I wrote the Open Letter sometime around January of 2005 and posted it online several months later after receiving no reply from the Kansas School Board. Within days of posting it online, the letter became an internet phenomenon, generating tens of thousands of visits each day, as well as personal responses from the school board members themselves. To date (August 2006), the venganza website has received upwards of 350 million hits, and somewhere in the proximity of 15 million unique visits. This website operates on a dedicated server and uses 600 – 800 GB/month in bandwidth. I’ve received over 15,000 emails in response to the letter.
The letter, after being blogged heavily for months, was printed in several large newspapers, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Sun Times, and many others. The newspaper articles caught the attention of book publishers, and at one point there were six publishers interested in getting the Word of the Flying Spaghetti Monster out to the public. In the end, the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was released by Random House in March of 2006.
It’s now been over a year since the FSM phenomenon started. I hope that a year from now we will be recognized as a legitimate religious organization, with all the same benefits *and tax loopholes* that the mainstream religions enjoy.
Please leave me a comment on the Letter, the FSM movement as a whole, or whatever you like. Thanks,
-Bobby
The events of this past week’s hijacking and hostage situation clearly demonstrate the dangerous nature of your church. The followers of FSM, Pirates, got what they deserved. Even if your FSM does exist, I won’t follow such an aweful creature that would command his followers to hold heroic men like that captain hostage. I’d rather join the navy and become a pirate hunter. Let 2009 be the year to end the ignorance of the COTFSM and the year to end piracy! DEATH TO PIRATES!
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Bazz @3250
Excellent points Bazz.
“at the very least include the words “midgit not to scale””
Supported!
RAmen
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Jona Noodle sets the field and draws a line
Birds try hard to fly in spine
And all moves in the tick smell of pine
Consuming letters.
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Hey, nice tips. Perhaps I’ll buy a bottle of beer to that man from that chat who told me to visit your blog :)
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are u people retarded? wat in gods name makes u believe that some fuckin plate of spaghetti can fly, creat midgets, mountains and then it jus randomly decides to fuck with scientists test results? u people need to stop smoking and drinkin and shootin up cause u people have to be on all that shit to actually believe this.
p.s go take ur plate of spaghetti and shove it up ur self ritous asses
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LMFAO WHAT THE FUUUCK DUDE??? SERIOUSLY??? YOU DOENT HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO WITH YOUR TIME?? WOW HOW DISRESPECTFUL.
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Sir, I personally believe that you are mentally rwtarded, or on some kind of hallucenogenic drug. You need to stop spreading the “word” around unless you are doing it as a joke. In that case, it is hilarious and keep doing it.
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Now I understand. When our grand-grand parents were kids, not more than 5,000 years ago, as we all know as a fact, they played with dinosaurs while ingesting vast quantities of pasta.
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Recent activity off the horn of Africa proves, indisputably, that Global Warming is in decline. All rejoice! ARRRRR!
http://www.venganza.org/piratesarecool4.gif
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hi , this is my firist post , I found a link wiht 205 best free apps for iphone and ipod touch , is very nice !!!
http://uploading.com/files/58C1SPWW/205.Iphone.free.apps.zip.html
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this is no more surreal than the doctrine of faith that i was brought up to follow i.e. catholocism.
thank you.
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So…with the rise of piracy lately, for instance off the Somali coast, should we expect global temperatures to start to decline?
Please discuss.
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@ 3261 – April 17th, 2009 at – jim
How can you say such a thing? Surely belief in the FSM (who’s likeness can be bought in most convenience stores to eat) is far easier than belief an old man – who may not be a man and although older than anything may not look old, who is also his son (who got nailed to a tree, died then came alive again, then rose up on a cloud into the sky) and he is also the mother of his son, but although they are three, they are really one etc… I.e. 2+2= whatever you want…
I’m surprised that the ‘Jesus was an Alien’ doctrine has never really taken off. As a child it was my first thought when trying to work out a reasonble explanation for it all, before realising it is all a load of made up b****x anyway.
Nothing like the church of the FSM which is all completely true.
BTW, the verb to smite means approximately to hit. Smitten is one of the past tenses as is smote. Not generally used these days, but used liberally in the bible – cos the biblical god is a real b*****d and seems to like smiting things. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/smite
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Sorry it’s a bit late, but I hope that everyone had a happy ‘Guy nailed to a tree pagan festival’.
