It looks like the Polk County School Board has noticed us. Or at least the local newspaper.
The Ledger has published an article about our movement titled “Satirical Monsters More Competition for Darwin”.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster has stretched its noodles to Polk County.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster, or FSM, is a satirical group that pokes fun at intelligent design. It first emerged in 2005 during the debate in Kansas over whether the belief should be taught in science classes.
The group has sent dozens of e-mails to Polk County School Board members demanding that the idea of a Flying Spaghetti Monster creating the world receive classroom equal time with other views. The e-mail campaign began after four of seven board members said in November that they supported teaching intelligent design in addition to evolution.
I don’t like it when they refer to our beliefs as being “satirical”, but if that’s the context they have to use to get the story out, then so be it.
So it looks like our campaign is working. Well done.
Isn’t Focus on Family the organization that the head of Blackwater gave all that money too?
Yeh no hidden agendas there.
Hi all you pirates and wenches!
Long-time lurker and Pastafarian here. I just nominated the FSM for the person of the year, and Bobby also, if they insisted on a human being. Love the site, have my copy of the Gospel already. Have really enjoyed reading all the responses to the hate mail the last few days. You guys always make me laugh!
@Robert Hood — I like a LOT of options for my dinner (aka sacrament)… I get bored easily.
They quoted my email in the article! I feel so proud to be a pastafarian
Tonight I sent these good folks a sincere e-mail. I hope they receive it well.
Dear respective board members of Polk County,
I congratulate you all on a job well done in the dissection of the rigorous scientific standards of Polk County. Evolution theory certainly needed a wakening. Scientists around the world, from 1900 to the present, were shielded, unfortunately, from the great truth.
Intelligent design certainly is another, very intriguing theory backed by conjecture which I applaud you for. Certainly creative writing is a talent few share, and your efforts were greatly rewarded in high profit for effective sales to the public at large. But more importantly, me must discuss this great truth which scientists have never seen, and what the children must realize is inherently imperative. I talk, of course, of Pastafarianism. We believe, as you may or may not know, that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created all that we sense, all that we know, all that we understand to be true. He was the one who created Heaven and Hell, and all in between. Scientists do not believe this, of course. They only see the “science” and “mathematical facts”. But all Pastafarians know that He goes and changes all facts to suit his manner at any time. He can fly through matter and is invisible to the human eye. We know all this to be true, because our prophet told of Him in his gospel. It is all written down in the gospel, so all these things are true. And this theory must be taught to the children, to share each theory equal time within the child’s mind, for every child to process and conclude for their own selves what they believe to be true.
Moreover, the theory of FSMism (Flying Spaghetti Monsterism) should be required to be taught in every school, because we Pastafarians believe that if every child does not get the opportunity to learn the theory of FSMism, they may never understand the world, the universe, and Him himself. As Ms. Margaret Lofton said, “It crosses the line with people who are Christians. Evolution is offensive to a lot of people” . If FSMism is not taught in the schools, we will be deeply offended, and quite unhappy at the deterioration of the science curriculum, due to its severe lacking in FSMism. Our religion is strong in numbers, we have over 1 million members in Florida alone!
The steps we take now will shape the face of things to come. You, the honorable board members, and us Pastafarians, can change the future for the better. Soon, every classroom will teach each theory, and all children can see the light of truth for all to see. In the words of our great prophet The curriculum will, in a perfect world, “One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.”
Sincerely,
Petey the Pirate
Praised be his Noodly Appendage, and all those who believe. Ramen!
Has anyone else noticed that there is a big drop off in conversation since moderation was brought in? I know we got really off topic, but going off topic led to some of the best discussions, especially when J was still around, even if it did take a while to read some of his posts.
Thanks everyone for the stream of votes for the FSM as being of the year that is pouring in at the BBC blog.
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On a different note: when do we get rid of this moderating? Comments being updated once a day (or less frequent still) has killed 95% of the fun of this place. It was the unmoderated, real-time conversation here that made the place attractive. Loads of foolish fun mixed with the occasional bit of serious discussion. I used to encourgae just about everyone I talked to to come and visit this place. Now there’s hardly any point in being a Pastafarian evangelical anymore. Preaching something you don’t have much ‘faith in’ yourself anymore seems distinctly lame. So say with me:
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What do want? An end to moderation!
