Last updated 7/2008
Q: Who are you?
A: My name is Bobby Henderson. I’m 27. I grew up in Oregon and move around a lot. I have a physics degree and have successfully avoided a “real” job for years.
Q: Did you really send the Open Letter to the Kansas School Board?
A: Yes. But, I received no replies until after I posted the website online and the School Board started getting lots of emails about it. You can read some of the responses I received here.
Q: Are you an atheist / heathen / what?
A: I don’t have a problem with religion. What I have a problem with is religion posing as science. Teach Creationism in school, fine, but don’t teach it in a science classroom. And don’t change the definition of science so that you can teach these things. That’s retarded.
Supernatural explanations are by definition not science, so why would you teach them in a science classroom?
Religion, itself, isn’t bad. But it isn’t necessarily good, either. There are plenty of good Christians (and Muslims, and Buddhists, and Hindus), and plenty of bad ones.
Dogma is bad for everyone.
Q: You are making God angry.
A: I doubt it. If there’s a God, and he’s intelligent, then I would guess he has a sense of humor. And how do you know He is NOT a Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Q: Do you make money off this?
A: Yes. The Church makes money off T-shirts, car emblems, book sales, and occasionally donations. We are saving a lot of money and pretty soon here we’ll buy our first Pirate Ship which will serve as a floating church, open to all Believers.
Q: Your graph is messed up.
A: No, it’s not. The X-axis doesn’t have to represent time. And the data points don’t need to be in order. A graph is just a collection of data points, I can display them however I want. It might not be what you’re used to, but it’s not messed up. Please stop writing me emails about it (well over 200 at this point).
Q: There are more pirates now than ever. Look at the South Pacific. And song-downloading pirates, and blah blah blah.
A: Real pirates use swords (cutlasses, actually). Those “pirates” in the south pacific are guys with machine guns, cruising around in power-boats. They’re not pirates. And the song-downloading “pirates” are smelly nerds, and therefore not real pirates.
Q: Your grammar/spelling/etc is bad.
A: Yah.
Q: You’re wrong. It’s actually a linguini / mashed potato / dinosaur / elephant / whatever monster.
A: Maybe He just disguises Himself as those things. Also, you’re not funny.
Q: Can I reprint your letter?
A: Yes. Send me a link, please.
Q: Acceptible use of content?
A: It’s ok with me if you’re using the FSM images/content as long as it’s not for profit, and you’re doing it to further the Cause of the church. I.e. printing out FSM propaganda materials and distributing them is ok (and encouraged). Making FSM t-shirts, selling FSM merchandise, etc. is NOT OK.
Q: What blogging/cms software are you using?
A: The recently redesigned site is built on the Wordpress platform with the K2 template.
Q: How many members are there?
A: I don’t know. There are no membership records as such, so I can only guess based on the amount of traffic the site receives, etc. Traffic to date (September 2006) is somewhere in the vicinity of 350 million hits, and around 15 million unique visitors. Google returns close to 2 million results for the phrase “flying spaghetti monster“. So, who knows – your guess is as good as mine.
Q: Why Pirates?
A: We believe that humans evolved from pirates. Consider that humans share around 95% DNA with monkeys, and more than 99.9% DNA with pirates.
Q: Interview requests
A: I’m happy to answer your questions. I recommend you just send me your questions in an email with a subject that I’ll notice, like “INTERVIEW QUESTIONS”. You don’t need to ask permission or set up an interview for some future time, just send me the questions. Thanks.
Q: Website statistics
A: Somewhere around 10k-40k visitors per day, and somewhere around 500k-1million hits a day. Hits are extremely high because lots of people hotlink images,etc from the site. Which is fine w/me.
Emails – depends, but 50 per day is not uncommon. I have 13,839 unread emails right now (9/25/06). I’ll get to as many as I can.
Q: Why is there an FSM banner on my MySpace profile?
A: It’s a virus/worm that WAS NOT CREATED BY ME. I had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry – it caused everyone a lot of problems, and I do not approve of this sort of thing. You can remove it by following the directions here.
More questions? Ask me below, or email me at bobby.henderson@gmail.com
keep up the good work
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are there any holidays other than talk like a pirate day?
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This is very interesting. I have decided that I need more information and I went to Borders today and Purchased a copy of the Gospel. I think that I shall follow the wisdom of the great Flying Spaghetti Monster. He has truly touched my life with his Noodly Appendage. I hope that others will find Him as well. I’ll be passing out flyers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania soon.
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According to you, Heaven is a place with “Stripper Factories” and “Beer volcanoes” but what is there for women?
Also, how do i practice this religion on a day to day basis so i may correctly appease Him?
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venganza means revenge in spanish. I’m wondering if there is any significance for choosing that word for the website.