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haha, omg that is friggin wicked!! i love it, and i plan to print off a copy and leave on my teachers’ desks when they’re not looking, (if thats ok with you.) Aiight, haha thanks for the laugh!!
ur sincerly
Mickey
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1- I am the Spaghetti Monster, your flying, gluten-rich master.
2- You shall eat no food besides pasta.
3- You shall not make marinara sauce and call it tomato sauce cuz marinara has oregano and original tomato pasta sauce is only supposed to have basil in it.
4- Remember to eat spaghetti and hold them holy.
5- Honor thy silverware: you shall roll your noodles on fork alone, and not aid yourself with the wicked spoon, for It has fallen on the floor.
6- Don’t kill. Unless it’s the death penalty, that’s ok cuz most likely that black guy did it and had it coming. Also make war on middle easteners cuz they do not know the wholesome wonders of a pasta-based diet. Why do you think Italians live longer? That’s right dumbass, it’s the spaghetti.
7- Don’t commit adultery. In fact, while you are at it, live in shame of your genitalia and abhor anything that they are capable of doing. Instead binge on meatballs.
8- Tip waiters at Italian restaurants generously.
9- You shall not grate Parmesan cheese on fish-based pasta dishes, or fresh tomato sauce. You shall grate Pecorino on pesto and carbonara. May those that do not follow these precepts burn at the stake as preamble for their eternal punishment.
10- You shall not covet your neighbor’s spaghetti, nor his pennette all’arrabbiata, or his cotoletta milanese and his ground beef lasagna.
Ramen.
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This will go great as a paring with Jonathon Swift’s “A Modest Proposal!” I will use it as an example of *oops – satire – for 15 year olds!
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OK you guys, idk if your serious or not but i do know that you are leading a bunch of people of into the great lake of fire by telling them that there is this meaty spaghetti god out there that created everything.if i walked up to anyone of you and said that my big toe is a god and created everything would you believe me??no you wouldnt, and yet you still believe what some guy you dont even know made up….im just wanting some proof.but i know that you dont have any proof……God is real,Jesus is real, there all backed up by evidence. You guys can believe in this noodle god if you want but im serious its just a quick way to going to the lake of fire for eternity…..i still cant believe you guys are putting your faith into a meatball and spaghetti.Doesnt that sound so bogus?????
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metally retarted people believe in this stuff because they dont know any better ill be in heaven while you guys will be burning in the lake of fire because you dont believe in god that jesus died on the cross for us went through all that pain so you guys could go to heaven but you guy believe a peace of crap thing that does not live at all i eat this stuff
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I’m almost 60 now and have never been a believer of most or any religons except maybe Druidism, but I do believe in some sort of higher power and for some reason I have been flying a 3′x 5′ pirate flag for quite some time, maybe I am a believer of the FSM without ever knowing about it. Hum go figure. thanks for giving me a reason to believe.
thank you
Steve
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Bobby I do have one question
I love My wife’s Spaghetti can i still eat it without offending the FSM?
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I’m almost 60 now and have never been a believer of most or any religions except maybe Druidism, but I do believe in some sort of higher power and for some reason I have been flying a 3′x 5′ pirate flag for quite some time, maybe I am a believer of the FSM without ever knowing about it. Hum go figure. thanks for giving me a reason to believe.
thank you
Steve
P.S. Bobby I do have one question
I love My wife’s Spaghetti can i still eat it without offending the FSM?
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Dude.. Really, i have been sad, i have been happy, but now, I FIND THE REASON WHY. You have saved me FSM! THANK YOU! Every friday we all sit in grapics and workship you, we even have these two year old meatballs under Charlie’s bed. WE WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU! Erm, one question, is he single? Maybe he has like.. a mon-mon wife? … WHO KNOWS ANYMORE! WHO KNOWS!
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SAVE THE PIRATES! PIRATES! PPRRRIIITATTTESSS! Everyone, should, become, a, pirate, cus, if, not, we, be, fucked, ’suse, my. fwench. HEY ALEX! X3 DO YOU SEE MEEE? : D
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If I am not mistaken the theory of intelligent design doesn’t require an explanation as to who/what the intelligent designer is, simply that there is one. If this is the case, neither Christianity nor Flying Spaghetti Monsterism would be taught in school but rather a theory that would give some credence to both. I don’t believe your religion will have been neglected in the case that intelligent design is taught in public schools but rather all religions that believe in a creator deity (by far the majority view in the world today) will have been supported equally.
