Bryan Killian, a high school student in North Buncombe, North Carolina was suspended for coming to school dressed as a pirate.
But the disciplinary action has provoked controversy – because the student says that the ban violates his rights, as the pirate costume is part of his religion.
Read about it in the Metro or the Citizen-Times.
This story is blowing up and I’ve been having a lot of problems keeping the server running. It’s currently #1 on Digg and Reddit.
I’ll have some updates and more information about all this soon.
Wow, I leave for a while on a holy noodly mission and return to see my saucy brothers being percecuted for our religious beliefs…oh i’m sorry, i thought we lived in AMERICA! someone call the ACLU! can i get a RAmen?!
I pay homage to The Noodly One and hope that my off-topic comment will not invoke His/Her wrath. Then on to my topic…
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I stumbled upon His/Her (do you actually know which?) noodliness one night as I was searching through Google for the correct way to spell a certain conjugated form of the word “numbers” in Finnish. For those of you wondering: Yes, I am Finnish and in my language we conjugate all word classes with suffixes. I can only think that i witnessed an al-dente intervention by The Noodly One and was always meant to discover Him/Her.
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Consequently I have attended school in Finland and will tell something about it. When I started in 1st grade in 1988, a normal school day started with a prayer. Around 1991 prayers in schools like the morning devotion were outlawed, I believe because we have freedom of religion and separation of state and church in Finland also. Already in 10th grade almost all students at my school and I believe at most other schools also would be irritated by the teacher of religion class when she, a priest by training, was biased in favour of protestant christianity. I and many others thought that being devoutly religious made her unfit to teach religion, as the purpose of the class is not to convert/reaffirm students.
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My first day of school during high-school exchange in Australia was shocking, as every day at this private school started with a public prayer in assembly or through the intercom.
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I remember reading about the Kansas school board decision a few years ago, and am very surprised to see the issue still alive today! I believe a story as silly as ID would not have survived more than a few days, if it were not a means of the FSM to finally reach the public eye and with the prophet begin a culinary concuest of the hears of all mankind.
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And my sympathies to brave Brian Killian for the very unfair treatment he has received. May you be one with the FSM one day!
Shocking. Absolutely shocking. We cannot allow this discrimination to go on!
Jolly Roger
Apr 2nd, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I also tried this at my school yesterday and was asked to remove the patch. My teacher had a laugh and thought I was just kidding. When I told her the patch was for religious reasons she said I could wear it in the lunch hour but said I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the blackboard and text books without depth perception. She had a point, am I being descriminated against? Anyway, I’m off to school.
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Yes, I have one bad eye and have no depth perception to speak of. I never had any problems concentrating on the blackboard, books etc. I have no problems driving either. I just had to learn what the distances are instead of just seeing them.
Hello Cottura 5 Minuti,
Welcome to CoFSM. Does anyone remember if Finland was on the most recent list of countries with FSM adherents? Can’t seem to find the most recent list which added Austria I think. Anyone remember what thread that was (or would just copy-paste the list with Finland added, if it wasn’t there already)?
I just ran across www.becketfund.org, “to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions”. Maybe they’ll help Pastafarians too?
What an idiot! lmao
RowanB , Sir , you have wrong . We are not IDiots , we are Pastafarians . RAmen
We stand united by the FSM’s all knowing noodliness!
Thanks @DutchPastaGuy
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Added Finland to the list found in the “Ken Miller video” thread. The latest additions there were Austria and Hungary.
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Britain
Canada
China
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Guatemala
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Poland
Russia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Arab Emirates
USA
May the whole world feel the love of The Noodly One!
Wait, are those countries that the FSM hath touched with His Noodly Appendages. Cause if so then haven’t we forgot the good ol’ UK?
And remember, France is the Holy Land of FSMism, though I can’t remember why.
RAmen
Ramen
In the name of the monster, of the midget and the holy noodles.
Ramen.
Dear FSM,
We pray that thou forgive all the people who discriminate against us, and let them re-thnk what they have done to our religion.
In the name of the monster, of the midget and the holy noodles.
Ramen.
@Pixel,
Kids these days, such limited attention spans….ok, sorry Pixel, couldn’t resists being patronising. France is in the list, the UK is listed as Britain.
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Ok, apart from me being a complete git to Pixel, we are nearing 30 countries. Excellent. If anyone from India or Indonesia reads this, please post your presence. Seems a real shame, two such populous nations missing out completely on the warm embrace of His Noodly appendages.
I thought the ACLU was already involved with this case, however if they’re not the should be notified immediatly, i heard somewhere that they were but in the event that they were not. www.aclu.org . Sue those prejudiced bastards. Additionally, i’m going to school tommorow dressed the same way as should all pastafarians who wold TFSM dear to them.
This is a serious situation, albeit it is funny that a kid wore an eyepatch to school. This kid was denied his right to express his religion and if Pastafarians cant wear eyepatches than Christians can’t wear crosses. It’s the same basic principle.
We are an authentic religion (belief/faith system) and should be accepted as such!
The fact we don’t conduct worship inside a specially dedicated building makes no difference. Many xtian religions now conduct worship facilities online as in the example given in this article.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6517807.stm
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O come all ye faithful?
“….St Pixels is an internet church, which offers prayers, daily Bible readings and a chat room to its online congregation. The fact its on the net does not make it any less valid than attending a church made of bricks and mortar, says Simon Jenkins, its co-founder.”
“St Pixels may fall outside of what is traditional but we still consider it a genuine church. It is a real parish of real people who don’t stop being members when they log off. It is not a second-class experience, just a different one. The site appeals to a whole spectrum of people, ultimately we are hoping to encourage faith.”
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Freedom of religion!
RAmen
but wearing the eyepatch, would be no different than letting Christian kids wear crosses to school. I bet if the prinicipal suspended someone for wearing a cross, half the country would pissed, and marching on the school.
Don’t have this problem in France where all religions are discrimated aginst equally.