September « 2007 « Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

#Evangelism #General

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Ask Yahoo: Does the Flying Spaghetti Monster Really Exist?

Published September 30th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

A question posed to Yahoo:

Does the flying spaghetti monster really exist?
Or is it just the product of the minds of sinners and liars whose father is really the Devil?

I was very impressed by the number of Pastafarians who responded. Some of my favorite answers:

He is real (or at least as real as your God).
Ramen

of course The Flying Spaghetti Monster exists!!! How can you not believe it? I believe it, because it’s true, and so should you!

If you don’t believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster then you can’t believe in Julius Caesar either, because we have more evidence that the FSM exists than we have that the whole Roman Empire ever existed!

Of course he exists. May you be touched by His noodly appendage

There is more proof of the FSM then there is of the Christians’ so called god…

Are you daring to blasphemy the glorious FSM? May you be touched with a noodly appendage.

The question and all of the replies can be found here.

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#Evangelism #General

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Trader Joes sign – praise or threat?

Published September 29th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

Long spotted this sign at the Trader Joe’s in Santa Barbara, California. I was very happy to see it. It’s nice to see such a large corporation take notice of our religion.

I believe this sign is specific to only this one store (please let me know if you spot one in another location), but maybe this is just the beginning. Of course, if they are going to use the FSM as a spokesman in any national advertising campaigns, we’d probably suggest they make a donation.

I showed this ad to a friend, and he had a completely different response to it; he wondered if the “Grab Your Forks” comment was meant as a threat to our deity, who is “coincidentally” directly below those words. What do you think? Either way, I think that the Church will benefit from the publicity. Thank you, mystery Trader Joes sign-maker.

Note to Trader Joes corporate people: You’re welcome to use the FSM for your advertisements. Email me. Also, thank you for two-buck-chuck.

Click for a more-giant version of the picture.

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#Hate-Mail (and Concerned Criticism)

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162 Comments

confusion

Published September 29th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

I’ve stumbled across your site and I have decided to leave my opinions of it out of this email. I do, however, have a few questions.
In the letter sent by you to the Kansas School Board you state:

“It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories.”

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t Pastafarianism fall under the term “Intelligent Design” and is not a third theory? I could also be mistaken in the fact that I thought the idea of teaching “Intelligent Design” was to include the existence of one or multiple creators as a theory, which would include Pastafarianism. Please correct me if this is not the case.

If I am correct in that Pastafarianism is part of “Intelligent Design” and not it’s own theory I still don’t see it being mentioned in schools. The reason being is it’s size and knowledge of it. I’m sure teachers will briefly discuss different sub-theories of “Intelligent Design”, but will stick with the most common such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and maybe a few other well know sub-theories. It would be almost impossible to include every sub-theory out there and I’m afraid yours may be left out. If in time your sub-theory grows in popularity, maybe, but not yet.

If I’m wrong in that Pastafarianism is part of “Intelligent Design” and not it’s own theory then please let me know in full detail of where I have made my mistake.

Sincerely,
Clayton

*update*

I sometimes reply to these types of emails. I sent Clayton this response, which I thought was very polite:

“Hey, FSM is more popular than you think. We have more support than the other Intelligent Design theory (but less money). I posted your message up on the site (it will publish oct 1, in the criticism section. I invite you to read the responses, and feel free to respond to those, etc. Later,
-bobby”

Clayton responded with this:

Actually the email I sent you, if you mind taking a look, has a copyright notice at the bottom. Posting it on your website would be in clear violation of copyright law. I don’t wish to take legal action, but I will protect my rights.

P.S. You also did not answer my question which leads me to believe I am right in my assumptions.

Sincerely,
Clayton

I was shocked. To be fair, Clayton’s email did arrive with this footer:

(I edited out his last name.)

My reply:

“Hey tard, sending an email – like a letter – creates an implied license for certain uses. I am well within my rights to share the email YOU SENT ME with whoever I like. If I was a dick, I could have posted your full name and email address, but I didn’t. If you’d like to take legal action, be my guest.

Sincerely,
Bobby Henderson

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#Evangelism #General

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Baltimore Sun: His Noodliness reigns unchallenged in Hampden

Published September 28th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

The Baltimore Sun ran another article today about Jacob Corbin’s FSM billboard on the side of his Hampden house.

Jacob Corbin-Beal bought a Hampden rowhouse that happened to have a billboard on one side, and he wasn’t sure what to do with the thing. The seller had led him to believe it wasn’t quite kosher under city regs, unless he rented it back to the guy, who owns a repair shop and was offering a measly 40 bucks a month.

Then Corbin-Beal had an idea. An epiphany, really, inspired by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

He bought yards and yards of sump pump hose, a couple of saucer sleds and some spray paint, then created what looks like a giant plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Two Wiffle ball eyes poke out from the pile. Below, in black and white, it says, “Believe Your Noodly Master, Hon.”

The article is pretty good, you can read it here.

Thanks to the Baltimore Sun for writing about this a second time, and Jacob for taking the time and effort to make such an impressive billboard.

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#Evangelism #General

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FSM Graffiti – please don’t

Published September 28th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

Hey, this isn’t ok:

The Huntsville Forester published the above photo with an article titled “Police catch prolific graffiti vandals”.

“After nine complaints and 11 reported graffiti incidents from Aug. 13 to Aug. 22, five youths, who cannot be identified under the Youth and Criminal Justice Act, were found to be responsible for the damage,” stated Huntsville OPP constable Lynda Cranney.

Some of the buildings in town that were the subject of the graffiti, which often included the letters FSM, standing for flying spaghetti monster, were the Huntsville Place Mall, the Huntsville Curling Club, the Huntsville Forester, among others.