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Me and Charlie thank you for our daily noodles! We were in a bad place and now WE HAVE BEEN SAVED! THANK YOU!
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sam:
well. i find it interesting that you made a new religion for yourselves even though i find the midget in the drawing completely irrelevant. you have a good point though, considering the flying spaghetti monster very may well be just as legit as a christians God. so. good for you guys.
kristin:
i’m all for believing in whatever makes you happy. as an atheist, i would appreciate others having the same viewpoint. as for your spaghetti monster, i find it rather immature and somewhat mocking other religions. fuck you.
:)
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Oh my Flying Spaghetti Monster… OMFSM!!!!! This site has revealed the truth about pirates, and shows statistical evidence that the FSM is real, and statistical evidence about the decreasing rate of pirates. Now, these fun-loving pirates are on the verge of your extinction, however, me and a few friends have taken to spreading the word so that less pirates will be wrongly executed. I also must add, that — please — visit my website, I will soon be making an FSM bar for people to learn the truth. Hope your bandwith doesn’t run out. My site is incredibly simple, but I am 14 years of age and so I am obviously not as experienced at you as creating my website. Please, visit me, and email me at dimsim@live.com
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This being my first post I would just like to give thanks and praise to almighty FSM for the many sauces(both meat and vegetarian) he has bestowed upon us.
I, like many of you, am born again Pastafarian and am finally glad to learn of the real TRUTH that has been hidden from my eyes for so long. Its good to see so many brothers and sisters here praising his name.
May his sauce be everlasting and his cheese be plentiful.
Yours in faith,
Al Dente
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Wonderful!
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Wow this is awesome!!!! Here all this time I thought I was alone in my beliefs regarding the Flying Spaghetti Monster but I see that others shared my belief and I should not be afraid to express my beliefs as that may be what he wanted from me. Ok getting to a serious note– I like the questions this raises but I am Christian and I think everyone should give that a serious look too but that it should be done as faith based as that is what the Bible says to do, and not just based on scientific evidence. I think everyone should give Christianity a thought because after all what is there to lose. Anyways, your ideas really made my day and I wish you the best of luck but also hope that you will give Christianity a try. Have a great day and God bless (or in your case Flying Spaghetti Monster bless lol)
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I am of sound mind so, of course, know religon is / was ‘Opium for the People’ but after browsing through many aethiest or agnostic sites am getting concerned that many of ‘us’ are getting stuck up our own bums.
We are becoming self righteous with our ‘facts’ belittling the views of those around us.
I am of the opinion it is time to lose religon from our world in all but fairytales and death beds but remember it has played a part in getting us this far so at least give it the respect it deserves, if you want to air your superior and expanded mind do it to the extremists and the young.
And until you figure out a new system to mass produce faith in the populace dont be so cocky because a faithless world isnt necessarily a positive outcome.
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Hello Bobby.
I read this letter and was really interested in it because it is quite logical that there is an all-powered and all-knowing Flying Spaghetti Monster who created the world and the universe and wants to confuse us all. In fact, the missing pirates in the world are the reason for our problem with the heat. If we don’t get more pirates in the world, we have to learn swimming or we have to die. Some people will call us crazy, but we don’t are. If we don’t get full pirate regalia, our asses will get wet.
PS:Please excuse wrong grammar and so on. Ramen
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This is my second year teaching evolution in my high school Biology class here in Florida and this letter always starts a great discussion! Very clever, very clever!!!
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With the recent rise in number of pirates worldwide, His Noodliness should be quite pleased. That should explain the election of President Obama and the landing of that plane on the Hudson. I’d like to see statistical analysis of the His Noodliness’ recent pleasure.
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I love this!! My boyfriend Pablo and I are always looking into new religions, and this just makes sense to both of us. This is great!
