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| Symbol for the Church of the FSM |
As you may have noticed this symbol on cars passing by, you might wonder what this logo is for. The FSM, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is a diety of Pastafarianism. Interestingly, this group opposes the teachings of "intelligent design" and "creationism" in public schools, despite their theories.
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| Logo on a car |
This all started with Bobby Henderson, author of The Gospel of the
Flying Spaghetti Monster. The FSM was created in his letter to Kansas State Board of Education, in which he talked about Intelligent Design. He suggested that there should be alternative theories that should be discussed in biology classes.Creation
The FSM's creation of the world is very confusing. Followers believe that there were five days in which the FSM spent time to create the world. On the first day, the FSM "separated water from the heavens". On the next day, he became tired of flying around and walking on water that he created land, along with a "Beer Volcano". From there, it ccreated seas, more land, Heaven, and "a midget", whom he called Man. Man and a woman lived in the Olive Garden of Eden together until the FSM flooded the world during a cooking accident. According to the Church, he was in the process of emptying the water out of "His Holy Pasta Pot", and accidentally spilled it.
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| His Noodly Appendage seems to be creating the world in this image. |
Theories and Holidays
The Pastafarian belief is that pirates are "peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will". Missing ships and planes from the Bermuda Triangle are ghost pirates' responsibility. Plus, global warming, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are all "effects of the shrinking numbers of pirates since the 1800s". Their justification for this theory is that Somalia has the most amount of pirates with the lowest carbon emissions than any other country in the world.
As mentioned before, this group opposes the teachings of "intelligent design" and "creationism" in public schools.
Furthermore, they believe that every Friday is a holy day, and prays to His Noodly Appendage. Almost every day is a "holiday", especially around Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. Additionally, they celebrate "Pastover" and "Ramendan".
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| Graph "proving" that pirates correlate with global warming. |
Today, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has many millions of followers who look out for His Noodly Appendage to appear. Followers keep up to date with appearances of His Noodly Appendage and post them on the Church's official website, where they also congratulate fellow Pastafarians who are successful in having their ID photos taken with a colander on their head.
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| A Successful Pastafarian |
So with that, R'Amen.
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Page for FSM sightings: https://www.venganza.org/category/sightings/
https://www.venganza.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
http://flyingspaghettimonster.wikia.com/wiki/Creation_of_the_World
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_of_the_Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
One question that immediately comes to mind after reading this post is whether the Pastafarians are serious about their religion or if they are simply claiming belief in the FSM as a parody religion, which seems likely based on the humorous holidays and beliefs creating based on those of major religions. Upon further research, it seems clear that Pastafarianism is a parody of traditional religion and a place for atheists to practice their lack of religion. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/13/jedis-and-pastafarians-re_n_925801.html
ReplyDeleteThis is a very informative post about a religion which is seemingly heavily untraditional. Despite its humorous interpretation, it is not all too difficult to compare this to any other religion. Just as there is no proof that the FSM symbol for a creator exists, there is not proof for any type of God to have existed. All of these traditions and holidays which seem outlandish to a person could be easily compared to the holidays of any religion, even Christianity. Christmas, for example, is a regular idea in America, and is celebrated widely. However, to someone who has never heard of it before, maybe having children put on plays about the birth of a holy person who was conceived with no tangible father, or the tradition of putting a dead tree in your house and decorating it might seem off. Same could be said for Easter as well as many other holidays for other religions as well. Despite all of this, religion today mainly stands as a way to create a united group of people who share similar beliefs. Pastafarianism, to some, may be just that. A method to partake with other people of similar beliefs or ways.
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