Adherents.com has ranked the major religions of the world. What surprises me is that there are only around 500 thousand Scientologists, and that there are more - 600 thousand - Rastafarians in the world. Note that I said Rastafarians, not Pastafarians. Pastafarianism did not make the list, unfortunately.
Now I’m wondering how many Pastafarians there are in the world, and how we’d go about quantifying that. The FSM website has received well over 10 million unique visitors in the last two years. I’m guessing that the number of people vaguely familiar with FSM is in the millions, but that those who consider themselves Pastafarians number only in the tens of thousands. And of those people, I’m guessing that only some of them consider this a legit religion. For others it’s a joke, satire, entertainment, whatever.
I’m wondering how the mainstream religions count members. Do they count only those who truly follow the core beliefs, and disregard those who are there mainly for the social benefits? Or do they count everyone who’s signed up, or possibly those who pay dues?
Is FSM all that different than the other religions? How many Christians Truly Believe the Bible is the Infallible Word of God, and how many are members because they enjoy the social network and lifestyle that being Christian affords them? It seems to me that many Pastafarians enjoy this community, even if they don’t actually believe there is a Flying Spaghetti Monster controlling events around us at will. Of course, many of us do.
The Church of the FSM has no organized registration process - I’ve never liked the idea of it; it seemed too close to what the major religions do… tracking, asking for money - which I’m strongly against. But maybe it’s time for FSM to become more organized. What do you think? What do you want out of FSM?
First Post!
Hmm. I seem to remember Hinduism having more numbers than Christianity just a couple of years ago. Me wonders whether these data have come from the actual global population or from samples from Westernised society.
.
Last year I had three friends who had a heroin addiction. This year I have five. This means I’ve had a 66.6% increase in friends with heroin addictions in the past year. Sounds like two-thirds of my friends have become junkies.
.
St John the Blasphemist
Saint of Data Manipulation
P.S. People who boast about first posts have some serious thinking about their purpose in life to do. Wankers.
Actually, I have a sneaking suspicion that this data may pertain to the number of converts to the aforementioned religions in recent years. I’d go check it out, but I couldn’t be bothered. Any takers?
.
St John the Blasphemist
Saint of Misrepresentational Data
What do i want out of FSM?
.
I want Salvation through Pasta! Is there any other way?
Why do we need to count? Won’t the FSM manipulate our data anyway?
My first ever first post and i get flamed… St John, you have shown me the light.
I even had my username wrong… Holy Spaghetti!
Murmur: no probs mate. I try to help people in any way I can.
.
St John the Blasphemist
Saint of Charitable Causes
Maybe we should count off. I’ll start:
One!
Two!
Three
Four
It would be interesting to know how many of us there are, but I have to agree with St. John about statistics. They can be manipulated to fit the situation, and thus become meaningless.
.
What is more important to me about this discussion is that we seem to be on the cusp of taking some evolutionary leap, and this could go from being an amusing yet meaningful pastime into something more substantial. I’m so proud.
.
Really, if we could be smart about how to proceed from this point, we could become a giant thorn in the side of IDers. We need to keep our focus, however, which was/is to make a statement and have an impact on teaching Intelligent Design in public schools as part of science curricula.
.
By the way, being a part of this movement has become more than that for me. This, I believe, is what really makes some members of other religions (I won’t mention any names, but they know who they are.) very angry. I don’t necessarily want to make IDers angry. I, like them, am standing up for what I believe. One can argue that this isn’t a “real” religion, but the issues are very real to me.
To name just one large source of religions’ memberships - immigrants. In any country where there is an influx, churches provide instant community feeling and network, so these numbers, rather large at any time in the cycle, make up alot of “believers”. Churches, in the violent battles for global supremacy over other church’s sky gods, count everyone. Level of belief is almost irrelevant.
To quantify FSM accurately, what’s needed is a change to census forms. If you had access to the data, you’d probably find Pastafarian in a lot of boxes which are currently just marked “other”.
However, important to note, as earlier poster did, that the raison d’etre is to fight the good fight against the erosion of reason in education, and of course to wench, pillage, and keep temperatures down.