Note to vandals: It’s nice that you care so deeply about your faith, but this type of thing makes us look really bad. There are plenty of ways you can Spread the Word without damaging other people’s property. I would be happy to suggest socially acceptable activities, just contact me.

Note to Huntsville: I’m sorry!

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#General

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Rastafarian faces punishment

Published September 28th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

Ben Daly, a high school student in Leakey, Texas is having trouble with his school district after refusing to cut his hair. It’s against his religious values as a Rastafarian, he says.

“We take citing from Old Testament, stating you’re not suppose to cut your hair,” Daly said.

Is it typical for schools to dictate acceptable hair length?

Superintendent Fred McNeil said Ben must follow the dress code like the other students. McNeil admitted Rastafarianism is a religion but needs the support of the school board.

I call bullshit on that, Mr. McNeil. If this student was Hindu or an Orthodox Jew with too-long hair, this would never have been an issue. This kid found trouble because some small-minded person in your administration had a problem with his fringe religion. They thought it was a joke and pushed their weight around. You could have smoothed things over and told them to leave the kid alone, but you didn’t.

This kid is going to sue your district for religious discrimination, and he’ll win.

The article can be found here.

Note to Ben: I’d like to suggest that you explore the other _astafarian religions. We would like to have you as a member. You can keep your hair however you like it.

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#Evangelism #General

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Preaching the good news of the FSM

Published September 27th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

This is pretty good. Nice work – I admire your motivation.

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#Evangelism #General #Pirates

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Argentina billboard promotes Pastafarianism

Published September 26th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

Thales spotted this giant billboard in the Cordoba, Argentina airport. Notice the Pirate Fish. Lindsay spotted a similar ad in an Argentine magazine several months ago – posted here.

I translated (poorly) the text of the ad as follows:

To Know – The Argentina Cultural Patrimony – To Take, Yes – To Take, No.

Lindsay interpreted the print ad as: The ad sponsored by the Argentine federal government is explaining what things can be taken out of the country, such as tattoos, and what things cannot, such as fossils. Its a cultural preservation type text.

The web address printed, www.cultura.gov.ar (notice the government domain), seems to confirm this. The website appears to belong to a cultural preservation organization.

What is intriguing is that there is no mention of the Pirate Fish on the website. Why did they use our symbol for their advertisements promoting cultural preservation?

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence they used the image of the Pirate Fish – one of our most sacred symbols. But, I choose to interpret it as the first step towards official recognition of Pastafarianism by the Argentine government.

It makes sense; I’m told Argentina is a devoutly Catholic country. The government is smart to gradually introduce a replacement religion; too suddenly, and people would surely protest. The Pirate Fish ad could be explained away as a “mistake” or “coincidence” if trouble arises.

What’s next Argentina? I’m happy to help. I would be pleased to visit your country to help spread Pastafarianism awareness.

Click for a less-small version of this picture.

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#Evidence #General

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Yip-Yips – evidence of FSM?

Published September 25th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

[I received this email from Jon, aka Hungry Hungry Hypocrite. I think he might be right. Please read his message, view the evidence, and decide for yourself. -bobby]

For the first time in my life, I am truly awake and can see the light. His Noodly Appendage has touched my soul and I am now resplendent in my pirate outfit, spreading the good word every Friday, Yarrrrr.

I now have an insatiable thirst for FSM truth and knowledge and have embarked on a quest to find further proof of His existence so that the one true faith can spread throughout the world.

Whilst searching online archives of the vaguest connection, I stumbled upon this primitive record, which I believe offers irrefutable proof not only of His existence, but that he may have sent little Noodly Angels to our world to spread his saucy love. It may also prove that HE may have visited himself in vaguely disguised form, or it shows a holy “duality” – the father and son. Perhaps it is the sons of FSM sent to live among us and save us from damnation. Only your wisdom can discern the truth.

Given the gravity of this discovery, I knew I should take this to the highest echelons of the church so this knowledge could be protected or disseminated before Dan Brown or some-other heretic tried to debunk it with their satanic, pasta-hating meddlings.

Yaaaarrr.
Jonathan

[He's referring to Sesame Street's Yip-Yips. Please take a look at the following pictures and videos.]

Videographic evidence:

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#Hate-Mail (and Concerned Criticism)

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370 Comments

I think you guys are taking it too far

Published September 24th, 2007 by Bobby Henderson

I saw your Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster website today.

Okay, it’s great to have a bit of a laugh, and I did when I read the bit about ‘our God having bigger balls than yours’ but I think you guys are taking it too far.

10 million people? Get real. No-one believes in that crap. Your only supporters are atheists, which means they don’t believe in a God.

Academic endorsements? You don’t need a PhD to understand God. Having a PhD does not mean that you can make judgements about God and religion, put them in a box and say “this is God”. No-one can do that.

Also, don’t you think that you might be offending some people? Openly discriminating another religion is not regarded as a decent thing to do. This is not the Crusades. Get with the times. We Christians don’t openly insult other religions on web pages, nor do they against us. There is nothing wrong with having a joke without poking fun at others.

Seriously, I think you guys are pathetic.

I’m not even going to try and counter your theories, because I don’t need to, they’re so stupid.

The reason I sent you this email was because I saw your hate mail page and thought I might contribute.

One last thing, to all you so-called ‘Christians’ out there posting hate-mail on this website, I don’t think you’re acting like a Christian if you threaten them with hell, or tell them God will punish them, because of the website.

You’re just as bad as the creators of the website.

Get a life, Mr. Henderson. Stop acting like a primary school kid.

You must be an AMerican, to come up with such crap.

If you want to actually be saved, read the real bible.

Please publish this on your hate mail page. Otherwise writing this email will have been in vain

-GSG

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