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
This is the best thing since the Church of the Subgenius. Gotta like things that force people to think. Hail Bob!
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So, Bobby — does the recent upsurge in pirate population, particularly in and around Somalia, portend a decline in global warming? Based on the irrefutable evidence of your “global temp. v. # of pirates) chart, this would seem to be the likely outcome.
I only hope and pray (should I actually be praying?) that the FSM takes this increase in pirates into account while ruling the universe.
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This makes as much sense as anything else I have heard. Go with it!
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Brillient! Mr. Henderson, to put it simply, You are the single most brillient person i have ever had the pleasure to read about on the internet!!!!! And I agree with all these sentiments.
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I have seen the pasta – and it is good!
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To all you guys who this this is “fucktarded” or “satin worshiper” we have a right to believe what we want and i am outraged that some schools are trying to teach religion…. its just not right…
anyways i fully support fsm
-Ramen
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I found Chew onda intraweb spahegetti Monster– Ima conversion to pasafarianism… the troof is power full
thank you … I now see the pasta for the sauce
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Yes, but pirates are increasing in number, not decreasing. Don’t you listen to the news from Somalia?
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I believe….
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Sign me up, tho I’ll have to check with my higher power (me)to see if I can adopt another religion and keep mine own. Paulieannaism. Yes, Me of the Paulienation located in the heartland of the so called United States of America on planet Paul mistakenly called earth believes that all is Paul. But Me keeps an open mind & I am tantalized by his noodleiness. In fact I am about to embark on what may be a pilgrimage to the kitchen to start what may be a sacrimental or sacraficial rite. That I had already planned to make spaghetti sauce before I was lead to this site by NYT article may be proof that His Noodliness is calling me to join his delicious universe. I have been a pastafist as long as I can remember so I will ask forgivness from & give thanks to the tomatoes, celery, mushrooms, garlic, onions & cow being that will be sacraficed on the altar or “cutting board” this day in the 53rd year of my Lord, Me. So help me, Me.
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I am a late comer to the table but I have “eaten the beast” and found it to be totally scrumptious! Keep cooking for eternity.
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So the number of actual pirates is increasing, while global warming does too. There’s nothing for all good Pastafarians to do with this growing contradiction in the articles of our religion but bow our heads and take it on faith.
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u guys are fucking retarded fsm is a fucking cunt piece of shit lets see if he strikes me down…….. het fsm fuck you
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A prayer.
Oh great fsm please reverse the current trend of increasing pirate numbers. This winter has been too long. Please use your noodley appendages to sweep the oceans of these dastardly villans.
Amen.
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Do you get dipped into any kind of sauce upon conversion; “Pastized” if you will. If so, count me in.
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David in NYC’s:
You need not be concerned about the effects of the rise of modern-day pirates on the global climate. Somalian pirates do not wear puffy shirts, sport eye patches, or carry cutlasses so they do not really add to the pirateness of the universe.
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all hail the giant floating plate of spaghetti in the sky! no one has seen it and bobby henderson made it up but oh well! lets all just worship it because… i have no idea!!!! but it has a cool name so…… oh wait…. flying spaghettie monster…. hmmmm…. you can taste the cancer…
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“Somalian pirates do not wear puffy shirts, sport eye patches, or carry cutlasses so they do not really add to the pirateness of the universe.”
Right! They don’t even say “Arrrr me ‘arties” or sport parrots on their shoulders either. No resemblance to Real Pirates (TM)!
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Brilliant! Absolutely, positively without doubt brilliant! Thank you. :)
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Good show mates! But I have to say that the only flaw I see with this religion is that the number of pirates in the world has substantially increased over the past few months to way over 17ish. You need to update the graph! I hope that doesn’t change any of your scientific proof much. . .
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@concerned student
From what i’ve been able to gather about the religion, the somali pirates with their machine guns don’t really count. Pirates were adventurers who were treated as villains by Catholic Europe. The real pirates are those who walk with the big hats and cutlasses, not the machine guns and speed boats.
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@ – concerned student, #3320,
Just as Wil says, we are defining the pirates with whom the FSM is associated based on a somewhat older model:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=pirates-rational-choice&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend
RAmen
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This is simply wonderful. Hopefully, your pure genius can spread throughout the world. I am here to help in any way I can.
Todd
(is it still ok to eat Spaghetti?)
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@ – Todd, #3323,
It is considered a sacrament to eat spaghetti with sauce and meatballs. Appropriate substitutions for vegetarian or vegan, or gluttin-free meals are perfectly acceptable. I prefer some Pinot Noir; others prefer Chianti; some prefer brewed libations. The meal is to be eaten in joyful celebration. Love your family; help the poor; feed the hungry.
RAmen
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This is it!
I’ve finally found my religous calling!
This is what I believe and will make a fool out of myself to spread the holy teachings of F.S.M.
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I’m new to this religion. I have got to say this is the best religion ever! Everyone is so….chill and not worried about hell and shit.