RAmen
I know I’m still being counted as a catholic in my home-town. I’ve been trying to get un-counted, but sofar without succes. They also keep sending me the parish magazine. And all that because my parents are catholics, therefore i must be one too…. NOT!
Oh: FIVE.
A friend sent me & the rest of the folks I worked with a crash course on how to spin data. Learn how to do it here:
http://tinyurl.com/37r6na
.
You’ll laugh your arse of at it & laugh your arse off forever more whenever your government gives their latest stats to justify their drug (and other) policies.
.
SaucyWench: Yeah I agree. This religion may seem like just a joke, but one should take it as a joke only in part. I see this religion becoming just as important to civilization’s grasp of reality as the Discordians, the Subgenii, and the Invisible Pink Unicornians. That may sound like I speak in jest, but these four (including FSM) religions serve to show the world the ridiculousness of dogmatic ideology.
.
Hail Eris!
All Hail Discordia!
And Hail FSM, Bob, & The IPU!!!
.
St John the Blasphemist
Saint of Dogmas Who Get Run Over By Karmas
I think ID’ers do need something to make them realize how rediculous they sound, using logic doesn’t seem to work so maybe using the same arguments they use, but with a different god, will. I personally think we SHOULD become more organized.
You can always go onto Facebook and do a search under religion. Within my network, there are 77 pastafarians. Maybe you could contact the Facebook staff and ask for a complete number.
http://hs.facebook.com/s.php?adv&k=10010&re=Pastafarian
It’s obviously in any church’s best interest to use “optimistic” statistics, to boost their perceived importance and that of their leaders. Notice the fine print at the bottom of the chart - “adds up to more than 100%”.
It’s also interesting that the nonreligious category notes that half the people in it are “theistic, but non-religious.” I wonder how many people in the other categories are “religious, but non-theistic.” I’ve known many people who would label themselves Catholic or Jewish or Episcopalian if you ask them, but don’t go to church - and they think of (the supposed) god as some sort of “higher power,” or “benevolence” or some other disembodied confused notion of the common good. Or something. FSM is so much more straighforward…
We definately have too do something before religion completely overpowers all of our politicians.
Religion is what held us in the dark ages anyway
Oh the 4\/\/50m3! #6! I 4m #6!
and someone really should do an official count. Just for bragging rights, ya know.
Oh the 4\/\/50m3! #6! I 4m #6!
and someone really should do an official count. Just for bragging rights, ya know.
Damnit. i am so very sorry about the double post. My bad.
To Murmur… congratulations on first post! :)))
.
What do I want out of FSM? I’ve already gotten so much, but I would really like to see the chat room come back! That was a great feature of this site that I know a lot of us miss!
.
I’d also love it if Pastafarians could have a convention or in some way meet in person. That would be fun.
@Wench Beth
Those on the disciples list could exchange Skype id’s (see signature of any o my recent emails to you for mine). That would give us a group chat without any need to type. I don’t have Skype on as standard btw.
What the heck is skype? I sometimes don’t understand all this internet/technical stuff…
Skype is a free program that lets you speak into a microphone, the computer translates the audio into a digital signal and sends it to someones computer halfway around the world. There is is translated back into audio and fed to the other computers speakers. So assuming you are already connected to the internet, you can talk to anyone for free. I do this occasionally with collegues with whom I’m collaborating in the US, works well enough. You can also set up a chat session with multiple people listening in on each other at the same time. This could be used for an actual *audio* chat among Pastafarians. It is limited in number though, as broadband connections and cpus can’t handle too many audio streams at the same time. But within the disciples group that limit is unlikely to be reached soon.
@ RDPW - I saw your name change the other day and should’ve said something then. I like it!!! Very nice!!!
@ everyone - I am obsessive and addictive, I know this. I am already very addicted to FSM and don’t need a chat room to add to the heroin effect!!!!! Although I do miss my cute little avatar…and it was a blast!
@ DPG - One more way in which we’d have trouble understanding Alchemist! :)))
RDPW, all you need is to install Skype and register (free and easy) and let us know what your Skype id is. And your computer needs to have a microphone you can talk into. While not strictly necessary, it’s also good to have a headset (use e. g. your iPod ear buds for that). If you let the audio come out freely, the microphone may pick up on it and send it back to the other person, who then hears his own echo.
