Really interesting follow-up to the blog entry I made last week about the Austrian Pastafarian getting his official ID with a colander on his head. This article goes much more into depth about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it's origins and how it is now causing government agencies to rethink how they define "religion" when it comes to exemptions and special treatment for belief in the supernatural. It also is redefining the argument about Intelligent Design and what should be taught in the science classroom.
"Bobby Henderson wrote an open letter to the school board, supporting their decision to teach multiple perspectives but insisting that students also be taught a third perspective: The possibility that Earth was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. As Henderson put it:
I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One-third time for Intelligent Design, one-third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one-third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."
FSM is also a way for non-theists to show theists just where their arguments lie on the reality spectrum. To show how absurd their claims are and backed by no evidence by offering similarly silly explanations for the origins of the universe and life on this planet. On the other side of the coin, the Church of the FSM also gives an avenue for non-theists to congregate and feel part of a community. This is something that the religions have gotten right over time. There is a fundamental need for humans of like minds to meet and share and encourage each other. Humans like ceremony and ritual and pomp and circumstance, we like music and festivals, we like hearing words of inspiration and encouragement to help focus our lives in a more productive way. This has been religion's bread and butter over the millennia but now there are finally some organizations popping up for non-believers to share in that fundamental need to congregate. There are books, music, festivals, debates, conferences and meetings, "religions" like FSM and a vast wealth of information sharing on the internet that are bringing the "new atheists" together like never before. If the non-believers can find a collective voice, the dark corners of the world's religions can finally be exposed and the human race can be enlightened.
Pasta Monster Gets Academic Attention
Open Letter To Kansas School Board by Bobby Henderson, Concerned Citizen
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