Question: I have read alot on FSM and I know to go to heaven you have to worship FSM, but how do you go to hell? Not worship him? Is there “10 commandments”?
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Very well written, Bobby. Might I suggest a challenge? It appears you have decided to bow your knee to the religion of Darwinism. Perhaps you have not yet read the Bible and understand the claims of Jesus. If that’s the case, then please take the time to read this awesome Book, especially John in the New Testament. I would also challenge you to read Mere Christianity and the Screwtape Letters, both by CS Lewis … you sound like one who appreciates a cleverly written book and that you have some time on your hands! Please know you are now being prayed for by any Christian reading this letter — and fortunately for you, our God is not made of pasta… :-)
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Words can not describe the awesomeness I feel for this letter.
It’s hilarious!
I live in Kansas and as soon as I heard about the ruling I was infuriated.
Nice work.
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This is a wondrous religion. It explains everything. I used to believe in a Goddess called the Superlative Water, whose goal is the increase the water volume of all living organisms (temporary gains such as holding the bladder do not count). Upon first reading of the opening letter, I was convinced that the Flying Spaghetti Monster was but a messenger of the higher being, the Superlative Water, as Spaghetti does contain a great deal of water. But! IF the Noodely Being really does manipulate data with the noodily appendage, then it is quite plausible that the overwhelming evidence I have gathered in support of the Superlative Water may be false.
Support for the Superlative Water: There is a lot of water. It rains and moves all over the place by its own power. Clear messengers, the most famous of which is known as Katrina, have landed upon various shorelines preaching the good news. Also, her goal of increasing water volume in living organisms is clearly succeeding, far more consistently than any of the more accepted monotheist religions. Nor does it contradict the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolution. Enlightenment came to me while camping, when I forgot my rain gear and lost the ability to maintain homeostasis during a storm. I did not feel bad at all, it felt good and peaceful to be under such raw power of the water, it being inside and outside of me all at the same time. And then I saw the vision.
I shall now purchase this holy book of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. However, this shall only give me one version of the story. I must acquire more scientific evidence to invalidate one of these religions, or to merge them together. There is a great deal of evidence for both. Perhaps the Superlative Water is but another method used by the Noodle-God to lead mortals astray. To help me in my investigation, I would like to request that more intelligent hate mail be posted. I have read hundreds of emails, but they are all emotion based, and often self defeating. The lack of intelligence in the hate mails is apparent just from the lack of proper punctuation. Please post intelligent arguments refuting your God. It will help me decide. Until I receive further enlightenment, I endorse your effort to find the ultimate truth.
Sincerely, the appointed messenger of the Superlative Water,
Verruecte Kuh, known in your language as Mad Cow.
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@BJ #3328
1 – There is no such thing as “Dawinism” – if you were referring to evolutionary theory, it is a scientific theory, not a religion (much like the theory of gravity)
2 – If you had bothered to read any of the hate mail we’ve been sent and our replies to it, you would know that many of us are well aquatinted with the Bible – in fact, the words contained in the bible are precisely why many of us are not Christians, and for the rest of us, it usually the behavior of others who call themselves Christians
3 – I hope you realize how smug an patronizing (not to mentioned ill-informed) your post came across
4 – Please don’t pray for us, pray for starving people in Africa; better yet, donate to a charity, help an old person across the street, or otherwise actually do something in the physical world that helps someone else, and hopefully you will generate some positive feelings to counter-act the negative ones you evoked in others with your backhandedly insulting post.
RAmen,
Sarah
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@Nick #3327
Welcome to the congregation! You are right, we aren’t worried about Hell, because we believe that a benevolent deity does not send basically good people to Hell, regardless of their faith, sexual orientation, etc… (plus, Hell isn’t all that bad – just stale beer and strippers with STD’s). All your questions can be answered by reading our gospel – available at bookstores and many libraries (It’s also pretty short, so you don’t have to worry about wading through hundreds of pages of “begats” and such). In the mean time:
1) No, you don’t actually have to worship the FSM to go to Heaven (he’s not that vain), you just have to be a nice person.
2) Conversely, to go to Hell, you have to be a really bad person (like a murderer, or a hate-mongerer).
3) We don’t have commandments, we have the Eight I’d-Really-You-Rather-Didn’ts – they are general guidelines, but occasional mistakes are no big deal.
I hope this clears some things up for you, RAmen!
-Sarah
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Pastafarianism….I now know that the lure of a 1920’s mobster wasn’t all in my mind…It was/IS godly.
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You seriously believe that theres a all-knowing flying spaghetti monster, have you smoked your self retarded? Seems a bit far-fetched since spaghetti hasnt been around that long but of course you’ll have a reason behind this, some how lol.
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Adam
when you say spaghetti has not been around that long, you of course mean spaghetti made from wheat. the FSM is made from metaphysical spaghetti which as we all know has been around since the beginning of time, and is the substance which forms the building blocks of the universe. Human scientists refer to it as “string theory” but of course they mean strings of metaphysical spaghetti
Bob
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@Adam #3334
Our reasoning is very clear and simple, if you had bothered to read the “about us” section – all you’ve succeeded in doing is making yourself look like an idiot. RAmen.