@Rowdier Wench
“@ DPG - One more way in which we’d have trouble understanding Alchemist! :)))”
I don’t find him difficult to understand. Give the guy a sheep and he’s happy. What could be easier?
@ DPG - Bahahahahahaha!! Ya, that is pretty easy to understand!!! Wahahaha!!
To DPG… I’m all over that idea if anyone else is into it. Perhaps you could post the suggestion on Disciples, too?
a register shuld be made on the websit thus alowing all Pastafarians to be counted and that would give us a rough estimate of our numbers.
this could be extendid to other things like where we are and how stongly we belive.
a register shuld be made on the website thus alowing all Pastafarians to be counted and that would give us a rough estimate of our numbers.
this could be extendid to other things like where we are and how stongly we belive.
@Wench Beth
Just did.
Skype is great, we talk to families in Germany and Austria for free with it! It works like a phone. But yahoo messenger has this option, too. :)
To DPG… you rock!
Tom Day’s idea is a sound one. Perhaps there could be a link on the FSM front page that asks people to sign in, maybe just with name and country of origin?
Chatting with Pastafarians…One more addiction for Rowdier Wench! Life is good… :)))
Great idea! I will immediately be one of your official members.
@St John the Blasphemist:
I think you might like this book. I read it for a math class years ago and loved it. http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-8003980-4366237?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179858664&sr=8-1
-Avatar of Reason
Hi,
“But maybe it’s time for FSM to become more organized. What do you think? What do you want out of FSM?†- Henderob
This comes from the perspective of an atheist of 16 yrs who, other than noticing and ignoring some references to FSM over the last year or so, only really discovered the idea in recent days.
I think the biggest thing that the CotFSM has to offer is hope. It is the relief of discovering that not everyone out there (other than militant hard core atheists) thinks it’s reasonable to base one’s actions on beliefs having no base in reality – and most significantly, that it’s outrageous to act in ways that disrespect others’ rights on the basis of those beliefs. The beauty of it for me is that a far-fetched religion-parody such as yours is a wonderful way of non-confrontational attack using humour to negate the need to tiptoe around issues that at which people can take offence so easily. Many may still feel offended and mocked, but because our arguments aren’t specifically against their faith it can’t degenerate into the inevitable dead-end “You can’t prove there’s no god and I can’t prove there is so my argument is just as valid as yoursâ€. There’s a chance at least that smart use of the parody can avoid the barriers going up and could help people ‘see the light’!
And I think ‘smart use of the parody’ is the key here. I don’t see how congregation numbers can matter. It’s the total activity (in letters written, online debate outside of the circle, development of ideas etc) that counts – and that depends more on the ability and enthusiasm of a small number of intelligent, articulate people, rather than on total numbers. I’m not for a second suggesting exclusivity – in making anyone who doesn’t ‘get it’ in the same way as me unwelcome. An impression of numbers increases the power of the hope upon arrival (number 1 FSM value for me) and more activity and links etc. means more notice being taken and higher search engine rankings etc.
But in my opinion, two of the ideas Prophet Bobb has come up with in recent days would be taking His Church in the wrong direction. The first is the idea of recruiting sheep – or generally recruiting for the sake of recruiting (again, overemphasizing the importance of numbers). The other is the suggestion that a more structured Church is necessary – my take being through the forum, that a policy of identifying and prioritising campaigns and some consensus on strategy could yield more.
From the FAQ: “FSMism is intended to protest attempts to include religion in science curriculum. We are in no way against religion itself…†Surely to argue against ID is to put the case against creationism and therefore against religion? And argument against ID is prevalent here on this site even though, strictly speaking, it’s not what we’re about.
I see two possible directions ahead for the Church: one to step back from the ID debate to focus more on the original brief – to explicitly target the religion in education issue with as much impact as possible wherever it raises its ugly head, the other to utilize the potential power of the parody to undermine the power of religion in the world and as a consequence to reduce the odds of religionists annihilating the planet in the next 20 – 60 yrs. And, as I’m proposing in a forum post, I believe the Jerusalem problem may be the key there.