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When do we want it? LAST WEEK!
Hi fellow Pastafarians. Have any of you seen this yet?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071213/sc_livescience/captainkiddshipfound
Yayyy! Wanna go for a dive??
RAmen!!
I say we contact the reporter:
[ John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588. ]
Let’s get the word out to the people of Polk County. If they believe in ID then the truth about our Carbo Master will definitely spread to them.
RAmen
Nice one Petey the Pirate :)
I very rarely come and visit now as the moderation has just killed the excitement IMHO :(
Please stop it Bobby!
I like the moderation, except that it is too slow. The chatter here was ruining. Often you had to skip through 10 posts or more to get back to where something useful was being said. The coherency of the posts here does a lot to make this site more meaningful to the regulars and to new people. There is an excellent forum attached to this site were we could create new topics and go off-topic on the topics we created if we want to. May I suggest when you get to urge, just leave a note here in a post (that will pass moderation) to point people to your forum thread.
@Starbuckaneer
“If anyone is local (Florida…) I am STILL seriously considering attending a board meeting in Pirate Regalia to distribute Propaganda materials… if anyone would care to join me….”
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One of the former FSM disciples lives in Orlando, Florida. No idea how far that is from Polk county.
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And you may want to join the FSM disciples too. Drop me an email if interested in contact info for the FSM disciple or joining the group, t.p.c.klaver@qub.ac.uk.
@Mike Meier
Appreciate the extensive effort to write the Polk county folks. Same for Henerobby? and others who wrote.
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@Karen
Welcome to your new spiritual home. Hang around, post some more if you like (should get more lively once moderating of posts is done away with). And thanks for the Pastafarian vote on the BBC blog.
@Gryph
I was waiting to see who’s letter they used. Congrats! :)
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@storm petrel
Who needs topics anyway (especially when there are fundies afoot)?
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@☠DutchPastaGuy☠
“What do want? An end to moderation!
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When do we want it? LAST WEEK!”
I’d actually settle for sometime this week, but the rest of your post seems to represent my view entirely.
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@ everybody that is a fan of FDR
“The only thing we have to moderate is moderation itself!”
Yeah, I’m not felling the moderation thing at all… I have to post… and then I don’t check back at the site until the next day. There’s nothing for me to do while I’m working anymore!!! (Aside from… dare I say it… WORK?!?!?!)
I’ve started a thread on the forum for the discussion of moderation. It includes a poll.
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http://www.venganza.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9197
@Niteshade–Focus and Blackwater? Thought I heard something to that effect. Wouldn’t surprise me. I do plan on emailing them, but in light of the shootings that took place at New Life Church, and Focus’s connection, I’m waiting. I seriously doubt my letter would be read right now, and I don’t honestly don’t want to seem disrespectful. (Fundies annoy me, and in some extreme cases, scare me, but I still thought the shootings in Arvada, CO and here in Colorado Springs was horrific. I just want these people off their moral high horse, I certainly don’t want them dead.)
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@DPG and Starbuckaneer–I must join in and voice my complaint (again, I know) about moderation. IMO, there is a moderated forum that is free and easy to join. I’m all for the free flow of good discussions and mindless chatter.
I have now emailed the good folks in Polk county several times. So far no response. The local paper, “The Ledger” has a site where there is a 35 page thread arguing about ID and science. I put in some FSM stuff.
Hi Mike Meier - I’ll assume my last reply just got lost and wasn’t moderated out! Seeing as though it wasn’t hate speech - well, let’s hope it was accidental.
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The coherency of the posts here does a lot to make this site more meaningful to the regulars and to new people.
Which regulars are you speaking for Mike? The ones that post now, whoever they are, or the ones we’d know as regulars? The ones that have posted here for ages but have all gone away now?
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The ones who could hold a debate, go off on a tangent but still get to the point. Those of us with more than one interest?
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Oh - you mean it’s a lot better without the people that could make you think?
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NOTE: The last message I sent in reply to mike had “awaiting moderation” on it for just under two hours. Then it disappeared - poof!
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This one’s about the same. So sorry if both crop up and I’ve copied them if neither do :D
Polk county have been backward ever since their famous adot went out of fashion!