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Livvymelilly:
You get buff, male strippers, in all probability. Remember, the FSM is infinite in his wisdom and benevolence. And as for the beer…who doesn’t like beer?
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hey my friend says he signed something in which you say that you believe.
it was on this website, a few years ago.
where is it on the site, i can’t find it (if it still exists)
he also said that if there are more then +- 15 million people who say they believe, then in america there must be given lessons at schools about FSM. really cool but is it true?
bas
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Meh- there are people here who have used the phrase “revealed truth” with seriousness related to Adam and Eve. It is almost cute- like a four year old who believes in Santa because he’s too ignorant not too.
Hmm…
Also: how would two pastafarians have a wedding ceremony?
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I wonder if this religion is compatible with vegetarianism. There are, after all, those meatballs to consider.
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How can I possibly be a decendent from the same place as the idiots that claim to be “religious” or “christian” but yet send you such hipocritical and ignorate mail that is so full of hate.
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Whoa– you (Bobby Henderson) has great responses to some of these questions. They’re humorous, but you have a really true point. His Noodly Appendage must’ve guided you through such harsh and ridiculous questions….
Ramen.
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Let me see if I follow. The Church of the FSM has existed for 100s of years. The FSM could be our god, and humans evolved from pirates. If these are all true, then how is it that YOU have exclusive rights to exploit and merchandise the religion? If you have a legal copyright or trademark or some means to keep me from exploiting the followers of FSM and making a profit for myself (e.g. selling t-shirts), then you logically imply that its all your own fabrication, that its your property, that it belongs to you. You therefore prove it’s not a real religion, and thus severely contradict yourself.
That said, and even though none of this has any kind of merit whatsoever, I do think its kinda funny. In fact I put FSM pictures on my Spaghestivus cards. and I beleive me, I wish I could design a concept that sold enough T-shirts to keep me out of work. For that, sir, I salute you. You’ve done well for yourself.
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Just asking is there a hell for bad people? Or is there Satan? Or is The Great Spaghetti Monster above that sort of thing which only god can endorse?
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Hell yeah, I’m converting.
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You all need prayer!!!
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@Shawn Dec 28th, 2007 at 10:49 am
“You all need prayer!!!”
.
Oh…you’re right!
Let us al raise our sporks and pray….
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“Our father who art on a plate,
Tasty be his sauce, thy kingdom come,thy meatballs will be cooked,
on the inside as they are on the outside,
Give us this day our garlic bread,
and forgive us of our spilt pasta, as we forgive those who spilt pasta on us,
and lead us into fine italian wine, but deliver us from cheap wine.
RAMEN”
{By Cheesus Christ. Oct 28th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/responses/comment-page-1/#comment-9724}
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Or…maybe..
.
“Our spaghetti
Who art in the colander
Hallowed be thy sauce
Thy serving come
Thy strands be wrung
On forks as they are on spoons
Give us this day our daily meatball
And forgive us our starchiness
As we forgive those who are starchy against us
And lead us not into Kraft parmessan
But deliver us from Chef Boy-Ar-Dee
For thine is the garlic
And the onion and the bay leaves
For ever and ever.
R’Amen”
{Author Unknown :(}
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@Shawn
Tried prayer – didn’t work. Not even once. Never felt better, never got what I needed.
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Tried science – works. I push my computer’s “on” button, it turns on and takes me to the internet. My phone rings, my car takes me places, my TV feeds me pablum. I can rely on this stuff. My e-mail, although sometimes unavailable, is way more reliable than god.
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Tried Pasta – that works too. There’s this full satisfied feeling after our noodly worship on Friday nights. Prayer can’t match that.
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Maybe prayer only works if you really truly believe it will. There’s a word for things like that: “Placebo”
.
Ramen
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I find the humor (in the funny way, not the freak way) unrelenting that there were no posts on the day Jesus participated in one of the following events that if I had gone to church and payed attention, would remember: died/birthed/burried/entombed/arose/spoke/ate/drank/told a parable.
Eat that religious fundamentals and while you’re at it, forgive my misspelled words. My priest/pastor/ministor/chick in charge/big daddy/emam/rabbi/witch(ess)–she’s transgendered, certainly already did, then told me to stay away from microsoft products.
Praise the Pasta.
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Proud of you, guy who started this phenomonon.
I dig your ability to change the world from your favorite pub or coffee shop, really I do. I did it the hard way, and although you can’t get to all of your email, it is easier than getting to all of your real live human beings. Stay strong and continue to allow the distractors to humor you. I could be really goofy and tell you that bob, jerry, and probably your third cousin on a step-parents side are all really proud of you, but you don’t want the praise (if you love me, send cash–pbr went up to 5.99/12 pack).
You rock. Don’t let them win.
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Can I give your book to my teacher of what I call God and body(really biology) as a challenge to the system of our public education? Please? I also wish to inform you that Alabama has recently passed a Bible study/interpretation guide as a textbook!