This needn’t necessarily boil down to an either/or situation. If the brief were expanded to permit a broader range of campaigns through consensus, we could each take our campaign/s of choice, see where the CotFSM is at then contribute to the debate about the direction and or acting – writing letters etc. utilizing our own creativity and imagination guided by the agreed direction as to the way forward.
As I said, I know it’s a bit cheeky for such a noob to stick his neck out so far but I hope it will not be taken the wrong way. In no way am I intending to undermine or diminish the significance of the extraordinary success of FSM so far. The questions were asked, I responded ïŠ
RAmen,
Barti Ddu
@Noob
Good insight for a 16 year old. So good in fact that I’m suspicious if you really are just 16. But if you’re not, then I like a good part of your post anyway.
To DPG… Noob said he was an atheist of 16 years, which I interpreted as meaning that he hasn’t believed in a god for 16 of the ?? years of his life. Am I correct, Noob? So I don’t think Noob is 16 years old!
To Noob sticking his neck out… you make some very good points. Please post more! It’s good to hear new opinions and ideas :)
@Noob
.
“The beauty of it for me is that a far-fetched religion-parody such as yours is a wonderful way of non-confrontational attack using humour to negate the need to tiptoe around issues that at which people can take offence so easily.”
.
Absolutely! You are very bright, Noob! (Most atheists are.)
.
This, for me, is a BIG PART of the brilliance of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. What I would like to know is:
.
How many MILLIONS of people are going about their daily lives, feeling mucho-frustrated by having to keep silent, while Judeo-Christian-Islamists, or JCI’s, freely talk about their religious philosophies, on the street, in the workplace, at social events, etc., but NO ONE wants to say a word, for fear of offending someone?
.
(That was a super-long sentence!)
.
Worshipping a QUIVERING MASS OF WHEAT GLUTEN WILL SET YOU FREE!!!
.
Once you come to know the TRUE NOODLE GLORY, you can express yourself, in a non-confrontational way!
.
Thanks, Noob!
.
You are a truth-seeker!!!
Well, I wouldn’t say it’s totally non confrontational, it really depends on your personality. for example, no matter what I say to people who don’t share my views, it gets confrontational. But now I’m able to be happy while that’s going on instead of all arogant and demeaning toward them. hell of a lot more fun. ^_^
I still say everyone should meet at Gencon this year. Bobby could rent a booth. The 4\/\/50l\/ll\l355 would not be contained.
@Rowdier- you so do not need any more heroin. you’re already here like all the time.:)
I’ve been an atheist for the greater part of two years but just recently told my parents (I’m still in high school)
They think it’s just a phase and are still making me do stuff with the church such as next week I’m supposed to create the sermon (I have no intention of doing it). Anyway the whole point of the story is that I am forced to go to church and know firsthand that the old church ladies are intimidating. Whenever they ask me to do something for the church I always think that that day will be the day that i tell them all off but when they look at me with their beady fanatical eyes, I am scared and make up some other excuse instead.
Maybe next time, FSM willing I will finally overcome them and emerge from the wilderness
where’s Gencon
Yes, Dread Wench, can you please post info about GenCon? Thanks!
@thesorgo
I sympathise with the situation you’re in. Ever tried explaining to them that the more they force you into it, the more you’ll hate it? Maybe the line ‘Stop nagging or I’ll become a very hardline atheist’ would help. I realise if they are as intimidating as yuo say, that might not be a very effective approach.
@Sorgo
.
I hear you, friend!
.
A beady-eyed old lady, with a bible in her hand, that’s brutal!!
.
Tell your parents that the Constitution guarantees your right to figure this stuff out for yourself!
.
They do you NO FAVORS by forcing you to lie about your profound beliefs.
.
Do NOT try to tell them that you have a profound belief that homework sucks!
.
Pick your battles, but if this is your profound belief, tell them!!!
.
We pasta people support you in your quest for TRUTH.
