Category Archives: General

Endorsement, General

Australia Officially Recognizes the Church of FSM

Posted on by Bobby Henderson

 

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.

Evangelism, General, Secular Vs. Religious

Pastafarians Marching For Science — Contradiction?

Posted on by Bobby Henderson

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.

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.