-Sarah
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@ – Adam #3334,
Is our fictitious being any more far fetched and unbelievable than any other fictitious being? eg: 1) a talking snake? 2) Ra’s sun chariot? 3) Noah’s boat that could carry every bird and land animal? 3) Cerberus, the three headed dog? If you don’t understand the physics, you obviously don’t understand the ethics that these very earliest stories were meant to demonstrate. They were written by people to be told to other people in the context of an almost preliterate bronze-age society.
RAmen
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I am often irritated when I hear of negativity towards religion, when really it is negativity towards fundamentalism.
Being Hindu, I am well aware that our religious texts were not meant to be taken literally, but to serve as a way to teach people how to be with each other and how to find peace with God. Gandhi said it best when asked if he was a Hindu; he said “Yes, and a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew.” He knew that no religion held the final answer on everything, or anything at all.
I believe in God because it suits me. It is not scientific, although to me it does follow a degree of logic. If someone else does not believe what I believe, that does NOT mean they, or I, am wrong. It means they believe something different. Nothing more.
When religious text is taken literally, when people start believing that their religion is the only correct one, they will do ANYTHING to protect it because that’s where they have placed their emotional and spiritual anchors. Intelligent Design is an attempt to save a religion from the scientific facts that may one day wipe it out. It practically admits that science could prove their interpretation of the Bible to be utterly wrong, or there would be no need to worry about what the theory of evolution might reveal concerning the origin of mankind.
Scientific endeavor will always be the enemy of fundamentalist thinking. Since Copernicus, and before, the Christian church knows it cannot survive if science is allowed to continue unimpeded. The propagators of this style of Christianity know that science will not find an answer that supports fundamentalist Christian belief, it will find Truth – and as the Bible says, the truth will set people free.
I have nothing against Christianity. It is a beautiful faith that teaches many good things. But, when ANY religion insists it has the final and only answers – Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, any religion at all – it is no longer a religion, but a tool of tyrants to keep their followers uneducated, ignorant and subservient. It becomes a cult.
Long live your FSM. May his Noodley Appendage spread the sauce of freedom to believe, think and learn far and wide.
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this is freakin’ awesome! I shall have to read more about this gospel, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster is going straight to my desktop background! I first saw the image on YouTube in Thunderf00t’s 29-part series “Why Do People Laugh at Creationists?” I totally recommend watching at least some of it.
Anyway, this is great. I haven’t read that much on this site, but is/are there any holy site(s) of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism so I can one day make a pilgrimage if I so desire?
RAmen
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Indonesia,,
I hope u are still remember me.Mo,sorry if maybe b4 i underestimate with ur theory.But,i never meant to did it..And now,after read ur website,i understand with what u talking.But,we are different.I guess,u are a unique person..I want to know more about you.By the way,”spaghetti monster??”that is a great taste right?trust me,just kidding..And the last,will you be my friend???
(i have said that my english is bad.So,sorry boy)
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LOL OMG BBQ ROFL SPAGHETTI MONSTERS. :D
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hahah this theori is soooo full of shit that it stinks
what does flying spaghetti monster means?
a “monster” spaghetti that can fly? and its there between the atoms in materials?
we are humans that thinks logical thats why we are called atheist. not 10000 donkeys that believ in some shit like flying spaghetti monster, even thou donkeys think more logical than you!
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@ Vic #339 asked,
“is/are there any holy site(s) of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism so I can one day make a pilgrimage if I so desire?”
Yes, there is the Olive Garden (of Edan), other Italian restaurants and, of course, any and all grog shops. Go. Enjoy.
RAmen
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All hail, Flying Spaghetti Monster. Long may your balls be covered in sauce. And the FSM said “Let there be Parmesan” and, lo, there was Parmesan.
Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.
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@ – me #3342,
Get with the program1 Read The Open Letter and the material at the “About” tab. We have a mission and a theology both of which must be kept separate. Our mission:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html
Our opposition:
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
Our theology:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_of_the_Flying_Spaghetti_Monster#Captain_Mosey_and_the_Eight_.22I.27d_Really_Rather_You_Didn.27ts.22
RAmen
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I think your pirate data needs to be updated due to the strong resurgence of pirates over the past couple of years.
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It’s about time some one said something
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Ok, I am fairly open minded to a lot of the bull that flies around but SERIOSLY?! I understand that people get high and may write a book (like the bible) but flying spaghetti? Is the ocean dinner roll his brother? Every fat guy loves food but I honestly didn’t expect them to make a religion out of it. Then again if a burning bush can talk to a guy I guess flying dinner can create the world.
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The Flying Spaghetti Monster has changed my life; His Noodleness has given my a new meaning in my life. It’s not about the Sauce, it’s not about the Meatballs, it’s not about the Noodles, but when they come together to form the Trinity it’s like no other force in the univese can compare.
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