@ Dread Wench - “@Rowdier- you so do not need any more heroin. you’re already here like all the time.:)” Wahahahahaha!!!! Yeah, sad isn’t it? Hehehehe. I think the fact that I saw your post just proves your point! Hehehe
But now I’m out the door to martial arts…
@DutchPastaGuy and Tigerboy
Thanks for the advice
i’ll be using those lines this Sunday
Another important point may be that you probably (my knowledge of US law on this point is minimal) don’t have to explain yourself as to why you want to drop it. Getting into an argument is probably a lost cause. There’s multiple of them, an alliance of adults arrayed against you. And if they are like some of the religious people here, they’re impervious to any logic anyway, even if you did manage to out-reason them on your own. Can anyone comment on whether a US minor needs to justify his beliefs or lack of them to his parents? If not, then any argument by them could be met with simply
.
‘This is an issue on which I don’t need to justify myself to you.’
.
‘The Hell you do young man, we are your parents and if you want to leave the church, then you better tell us why first!’
.
‘No I don’t. This is an issue on which I don’t need to justify myself to you. I tell you my decision and I’m not debating it with you. It’s my choice and you must accept it.’
.
‘How dare you talk bak to us like that!’
.
‘Sorry, but I do that because you guys aren’t listening. This is an issue on which I don’t need to justify myself to you.’
.
‘If you don’t give us your reasons why you want to leave the church than you can’t leave and have to keep coming.’
.
‘No, I’m leaving the church. This is an issue on which I don’t need to justify myself to you.’
.
Just keep up the ‘This is an issue on which I don’t need to justify myself to you.’ as answer to everything they throw at you. That is, if you have that freedom. Again, anyone know the situation formally?
a great pasta dinner.
@DutchPastaGuy
.
You are so right. My parents tried to force me to go to church. I refused at a very early age. Like, before I was 7 or 8.
.
You cannot force people to believe in invisible, magical beings.
.
Forcing me to pretend like I do believe in invisible, magical beings, is forcing me to lie.
.
NO!
.
I WON”T LIE!
.
It’s a moral issue.
.
Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be learning? Morals?
.
Yes.
.
Then, don’t make me lie.
We ought to become slightly more organized, take a head count and see just how many of us there are.
.
I’m sure that the only reason FSMism has so few member is because it requires a decent internet connection and a good dose of reasoning, not to mention a sense of humour and satire. I don’t know too many people like that, though I’ve converted a good number of my friends, and I think my girlfriend might be seeing the light also.
.
Actually, Pastafarians might be classified under the 16% of Nonreligious people, we are after all, a religion based on satire.
.
Somebody probably already said this shit, so suck it up and read it anyway,
.
-Pope Pixel, the guy with the pie
RAmen
There is a nice quote from an article (lengthy, haven’t read it yet) about the rise of unbelief on the BBC blog:
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2007/05/the_landscape_of_unbelief.html
It seems that some like the Structure and some do not. I myself support the Structure. But I also like Unstructured. Perhaps there could be an Unstructured Pastafarian Structure. We already have one, kinda. Titles represent the Structure, and some Pastafarians have given themselves self-proclaimed titles. Perhaps we could decide upon a Hierarchy of greater and lesser titles. Then, to make it Unstructured, we either completely ignore the Hierarchy or simply choose whatever titles we want (and change them whenever we want). Or both, I suppose.
Simply put, we create a Structure, and those who wish to ignore it may do so, while those who feel the need for some organization may acknowledge its presence. And I think everyone can agree that it will be completely fluid, kinda like the Mongols’ social hierarchy, or so my history book says. Nobility wasn’t hereditary. If a the son of a Noble couldn’t fight, he lost his nobility. Not that Pastafarians will have to fight. I just mean the Structure won’t be solid. (Maybe it wasn’t such a good analogy. Oh well.)
There’s a guy on here with pie? Thought only wenches had that…
.
.
BCA
@Aristotle
I think it’s good to know how well people stand with the Church. People who comment more on the website would naturally have a higher rank, unless it was useless spam, and people who engage in conversations and contribute with relevant comments would also have a higher rank.
But, like you said, I think the heirarchy should be totally ignored if you want to.
RAmen
.
Pope Pixel, the guy with the pie
@BCA
I only said that because my title is Pope Pixel the PIE-ous, and it sounds really f*cking catchy!
