo.

By the election results, it is clear the voters approve of Mr. Schaeffer, despite (perhaps because of) his public religious views.

Congrats, and keep up the good work, sir.

Noodle Mass discrimination in Germany

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.

Success (and trouble) for Arizona Pastafarian’s ID Photo

Congratulations to Mr. Corbett — Arizona finally allowed him to wear a colander in his ID photo, after many attempts.

“I tried a couple different locations and was met with a lot of pushback and resistance,” he said. “I was scorned at every location I went to, and they put out a memo about me, so by the time I got to (the) fourth and fifth MVD, they stopped me at the door.

“They got angry at me and treated me with such disrespect.”

He recently tried again and, after talking with the location’s manager, was able to take the photo. He received his official ID in the mail Tuesday.

“I was really excited,” Corbett said. “I felt, in that moment, that I won my battle. It was a huge victory for me.”

However, it seems that Arizona bureaucrats heard about this and will try to take the license back:

A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation, which oversees the Motor Vehicle Division, released a statement on the matter.

“MVD license and ID photos are meant to show a person’s typical daily appearance and allow for religious expression or medical needs. Photos are filtered through facial recognition technology and if an error occurs, the photo can be recalled,” the statement said.

Spokesman Doug Nick later added that “we will go through the process to pull this credential.”

So we’ll see what happens.

Whatever the outcome, it’s nice to see people like Mr. Corbett fighting for their rights. The struggle itself is so important.

Our view is that it’s inappropriate for a government organization to make a judgment based on a person’s religion. If the head covering meets the visibility requirements, it should be allowed no matter what religion that hat is associated with.

Sometimes the DMV workers don’t know the rules fully, and that is understandable. Perhaps some of the workers are letting their personal views color their behavior, which is unfortunate but human. What is more interesting is in cases like Mr. Corbett’s, where management gets involved — the actions they take will be very important to watch.

For now let’s give the Arizona officials the benefit of the doubt and hope that Mr. Corbett will be afforded the same rights as members of other religions.

Again, congratulations on the win, Mr. Corbett, and thank you for your effort. And thank you to Pastafarians everywhere, who are fighting for their rights.

There’s a nice article about this at USA Today here.

Australia Officially Recognizes the Church of FSM

 

Big news

The government of Australia, after years of court proceedings, has decided that Pastafarians will be allowed to wear religious headgear in ID photos.

 

Here’s the backstory

A few years ago, a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Australia (CFSMA), was allowed to wear his headgear (colander) when photographed for his license, but later forced to surrender the license for a replacement, without headgear.

Preshalin obtained his NSW driver’s license last year, and, at the time, was permitted to wear his religious headwear for his photograph. He has now been informed that he must surrender his present license and have a new photograph taken without his religious headwear, as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is not a ‘recognised religion’.

The CFSMA has been fighting in court ever since, and today they were informed that a decision had been made to allow Pastafarians equal religious protection. Victory!

From Captain Tanya Watkin’s media release:

On behalf of the CFSMA I am delighted to announce that the Hon. Melinda Pavey, NSW Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight, has confirmed that the present policy enforced by RMS regarding religious head coverings in driver’s licenses (that specifically named Pastafarians as being subject to discrimination by not allowing our chosen head covering to be worn) will be changed. The new policy will reflect the fact that NSW Government Departments will show respect and consideration towards all people who wear a head covering. When the new policy is implemented, people will no longer have their stated religion checked against a list of ‘recognised’ religions.

Congratulations to the CFSMA

The Church of FSM Australia continues to blow me away. Tanya Watkins, Captain of CFSMA, especially, deserves a round of applause — she took it on herself to lead the fight, and after more than two years, won a victory for Pastafarians everywhere.

Sincere thanks, and congratulations, to Tanya and everyone from the CFSMA.