The Michigan Tech University Pastafarian club has been the victim of harassment even before their first meeting. The MTU Lode reports:
Two individuals are currently undergoing disciplinary procedures through the Dean of Students Office after an investigation by MTU Public Safety determined that they posted a threatening message on the door of the President and Vice President of a recently-formed student organization called the Pastafarian Club.
Some background on the MTU Pastafarian club’s leaders:
According to the president of the Pastafarianism Club, Matt Halberstad–who identifies as agnostic–the group is a parody “religion.” But the group’s purpose isn’t to attack religion, and one would be hard-pressed to find a member of the group who truly believes in their parody deity–the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The vice president of the Pastafarian Club, Steven Wheeler–who is atheist–believes that Henderson’s argument boils down to the main belief of the Michigan Tech chapter of the Pastafarians: creationism, whether or not one believes in it, is not a science, and should not be taught in a science classroom.
I agree with that, but there are people - maybe not in this particular club - who do truly believe in the FSM. Also, I want to make the point that there are plenty of Christians who are members of the Christian religion without truly believing in the deity God/Jesus.
The harassment was hateful, not unlike some of the messages I receive. In part, the message said:
they [Pastafarians] should be shot and hanged from the tallest redwood and then thrown to the raging sea.
The individuals who left the hate messages were caught and are now facing a hearing:
The Bias-Related Harassment and Violence section of MTU’s Code of Community Conduct covers threats due to one’s “race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, religious or cultural identity, sexual orientation, gender-identity or gender.” The penalties for violating the Bias-Related Harassment and Violence section range from disciplinary probation to expulsion.
The outcome of this will be very interesting. Even if the death threats were not meant to be taken seriously, they were still hateful messages directed at members of a religious group on campus. What if the harassment had been instead directed at an Islam club? I strongly suspect the kids would be expelled.
I wonder if the school admins are willing to make the statement that Pastafarians deserve less protection against religious harassment than other mainstream religions.
That said, I don’t think these kids should be expelled. But it would upset me if a Pastafarian organization received less protection than another religious organization (or any other organization).
I guess we’ll see what happens.
Read more about it here.
Hi All,
Irrespective of whether the FSM is a Parody religion, a social protest against teaching ID as a science, a real religion or simply a group of oddballs looking for some comedy relief, the actions of the students in question is unacceptable and needs to be treated seriously.
That said, it seems to this oddball that FSMism has become something more than it was first intended to be. It is now more than a simple protest and has become (dare I say it) a bastion of rationality. May word of His Noodly Goodness spread through all the seven seas! Arrr
While i admit, willfully pointing out the flaws of the religions of others is perhaps not the greatest of ideas, the fact that people tend to overreact in these cases seems ridiculous, i mean, if you had actually worked to discover what we are talking about and understood our (usual) parodic nature, the harassment would cease…i really am talkin in circles here, so i am gonna get to the point: DON’T KNOCK IT TILL YOUVE TRIED IT.
-yer donkey friend from the natural satellite.
Here’s a link to the defaced Wikipedia entry:
http://tinyurl.com/27xurf
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Pretty lame attempt at vandalism if you ask me
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St John the Blasphemist
Saint of Decent Plans Of Attack
@ ☠DutchPastaGuy☠, you’ll never know if there are enough patafarians in QUB unless you go looking for them. If you know any of the rowers we might know a few people in common.
@storm petrel
Sounds very good. Care to contact me outside the site here (if so, try t.p.c.klaver@qub.ac.uk)?
@ St John the Blasphemist-
Yes it was pretty shit. If I was going to do shit like that I’d at least scatter the insults through out the broader text so they would be harder to find at a glance and have grater effect to anyone reading it (as it would appear to be part of the original text).
Just goes to show that once again we out class our rivals in every way.
It reminds me of the kids who draw cocks on the posters at bus stops. Very sad.
@ ☠DutchPastaGuy☠, I’m actually in UL (Limerick, not London), I just know a few from rowing. Also having a few problems with e-mails, I’ll drop you line whenever I get around to sorting it.