RAmen
thesorgo,
We all understand where you’re coming from, and good luck. If they try to intimidate you, remind them that Jesus was a peace-loving man and wouldn’t like them bullying you into belief.
JtP
I was told I had to talk with the priest about my problem with the Bible…Caine and Abel, not Cain and Mabel….if ya get my drift.
.
BCA
ok…so chat went dead…er thread went dead with my last post.
.
Sorry
.
BCA
Hi Again,
Thanks for your encouraging responses folks :)
“…which I interpreted as meaning that he hasn’t believed in a god for 16 of the ?? years of his life.”
You are indeed correct Wench Beth. As regards the ?? years, let’s just say I’ve been atheist way less than half my life so I’m glad I wasn’t sounding like a 16 yr old (sorry if my wording wasn’t clear DuchPastaGuy!
BTW DPG, I followed your link to the BBC article and left a response to it there which I have also copied to http://www.venganza.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=212935#212935 if anyone would like to comment upon it.
Barti Ddu
@Noob
Probably was my insufficient mastery of English rather than your phrasing. I have a good excuse for that, see my user name.
.
Well done for sounding an atheist voice over on the BBC blog. Some of us occasionally post over there, by all means keep joining us. Or stay over for a bit here on CoFSM.
Great Idea! I say just DO IT, no matter the method u’ll use, just DO IT! Let’s show the world how many we harrrr!!
I know that the catholic church counts its members through the numbers of baptized people, that’s why the atheist union has promoted in Italy a campaign to Un-baptize yourself if u dont believe anymore.
Some sort of identity verification should be used, at least to avoid criticism and accusations from other churches.
I’ve just un-baptized myself and I’ll be one of the first Pastafarians in Italy!
I’m curious to see how many of us there are..it certainly would do no harm to get a rough number..
im also curious to see how many Pastafarians there are in my local area..I’ve converted a handful of friends but other than that im surrounded by christians (mostly dogmatic catholics *shudder*)..
I live in Ireland, and as you may be aware the majority of Irish people have a reputation for drinking copious amounts of grog..
to dress in full pirate regalia and consume grog with many Pastafarians would most definitely be a fun activity :)
I want nothing more from FSMism, other than more of an offline community..
thats probably not such a problem in other parts of the world, but apart from the friends I have introduced to FSMism there seems to be a lack of Irish Pastafarians…either that or they’re just elusive :(
Hello AntiPope, Kra,
There have been posters from Italy and Ireland before. Storm Petrel visits occasionally, he’s from Ireland. I’m in Belfast, there was someone else from here too (Peter Sedgwick) but I haven’t seen him back after a one-time post. And someone posted under the name ‘Irish Pastafarian Army’.
AntiPope, you may want to visit the Irish book pledge page at
.
http://www.atheist.ie/common/TDs.htm
.
It’s the Irish version of the UK bookpledge, see
.
http://www.pledgebank.com/church-and-state
.
Kra, you’re one of the first but not the very first from Italy, it has been on the list of countries with Pastafarians for a long time. If anyone sees their country not on the list below, please copy-paste it and add yours.
.
It would be nice if we got some more countries on the list. Perhaps some of the smaller ones like Luxembourg or Lichtenstein. Or even better: a poster from the Vatican! We have tons of popes around, so how about it Mr. Ratzinger? You would fit right in.
.
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Britain
Canada
China
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Guatemala
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Poland
Russia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Arab Emirates
USA
Goddam (oh, forgot that I don’t believe in that stuff), put Norway on that list too!
First posting ;)
TRUTH!!
Oh, do it your self!
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Britain
Canada
China
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Guatemala
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Italy
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Russia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Arab Emirates
USA
Ramen!
Welcome pasta-viking! Nice user name and thanks for completing all of Scandinavia and making us reach the 30 line. Onto 40 by this time next month I hope.
@thesorgo
DPG’s answer is probably the wisest course of action. If that fails you could always be a complete tit in the service :)
http://www.comedycorner.org/66.html
@thesorgo
And don’t forget to post back here to tell us how things turned out.
