Bobby Henderson's Blog, page 11

Sighting off the Angolan coast

Reputable science magazine New Scientist reports that the FSM has been spotted off the Angolan coast (an area notorious for Piracy).

I’m happy about the sighting and encouraged that serious science journalism is talking about the FSM so freely.

You can read more about the sighting and watch the video of the FSM at New Scientist here.

Mars Sighting

NASA released this photo of a “mystery object” on Mars spotted a few days ago. No official word on what it may be, but clearly resembles the FSM.

Retirement headgear presentation

I retired recently after 29 years of service in the US Navy and US Coast Guard. The guys I work with know that I am an ordained minister in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. For our holiday party, for example, I ensured that His Noodly Goodness was properly represented, as well as the Festivus pole and other more mainstream (mundane) religious symbols.

In any case, at my retirement ceremony, they presented me with this most excellent headgear, appropriately decorated with my CG rank insignia.

Best Regards,

Bob

Master Chief Petty Officer, USCG (ret)

I find it inspiring to see work people getting along. It’s obvious that Bob’s coworkers hold him in high regard, and it’s touching to see this level of religious tolerance towards Pastafarianism. Have a great retirement!

Oklahoma Ten Commandments Monument Has Been Ordered Removed — Victory

Good news everybody, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ordered the Ten Commandments monument must be removed from the state Capitol, saying it violates the Constitution, which bans using public property for the benefit of religion.

This Politico article goes into it in more detail:

Before the statue was installed in 2012 as a gift from Republican state lawmaker Mike Ritze and his family, legislators argued that it was not religious, but historic. Additionally, the U.S. Supreme Court found that a similar monument in Texas did not violate the establishment clause because it was intended to convey a historic and social meaning and did not constitute a religious endorsement.

The 6-foot-tall monument’s installation prompted other groups, from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to Satanists, to try to get permission to build their own monuments on the grounds of the state Capitol to mark what they also characterize as historical events.

Big thanks to all the Pastafarians in Oklahoma pushing for equality and the ACLU for doing the tedious work of fighting this case in court.

And the Satanists did a tremendous job of bringing attention to this issue, not to mention that their monument was a work of art:

The statue features the seven-foot tall, horned figure of Baphomet fawned upon by two exultant children. The statue is a symbol to “celebrate our progress as a pluralistic nation founded on secular law.”

I’m sure it won’t be long before this stuff is in the courts again:

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt vowed to file a petition for a rehearing, saying that “the court completely ignored the profound historical impact of the Ten Commandments on the foundation of Western law,” according to local reports.

It’s too bad that these guys are so bent on pushing religion. I feel like there must be something more beneficial to the public they could be spending their time on.

But for today, I feel like we are making progress.

Pirate Fish spotted in St.Cloud

Thomas found this pirate-fish in St Cloud, Minnesota.

I’m hoping it was the owner of the wall who did this!

Evangelism is good, vandalism bad.

Religious Headgear Discrimination In Wales

Wearing Official Pastafarian headgear and standing up for his rights, Ian Harris.

In Wales, UK, Ian Harris wants to wear a Colander – our religious headgear – in his driver’s license photo. The licensing authority said no because they don’t view ours as a serious religion. They do allow Yarmulkes and Hijabs, though. It would appear that our headgear meets all of the agency’s guidelines, and yet they turned Mr. Harris away.

I find it odd that an licensing agency would allow themselves to get into the messy business of qualifying the relative legitimacy of religious fashion accessories. Our Colander is no more obtrusive than many allowed headgear items and yet all over the world, our members have often found themselves turned away.

Mr Harris is organizing a Pastafarian rally in protest of this injustice this upcoming weekend in Brighton (UK).

Thank you, Mr. Harris, for having the courage to stand up for your right to religious expression.

From the Wales Online article:

Mr Harris plans to take to the streets of Brighton this Sunday to battle for his “right” to wear the metal bowl on his photo-licence, and he has called on Pastafarians across the UK to hold protests in their home areas.

Mr Harris, whose four-year-old daughter Astri is a Pastafarian, maintains that wearing a colander is the equivalent to Muslim women wearing hijabs, or Jewish men wearing skullcaps.