@Iron Bess
i think it’s awful. these guys are douches and noone should impail the balls of meat
People who make death threats against anyone should be expelled. The school has to make a stand as to what kind of community it is and what kind of community it wants to be. There’s no place at a university for neurotic whining bullies who make ostentatious death threats against others in the community.
People in the FSM club should not have had this threat directed at them. I never see anyone of a religion threatening anyone else of a different religion. I never see a christian threaten a jewish person with hell or anything. Why should it be different with us?
I
People in the FSM club should not have had this threat directed at them. I never see anyone of a religion threatening anyone else of a different religion. I never see a christian threaten a jewish person with hell or anything. Why should it be different with us?
I
I’ve heard of that.
WWII. i’m 90% sure Hitler was a christian.
Oh joy. Hopefully these hicks get treated to the same kind of discipline as they would have if they had attacked a Jewish or Muslim club. The Church of the FSM may not be entirely serious, but Atheism, Agnosticism and Humanism certainly are.
ObPeeve @Iron Bess: “Leads to” the question, please. “Begging the question” is another term for circular reasoning.
Arrr!
Come on me laddies, let’s force these men to jump from our ship into shark infested waters, like we always do.
Dead men don’t bite.
@RDPW
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@I love eruptions in heaven - I’ve seen both sides of that argument. I believe at this point it will be difficult to prove that one, both sides have been arguing about that for years. No one, not even crazy, fundy, nutbars want to be associated with Hitler.
“Typo galore, but who cares. Most pirates must have been illiterate in their days anyway.”
Typo galore? (Don’t you mean “typos galore”?) The only errors were “torn town” should have been “torn down” and there were a few instances of Halberstadt’s name that were spelled “Halberstad”. I know this because I’m the journalist that wrote this article.
Due to a glitch in the system, the editors actually used an incorrect draft of the article–there was a bit more information in the newer version, but unfortunately, it did not get published. Also, Public Safety actually DID comment on this issue–but again, the wrong version got published. Additionally, the typos were corrected in the newer version.
“I’m so sick of pandering journalists smirking cheekily as they confess that “well actually you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who REALLY believes… its just a parody religion.” Would they say that about Islam, or Mormonism, or Scientology? Just because YOU don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t true, and doesn’t give you the right to say that I don’t fully believe it.”
Speaking, again, as the journalist who wrote this, I will tell you that this is what I was told from the president and vice president of the club. And it doesn’t apply to all Pastafarians. Just most of them (or all of them) that are in this chapter of the club. Please be careful when you make assumptions. I am a journalist–and I strive to be a GOOD journalist. I record facts and what people believe and I do not insert my own opinions into the article. If I could have found someone who actually believed in the FSM, I would have mentioned that. I do not pander or take sides.
If I wanted to write an opinion article, it would have been clearly marked as such. And for those that are curious, yes, I took much offense to what was written, and I really like what the Pastafarians stand for. But if I write a follow-up article, I will not let any opinion I have affect my coverage of a news issue as is the standard of good journalism everywhere.
Now, for an update. The individuals who wrote the harassing message have gone through an informal hearing with the Pastafarians. The outcome has not yet been officially released, but I am looking into this. I want to say I’m fairly certain it didn’t turn out favorably for those accused of writing the message, as the IP was pretty easily tracked to a specific room. (I believe Public Safety did this with the cooperation of Resnet, the on-campus ISP, because otherwise it would not be possible to pinpoint the room, only the building it came from.) Additionally, the individuals charged are consenting to an interview about this, but by University policy, their identities must not be revealed. So I’m gonna see if they have anything worthwhile to write a follow-up article about.
If you have any questions about the whole situation, feel free to point them my way, as I could probably get the information for you if it’s available.
Alas, this is another sad instance where members of our peaceful religion are being needlessly attacked. I wish others would realize that their own religions’ codes of conduct also call for peace.
Be safe MTUites!
if this kinda thing happened in the navy, those who were caught sending threats would probably either be kicked out and made to pay back any bonuses, and if not, then definately locked up in “restriction” for 2 or so months. with any luck, the aggressors will feel the touch of his noodly appendiges and chill the hell out