Yeah. Especially if you try any of the pranks from the link. Hell, take videos and post links :)
“16.Make up your own words to the songs.”
I already sing one verse ahead of everyone else
or if there it is a translated song i’ll sing in the original language.
It screws up everyone around me
hahahaha - I used to love xmas for that. “While shepherds washed their socks by night”
“Oh come all ye faithful!”, “we three kings …..one on a scooter, honking his hooter, smokin’ a fat cigar”
.
Ah - class. You’ve either got it or ya haven’t! :)
I just did a quick search for Pastafarians on my Facebook network and found 29 pages of us, with approx 10 per page.
@Rowdier- ooooo, martial arts? You’re not becoming a ninja are you? PLEASE ROWDY. THEY ARE COOL BUT THEY ARE THE ANTIPASTA!
*
And Gencon is a huge huge HUGE convention. The best 4 days in gaming. But not just gaming, oh no. Fantasy, Sci FI, history, geeks and nerds of all kinds migrate here. I should know. I don’t do gaming (no one to game w/ :( ) but I go there and have a blast. many people come in costume. I put my sis in Klingon jail last time, and there is so very much to do for all kinds of people. Everyone here would love it. It’s always in August in Indianapolis for one weekend (thurs-Sun) and in San Fransisco? some other time in the summer. But come to the Indy one. I’ll be there. :)
Just go to Gencon.com to learn all about and/or preorder tickets.
Bobby,
.
You definitely need to add a formal visitors book where people can record their beliefs.
In the UK we have the census asks religion.
390,000 people (0.7% of respondents including me) put “Jedi” down in the last UK census:
.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A4157930
.
I sincerely intend to put down “Pastafarian” in 2011.
Ha - We had the same census question here in Canada last year - I too put Jedi and the next one I will put down Pastafarian - although that will have to wait a few years.
Til pasta-viking… heisann! Wilkommen til CoFSM!
To Dread Wench… GenCon sounds exactly like the yearly Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. It’s not for gaming but many people come in costume and it’s awesome! Then there’s ComicCon in San Diego; probably a smaller version of GenCon. I’ve been to that twice.
Indianapolis is pretty far away from me, but you never know! I may show up! :)
Ûž May 23rd, 2007 at 2:05 pm
“You definitely need to add a formal visitors book where people can record their beliefs.”
.
Good idea funky symbol dude :))
We should at least have a prayer book to sign. We need to keep up here. Objective Ministries has one!
.
http://htmlgear.tripod.com/guest/control.guest?u=objectiveministries&i=2&a=view
RAmen
@ Dread Wench - No ninja me!! Karate is my choice. Good for the mind and body…but I will *not* become a ninja, never fear!!
thank the FSM ^_^
@ Dread Wench - RAmen!! Been missing you over on the *other* site. Come and play when you get a chance!
You could count anyone that has posted as a Pastafarian! I know that one debatable religion, known for attacking their former members and detractors, used anyone purchasing their intruduction propoganda (A book, not the bible) as a member.
Sorry Rowdy! Been so busy my head is going to pop! and finals are next week. And then I have sapce camp, explosive camp, and lifegaurding. I really will try to pop in. Weekend’s not so full! But I have been monitoring cl-l4773r. ^_^
Though Bobby is not into collecting any donations, this might be a good way to identify Pastafarians willing to put their money where the mouths are (so to speak). How about a PayPal account and a request for anyone wishing to be counted as a Pastafarian to donate $1 (or .5 Euros, or whatever). Then every month or so we could get a count of how many donations have come in to see how many people “we are”. And we could also vote to donate the money to a worthy cause every so often (like the Secular Coalition for America… yeah, America needs it the most I fear… or towards buying a Pirate Ship… One that looks nice… nothing too expensive… Ni!)
hey, we’re all for a poll and such such. but the day we start doing donations is the day we become like all the other religions, whose primary goal is to raise money.
@macaroniboy May 24th, 2007 at 11:55 am
“And we could also vote to donate the money to a worthy cause every so often (like the Secular Coalition for America… yeah, America needs it the most I fear… or towards buying a Pirate Ship… One that looks nice… nothing too expensive… Ni!)”
With a shrubbery on the deck of course.