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All Great Prophets shall be praised. Bobby Henderson, as the one True Great Prophet of Pastafarianism shall NOT be begrudged the benefits of t-shirt sales.
The Pirate Ship shall sail, with the True Great Prophet at its helm.
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‘Tis a truly wonderful thing you have done here. Your words are true and well spoken. I was shown this page thinking it to be no more than a goofy joke full of absolute stupidity but I leave this reply telling you that your views are truly enlightened! I wish you that your noodles always be tasty and that you continue on the path towards the great and powerful Flying Spaghetti Monster!
Ramen!
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At first I was slightly offended, because I am Christian myself, but I admit I do see your point about changing rules to teach religion in a science classroom. I’m not saying I don’t want to try to bring people to my religion–because I do, of course, as well as pretty much every person who is religious–but I think the reason for it is because religious people are afraid of religion being shut out. Not too much of an excuse really, because people are free to believe in whatever they like. But just saying.
Anyway–I’m gonna stick with my God, but you do have a point.
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ha ha this is like the Wall of Shame page on Mugglenet.com, only a lot shorter!
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Is there anything for a female to look forward to in FSM heavan? I’m not that interested in beer or strippers. Will wine be available? possibly some shopping?
Thanks,
A
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how much weed did you smoke when you thought of this religion
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At last a religion,you can sink your teeth into.Having been raised inthe Catholic Faith,where all that was offerred in the way of sustinence was a thin piece of bread once a week,at least with this I can enjoy Services with garlic bread on the side and Rum to wash it down……..By the way,where do the faithful stand on noodles??????
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Truly brilliant. Only in a country where they actually teach religion in a science class can one come up with such an excellent spoof on God. I am from the UK and gladly religion does not have a place in science classes. We have the problem of publicly funded Catholic schools instead. I don’t have a problem with religious schools that are privately funded, but do have a problem with publicly funded ones especially when they select Catholic children over non-catholics.
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Arrrr me Maties,
Bobbles reporting in, Captain of the good ship rEVOLution at your service Sir! Busy recruiting Pirates left and right, standing up for truth, love, peace, unity, brotherhood and FREEDOM among ALL sentient beings, striving to teach the integral vision by Ken Wilber, and to alert all people of the impending social, economic, spiritual, transcendental revolution that is impending upon society that will have a dramatic effect on all people and all ways of life, except, maybe, those that have learned to live in complete harmony with their suroundings(few and far between.)
All must understand the truth about our governmental systems of financial control, we must liberate ourselves from the domination hierarchy of the imperialistic elite and rEVOLVE our kosmos!
Peace and love to all the Pirates out there!
VIVA FREEDOM
Captain Bobbles
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Regarding the following question.
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Q: Acceptible use of content?
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A: It’s ok with me if you’re using the FSM images/content as long as it’s not for profit, and you’re doing it to further the Cause of the church. I.e. printing out FSM propaganda materials and distributing them is ok (and encouraged). Making FSM t-shirts, selling FSM merchandise, etc. is NOT OK.
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I just checked ebay and found 28 FSM-related items for sale. Many of those looked legit, but some may not have been blessed by our Noodly Master. They were unlike any offered through the site of the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster.
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Even if the prophet Bobby cannot stop the rip-off of our blessed images, we can. Boycott all unofficial merchandise. Buy only from official sources, as you will be advancing The Cause and moving us closer to that glorious day when we can all board our pirate ship and go forth to spread the word of our beloved FSM. Yaar!
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RAmen
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To: Jer & The Family Ennis
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“By the way,where do the faithful stand on noodles??????”
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Thank FSM, all noodles (except those of the heavenly FSM, of course) are created equal. We can all partake of His goodness in our own way.
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RAmen
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my friends don’t take me seriously when i say i am a pastafarian, and say i am only doing it for attention. however, i very much support the aims of the religion and i think a point needs to be made. how can i stop them being difficult about his issue (they say it’s not a real religion so i can’t believe in it :S) (they also say i can’t believe in it because it’s silly, i think they have missed the point)
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is this a suicide church
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Change page Colors. Nobody can read this.
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I believe I ate the Creator… what should I do? Does this qualify me to become a Saint?
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Franki,
Tell them to prove their religion is real. They can’t so this religion is just as real. Remind them when their religion started it had a small number of people then it grew. Ours will too.
Ramen!
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i think its totally awesome the church of FSM
and i agree, religion isnt a bad thing, dogma is
and science is science let it be… dont teach creationism in a science classroom.
you are infact my hero for the FSM
:D
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i’m a potential convert to pastafarianism, but i just want to confirm that after devoting myself to this religion, upon my death i’ll encounter some male strippers in heaven, too …and are there possible merlot-spewing volcanoes?….i mean, beer’s great, but i like the idea of a heaven with variety
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Can we just say. GET FUCKING REAL TO ALL THOSE HATERS. They come on here, saying all this shit to u saying ‘ITS NOT REAL’ yadda yadda yadda…ummmm WHAT DO THEY THINK U R – DUMB? Clearly this is a creation of sumthing fun- sumthing different. Not necessarily authentic.
