Good news — I’ve brought back the Holiday e-card machine this year. Some may remember this — it’s a page where you can send Holiday messages to your friends and family (it’s free). The cards are delivered by email.
There’s a couple designs and I’ll add some more if people want.
One small request: please use this card machine in good spirits, not as a way to antagonize people.
Please check it out and let me know what you think. Here’s the link: Holiday Card Machine.
There’s an interesting article about us at Psychology Today.
Some of this may have been due to timing — first there was the news about Lindsay Miller’s successful efforts in wearing a Colander in her Massachusetts license photo, and then shortly after, the terrible news of the Paris terrorist attacks.
Mr. Noise in his article is looking at our light-hearted activities and thinking about what, if any, relevance our antics have in more serious matters, in particular the secular world’s struggle against religious extremism.
[The full article can be found here. It’s a good read.]Which brings us back to Miller and her colander. Talking to a television reporter with her spaghetti strainer proudly placed upon her head, she may not come across to casual observers as reason personified. But first impressions can be deceiving. Pastafarianism is indeed a weapon in the arsenal of reason, a rebuke of religions that rationalize violence, treat women as property, and promise eternal rewards to those who take innocent lives. The FSM apparently disapproves of such things.
Of course, fundamentalist religion would disapprove of Miller and Pastafarianism as well, and the most extreme of fundamentalists would treat Pastafarians pretty much as they treated the staff of Charlie Hedbo in January and other residents of Paris on Friday night.
Interesting analysis, but I’m not sure that any Pastafarian activities have such clear (and noble) motivations, and it is alarming to think what extreme fundamentalists may like to do to us for any perceived mockery.
I feel it is a basic human right to poke at any institution/ideology, and any institution/ideology that holds itself above criticism is one at odds with the modern world.
That said, I think Pastafarianism is at its best when it’s good-humored, and at its worst when it becomes hateful. (This will not be a venue for inflammatory anti-Islam sentiment).
I’m not sure anyone has a great idea of what is the solution to violent extremism. It may need more than “weapons of Reason” to defeat it.
What do you think?
The Boston Globe has a nice story about a Pastafarian lady’s successful efforts in wearing a colander in her driver’s license photo, helped by the American Humanist Association.
In August, the Lowell resident was denied a renewed license by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, she said, for wearing the metal cookware.
“They were kind of laughing at me,” Miller said. “I thought of other religions and women and thought that this was not fair. I thought, ‘Just because you haven’t heard of this belief system, [the RMV] should not be denying me a license.’ ”
According to the RMV’s website, drivers are barred from wearing hats or head covers in their photos, unless the clothing items are “for medical or religious reasons.”Miller filed for an appeal immediately after the August incident. Through a friend, she enlisted the help of Patty DeJuneas, a member of the Secular Legal Society, a network of lawyers that assist the American Humanist Association.
You can read more about it at the Boston Globe here.
I feel like our efforts to wear Religious Headwear in Offical Identification may be misunderstood occasionally (this Boston Globe article caused more than few upset emails). I wish that it was more clear that the Church of FSM is not a mean-spirited group and that we’re not out to mock anyone’s particular religion or their religious hats. It is just that it’s weird to find these places where bureaucratic regulation and religion are entangled — and I hope that we’re doing more good than bad when we fight for equal right to use these rules. I realize that we may inadvertently offend a few religious people (and maybe annoy a few bureaucrats) and for that I’m sorry.
We can all look forward to the day when Pastafarians feel it’s socially acceptable to wear religious headwear in our daily lives.
So I checked back in on one of my fave sites and amongst other wonderful things, I notice that poor ‘Ian Harris from Wales’ failed to get his drivers license approved due to him respectfully wearing a (similarly aged as himself) colander. I have been sporting a rather dandy Pirate headpiece for some time now, (originally inspired by Niko Alm) so thought I’d share. I must admit, the DVLA did send my application back, stating that I was ‘wearing a hat’ and so I returned it asking for them to respect my religious beliefs/headwear. And that was that! My passport expires in 2019, where I will be pushing for the ‘eye-patch’ combo. CjInteresting that some places are cool with Pastafarian headgear on Official documents, and some are not. Probably it comes down to the opinion (and mood) of the person behind the desk, and maybe that’s ok. I think the more instances of approval by government bureaucrats we get, the stronger our case for recognized legitimacy. It’s getting harder and harder for anyone to say this is all a joke, when we can point to dozens or hundreds of examples where government officials have looked over our documents and said OK. I feel like we’re making progress getting in the back door. Thanks very much to Colin and all the others who have been fighting for our rights.