Definitely. Prayer Book.
@ Dread Wench - Good luck with everything! :)))
.
I have martial arts again tonight (it’s a Tuesday/Thursday thing) so I’d best be getting ready for that…lesson night tonight!!
@macaroniboy May 24th, 2007 at 11:55 am “…And we could also vote to donate the money to a worthy cause every so often (like the Secular Coalition for America… yeah, America needs it the most I fear… or towards buying a Pirate Ship… One that looks nice… nothing too expensive… Ni!)”
.
A Zodiac, perhaps, second-hand from Greenpeace?
A shrubbery?! Hee hee!!
Any money asked for/raised on this site should go directly to the purchase of a pirate ship. A real one. A Zodiac wouldn’t hold us all (unless we want to be really, really, really, really, really, REALLY cozy ;)
WE NEED A PIRATE SHIP!!!!!!
Virgin Post
I would love to be counted. Perhaps we could join together for a mass anointing with pasta sauce. (Oh baby, that sounds dirty. I like it.)
I would travel a great distance to attend a Congregational Conference Gospel Tent Meeting. I would pay (a small amount of) money to attend. And I would pay (a small amount of) money to camp nearby.
I celebrated my first Holiday last year starting in late November and ending this year in early January. I made a spaghetti house instead of a gingerbread house - I could send pictures. I presumed I would be counted when I bought all those t-shirts and mugs. (Just a short aside - During Holiday I have told people I was converting that heaven is equal opportunity. I’ve told them that the strippers are both male and female. Will I go to hell?)
I hereby request to be counted as number 73. We could change out posting names to be our name first and then our number. That would make me Grok the Noodle 73.
I look forward to hearing more.
RAmen
@Grok the Noodle
Welcome to the CoFSM. No, you won’t go to hell for telling the truth about equal opportunities in Paradis.
Meeting up with others depends on where you live I guess. But others should never be that far away, we’re confirmed to have a presence in 30 countries. Search some of the recent threads and you’ll find the list (look for ‘Norway’ the latest addition).
@ Grok the Noodle - Welcome and RAmen! I hope you stay and play!
Welcome No79!
We live at 89 - coincidence? I think not!!!
There had damn well better be both lots of strippers and lots of different beers, or I am complaining to the management!!!
Can I be Wench Beth 13, pleeez? That’s my lucky number.
I would take 42, but L’TUAE will want that one ;)
In that case I will have 439587672047 - thanks!
I’d take 314159 but I bet Pixel Pop wants that one!
Can I have 7 of 9 please?
@ Ûž - Wahahahahaha!!! My hubby has made the same request! :)))
Oh, and I’m not a number! I’m a free man!
I think Alchemist will be 420.
Hee hee hee hee hee!!!!!!!!!!
To Ûž… was that quote from “The Prisoner”, by any chance?
Actually, I’ll have 69!
Wow this is getting fun! :)))
Yes Beth. I love “The Prisoner”.
.
I was working on a project in Westminster once and found the underground car park the Prisoner drives in to in his Caterham 7 in the title sequence.
.
I thought that was soooo cool.
can we use imaginary numbers
like Thesorgo e
@Professor B♥♥ty May 25th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Booty, We’re picking numbers that we’d like to be known by.
Can you pay attention please, we can get back to your subject later.
On the is-this-for-real thread Israel was just added as having a Pastafarian presence. So now we are 31 countries:
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Britain
Canada
China
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Guatemala
Hungary
Iceland
India
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Russia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Arab Emirates
USA
Israel?! That’s probably the last place I expected a Pastafarian to be.
Only 162 more countries to go!
Contrary to popular belief (or, should I say, the Republican party’s belief) there are indeed sane people in the Middle East.
@Aristotle
Maybe a nice job for you there: think up some claims we Pastafarians have to Jerusalem. Not just part of it, ALL of it of course. Anger the shit out of the Jews, Muslims, Christians and all other kind of religious wacko that walk around there. Make it sound serious, while in actuality dripping with satire and sarcasm. Up for it?
Ooh, DPG, you’re getting scary! :)
“Up for it?”
.
Is a snake’s ass close to the ground? :)