They know this, yet feel sum sort of threat…. threatened enough in sum way to get shitty about it. Pffff..
ne way we love how u posted your hate mail. ballsy. love it
shows ur holding your own and not caring bout their opinions..and practically rubbing it in the haters faces by not hiding any of it
anyway all the best,
hope the Kansas schoolboard respond
Kristina & Casley
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Bobby,
*
I really appreciate this page, the first time I landed on it I almost pee in my pants of laughter. It’s very creative, of course many will argue is not original but that’s not the point. I wanted to congratulate you on making this such a fun past-time for me, my husband, some co-workers and a few friends (yes I have been spreading the gospel of the FSM).
*
I actually wanted to ask you something and maybe you have gotten this question before but I’m seriously not looking forward to trying to find a similar question amongst all these posts. So here it is: Are you concern that some people might take you seriously on the teachings of Pastafarianism and go onto the world trying to create real churches and worship the FSM? It seems to be that people sometimes tend to be so gullible and believe anything they hear that it might as well be very plausible. I don’t know if you have wonder about this before but I would like to know what your thoughts are on this subject.
*
BTW, are you on Yahoo!Answers or is that just a poser with the FSM name, noodles.
*
May his noodly appendage be with you.
*
P.S. Oh! One more thing, what if you don’t like beer? What will I do in Heaven or Hell for that matter if I don’t like beer? I don’t mind wine or some mixed drinks but I can’t stand beer.
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Hey, ppl, my name’s Pito. How does one become a member, if at all?
Thanks.
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How are you going to deal with heretics? I suggest setting up an Inquisition (it has been tried before and was successful for a while). I would like to volunteer as one of the guys that get to heat up the branding irons (I did a blacksmiths course for a while until I got over enthusiastic with the forge and burn the school down – I promise to be more careful next time). Can’t wait to get going!
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Just to clarify, I believe anyone can “take this seriously” or take it as a joke as much as any other religion. If you look at the activities surrounding traditional religions and belief systems and broaden your view, just about every ordered human social activity has religious qualities. Think sports fanatics and conspiracy theorists. Is bigfoot real? Does anyone worry that bigfoot might be taken seriously? Does anyone worry that the concept of 72 virgins awaiting suicide bombers in heaven might be taken seriously?
Why do people suggest that this religion declare itself false? No others ever have.
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youve gotta be kidding me, this seriously sounds like its trying to make a mockery out of the Roman Catholic Church.
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Do you eat spaghetti?
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may his noodly appendage be with ye believevers and damn all other to hell
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How do you pray to the great FSM I’m a new convert to Pastafarianism and I just really want to know the practices. So whenever I eat I can pray to him before every meal giving thanks. And also to ask for his help whenever I’m down on my luck.
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ananonymus? That’s a new one on me. I don’t think you quite read things here closly enough, Mr. lower case a. This church does not discriminate. We sound like we’re making a mockery out of pretty much every church, at least the ones that try to stuff their beliefs down our throats. Leave us alone, and we’ll leave you alone. Although, I must admit that the enthusiasm with which so-called *mainstream* churches to attempt to infect the general population with their particular delusions is quite remarkable, and seems unlikely to abate any time soon.
Oh, and check out the dictionary for the definition of “apostrophe”. You’ll (see!) be amazed at what they can do.
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Ana Nonymus,
Too late, the RCC has already done enough by itself. FMS is just expanding the feeling to ALL religions, in an equal opportunity manner.
Pito,
FMS pastafarians aren’t made, they just suddenly become one in their heart. Welcome to the fold my child!
Gabs,
Never fear, our great FMS has provided! Besides the usual swill sold on the market as “beer”, some fine craftsmen (following secret orders from FSM Itself) produce some wonderful Boks, Stouts and Porters. My wife didn’t like “beer” until I introduced her to Eko Ruben Dunkel, Spaten Optimator and Negro Modelo. Now she’s a regular brew drinker, but still hates “beer”.
Kristina and Casley,
True Pastafarians are never bothered by hate mail and infidels. It just makes for a richer target environment when we put on the eye-patch, get out the cannons and blast them with the truth, love and meat sauce that is the FSM! RAmen.
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Thank you for fighting for children. Not many are willing to take up this noble fight and more needs to be done, you sir are quite frankly a pioneer when it comes to the introduction of broadening the minds of children and therefore the collective conciseness. Please let me know if any other brilliant insight brings you to a point that it is once again time to take up the pen, as well as if there is anything I can do to help.
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