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
The Pygmies, closest descendants of the Midget, wouldn’t be too pleased with such a crowd!
P.S. for purists: Midgit, of course…
how do i join this mightily humorous movement?
wow i have become enlightened
@Alchemist - You cannot possibly be correct. All humans are descended from Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which is generally thought to have been in the Middle East. Granted, a few people have placed the Garden in Africa, but this idea seems to be based only on finds there of superficially humanoid remains, rather than on any reliable Revealed Truth.
Or am I missing something?
Can you be a Christain and a believer of The Flying Spagetti Monster?
@ jarrod:
.
You just did!
.
May his Noodly Appendage continue to touch you
.
rAmen
Oh, and THANKS Jean Bart for correctly speliing ‘midgit’ - there’s be a bit too much laxity in ths lately…
.
:-)
.
…and don’t ask me where ‘laxity’ came from - it was an moment of noodly-inspiration.
.
rAmen
I am writing a little thing about FSM and I was wondering if FSM was a benevolent god or not.
It would be nice if there was a search window for answers on the web site or even - answers direct from Him.
What I’d like to see answered in the FAQ is “What does “venganza” mean?”
I love the movement and have told bunches of folks about it. Bobby, I hope you’re rich and getting laid often.
xxoo
keep up the good work
are there any holidays other than talk like a pirate day?
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.
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?
venganza means revenge in spanish. I’m wondering if there is any significance for choosing that word for the website.
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?
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
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?
I wonder if this religion is compatible with vegetarianism. There are, after all, those meatballs to consider.
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.