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Wenaz, bueno esta carta va en español ya k no se me da muy bien el ingles pero bueno; yo creo ke sus argumentos son muy validos y sobre le dan un nuevo punto de vista ala teorias del la creacion y sobre todo se impusieron sobre las adversidades de el sistema y lograron su cometido, me da gusto k por fin encuentre una relion flexible y k no me reprima por mis ideales y sobre todo por una concepcion de Dios tan interesante, ademas de k tienes unos argumentos solidos de la creacion del universo, pero lo k mas me agrado fue sus mandamientos o Realmente prefiria que no… ya k se me hicieron sumamente atrayentes y sobre todo muy ciertos ademas de k no reprimen a quien practica esta religion; bueno eso es poco de la impresion que realmente tengo de udstedes y sobre todo del fundador de esta relion y pues no queda mas k paracticarla y gracias por mostrarme una vision del mundo mas alla k la mostrada por el crisitianismo, catolicismo y otras religiones…
P.D. soy un usuario latinoamericano mas especificamente mexicaco… XD
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um um um um um this is dumb if u beleive this u r going to hell. the end.
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I think the letter confirming belief in the F.S.M was very convincing.
well….. as convincing at intelligent design is at least.
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I eagerly await the day when the pastafarian bible will be miraculously revealed to one of us and condemn all nonbelievers to the spaghetti hell (especially those who condemn us to their hells).
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@ new convert #3290
We do have a gospel, you can find it at your local bookstore – as for Hell, the FSM is a kind and loving spaghedeity, he never condemns someone for something as petty as failing to worship him (unlike some other gods I could name *cough*); only really bad people like murders and people who make it their mission to harass others (these would be the condemners you mentioned) go to Pastafarian Hell (and even then, it’s not so bad, just stale beer and strippers with STD’s).
RAmen,
Sarah
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@ new convert: Already been done…get a copy of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
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These Christians that take the time to read this letter and responses need to really look into their hearts deep down and realize that it wasn’t God that wrote their Bible, it was written by His Noodly Appendage to make people think that they were also believing in something other than the truth, which is in fact that the FSM created everything! I mean most people that believe the Bible believe it so completely and blindly, we can’t have loons like that getting into our Spaghetti heaven! I’m glad that He made them believe this because this means there will be more pasta and meatballs for me once I arrive in this wonderful Carb and tomato paradise! Selfish? Maybe, but nothing comes between my starchy savior and I… Nothing! Not even those loony Christians and their make believe fairytales that they think are true! Just because something is a direct copy of the anchient Egyptian god Horace, and they have successfully brainwashed past generations through shame and persecution into believing that the very questioning of Jesus as a one true savior, doesn’t mean that there are not us out there with the intelligence(you like that I threw in the word intelligent, which is what they use to try and make their theory of fairytales seem like a legitimate argument, only creating a humerous situation in which someone like myself can point out that in no way have they used intelligence to come up with this so called theory, and have simply just followed the scary preacherman’s threats of “if you don’t you’ll burn!!”) to look back at the hundreds of religions that in an effort to control the masses throughout history compiled together the best of religions and made it a new one that every scared dead-end life pauper could wrap their simple mind around and cough up more money in hopes they too could walk the streets of gold one day… Yes, it was all a big hoax, sorry! A great boom to thumb through would be “The Great Lie: Biblical Religion”, don’t be scared there is no blaspheming of the name of His Great Noodliness, so it is pastafarian safe, I myself like to think of this as a reference to His great meatball Word that we hold so dear!
Thank you Fellow Believers for listening and being there with us in our great spreading of the word of the FSM, and also to you Christians who are confused, and think that God will save you, keep on believing your tales of giants and parting of seas and of men who lived hundreds of years, because you give me strength to go on each day both in equally satisfying ways, one gives me joy knowing that there still is hope for intelligence in this world, and the other for the comic relief and for the necessity of sites and groups just like this one, which is which?! I’ll let you be the judge! Thanks and Spaghetti Monster Bless! -Topher
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If the Universe is one big computer program, then clearly it is an example of “spaghetti code,” as it’s called in the trade.
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Bobby henderson, you are a genius. This is satire at its best man, I love you! But through all this humor, i have discovered my passion for the FSM that watches down on us all, and im becoming a firm beleiver. Thank you for this opportunity
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At least I now have holy reason to drink red wine with spaghetti.
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I too believe but my only question is what is the make up of the Giant Spaghetti Monster? I think His composition is Angel Hair pasta.
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:O So mush Info :O THis Is he MOst AMAzing SIte DUDe :D
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Thank you!
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Please, you left out giraffes in your illustration. Where do you think they came from!? We must show respect to all FSM’s creatures.
In Its Name (IIN),
B.G.
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