He said: “They (the DVLA) are not backing down about my religious exemption. No matter how much my religion is a minority religion I have a deeply held belief and I should have an exemption or otherwise there should be no exemption at all.

“They wrote to me saying my religion wasn’t serious enough but if Christians talk of speaking snakes and a virgin birth in this era of modern medicine, then why isn’t mine?

You can read more about it in the article here.

Pastafarian ministers are coming to teach at Australian schools

Good news in the fight for religious equality in Australia –

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has applied to the Victorian Department of Education and Training for approval to “spread the word” in schools through the Special Religious Instruction program.

Department spokesman Stuart Teather confirmed correspondence had been received and it “will be considered”.

Read the full article at the Herald Sun here

I think this is great. The Victorian Department of Education deserves a lot of credit for taking the request seriously.

Cynics might see this all as a way to make a point that religion has no place in schools, that having Pastafarians Spread the Word while dressed in Pirate Regalia to a bunch of kids will be such a ridiculous sight as to make administrators re-think the policy of allowing religious teaching in schools … but I am confident that the kids are going to get some quality information from us. At the very least we’ll be able to counter some misinformation in the secular curriculum. Such as:

* that pirates were unruly criminals

* that the world is older than 10k years despite the “evidence” to the contrary

What should we cover on our lessons? I feel like maybe we should tone down any teaching about Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory, as these are impressionable youths we’re educating.

Now I’m curious what has been allowed previously in this Special Religious Instruction program.

Atheists (Pastafarians) Next Door

Here’s an article just published on CNN about the changing attitudes towards atheists. It’s a pretty good read, and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is mentioned a bunch. Read here

I supposed that in time, more and more supposed “atheists” and “non-believers” will feel more free to talk about their Belief in the FSM. I completely understand why some of us say we see FSM as satire. But times are changing.

Good job, CNN, for talking about this.

Bruder Spaghettus and the Pastafarian struggle in Germany

PRI has a story about Pastafarian minister Bruder Spaghettus and his struggle for the recognition of Pastafarianism in Germany.

He [Bruder] is convinced that religion holds a privileged place in German society and that non-believers lack the same civil rights.

Weida is a 63-year-old retiree who lives in the town of Templin. It’s about an hour’s drive outside of Berlin and happens to be Angela Merkel’s hometown. Templin is also where Weida founded the “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster,” in September last year. As one of the leading “Pastafarians” at the church, or non-church more accurately, Weida goes by the alias of “Bruder Spaghettus.”

Weekly “Noodle Worship” begins at 10 a.m. Fridays in a small building on Weida’s farmstead on the outskirts of town. It looks and feels somewhat like weekly worship services at mainstream Christian churches. There is an altar, time for prayers, scripture readings, hymns, and even a version of Holy Communion. But the similarities end pretty quickly.

Read the full article here

It’s a good article, but I find it a bit slanted in terms of calling us Atheists, not Believers in the FSM, and referring to Pastafarianism as a non-religion. When I see these tactics, I wonder if the writer does it purposely, as a means to get the article published. Still an interesting read.

Bruder is great, I am sure the FSM is very pleased to see his work.

Facebook groups and incendiary posts

A lot of you know this, but we don’t control many of the FSM groups on Facebook, and some of them awful. It bothers me a lot when people invoke the FSM to push their own agenda.

It’s gotten more troubling after these last few extremist attacks, and that is understandable, but I’ve got to say something:

The Church of the FSM is not an outlet for hate speech, and to the people who post incendiary comments/photos, you’re hurting the cause.

To be more clear, I do not want to get shot because some A-hole thinks it’s clever to post photos of defaced Qurans in FSM groups. I think it’s in bad taste in the first place, not at all clever – but mostly it drives me crazy that it happens in a place where people could mistake these things as being approved of by the Church. They’re not.

The vast majority of FSM people are awesome — I am sorry to all of you who, I know, are as frustrated about this as me.

We are still trying to get through to Facebook. If anyone has a more effective strategy please let me know.