Kansas School Board Responses to the Open Letter

Response from Mrs. Janet Waugh - District 1 - Received 6/25/05

From: JWaugh1052@[xxxxxxx]
To: bobby.henderson@gmail.com
Date: Jun 25, 2005 6:34 AM
Subject: Response from a member of the Kansas Board of Education

Thanks for your comments about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and all the supporters who have sent their support to members of the Kansas Board of Education. I am supporting the recommendations of the science committee and am currently in the minority. I think your theory is wonderful and possibly some of the majority members will be willing to support it.

Thanks again,

Janet Waugh District 1

Response from Mrs. Sue Gamble - District 2 - Received 6/26/05

From: msgamble@[xxxxxxxxx]
To: bobby.henderson@gmail.com
Date: Jun 26, 2005 6:34 PM
Subject: Reply

Dear Mr. Henderson, Thanks for your message. Thanks for the laugh. Your web site is fascinating. I will add your theory to a long list of alternative theories I intend to introduce when it is appropriate. I am practicing how to do this with a straight face which is difficult since it’s such a ridiculous subject; it is also very sad that we are even having the discussion.

I will be one of the four member minority who will be voting against the flawed science standards currently being proposed by the six member majority.

Sincerely,

Sue Gamble

Response from Mrs. Carol Rupe - District 8 - Received 8/16/05

From: Carol Rupe
To: bobby.henderson@gmail.com
Date: Aug 16, 2005 8:19 AM
Subject: Kansas State Board of Education

Dear Mr. Henderson,

In the midst of the sad circumstances of having our science standards lowered, you and your legion of fellow FSM followers have offered wonderful comic relief. Rather than the form letters which we often receive on other topics, each FSM letter has been clever and unique. I responded to several at first, but now there have just been too many. I am a member of the Kansas State Board of Education and have voted repeatedly to maintain excellent science standards. Last week was the vote to send a new draft (written by the 6 conservative members) out for external review. The four of us on the board who are moderates were in the minority on the vote. The group of science teachers and university professors who had written the original standards (before they were changed) have now asked that their names be withdrawn from the document. The new version changes the very definition of science from “seeking natural explanations” to “seeking logical explanations”. That is why I think FSMism is able to be included. It is as “logical” as any other theory.

The final vote on the standards will be in October. We will be in Lawrence, Kansas for that meeting. Those of us who are moderates on the board are trying to have the meeting in the Natural History Museum at the University of Kansas. We think that would be an appropriate setting for the occasion. We welcome you to be in attendance.

We have received thousands of emails from scientists around the world. At first, they all tried to explain good science to us. After the vote last week, however, they have resorted to calling us hillbillies and morons. And those are the nice letters!

Thank you for adding levity to this situation. You have developed quite a following. I was wondering if we could reverse the effects of global warming if we started breeding pirates.

Sincerely,
Carol Rupe

P.S. I ordered a Kansas Museum of Science t-shirt. I may just have to wear it to a board meeting.

From: Mrs. Kathy Martin, District 6

“It is a serious offense to mock God.”

1154 Responses to “Kansas School Board Responses to the Open Letter”

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81 - October 10th, 2006 at 6:46 pm - The Aussie Says:

here is the really funny thing… if you follow Hume’s dictum (please, wiki it), religion cannot be considered science, because religion is a matter of the mind, which can never be proven with physical observations, only by other philosophical concepts.
Science relies on physical observations… do we see the problem here?
82 - October 10th, 2006 at 7:37 pm - Padraic Says:

SaucyWench:
Thanks for noticing; I am not a fundamentalist christian, nor do I consider myself a christian at all, though some of the teachings of Christ are what I term as universal truths. But so do the teachings of the Buddha, Mohammed, Lao Tzu, and my eighth grade teacher, John P. Nolan.
To remain calm in the face of adversity is quite the chalange. I still get pissed and scream and yell, but try to keep it at a minimum. More is achieved with a calm, direct and focused approach. I have two teen-aged daughters that are surrounded by right wing christians that pretty much tell them how wrong they are by not being a “church-goer.” I am pretty much fed up with the self-righteous attitudes of some of these people, but to be angry just prolongs the confrontation. I keep telling myself I don’t have to prove my beliefs any more than I need to accept the beliefs of others.
My beliefs are manifested to my children by my speech and actions. They get the message, I think. Anyway, they will make their own decisions in the end. Kahlil Gibran so aptly wrote, “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.” Through our example, they learn, good or bad sometimes. Remember, it is our responsibility to teach our children, not the state of Kansas, Missouri, or any other entity. I think as long as we are in this current state of constant fear induced and perpetuated by the current government regime, we will have these battles that should not be fought. Science and religions may slightly overlap, but until people become enlightened to the fact that its ok to have different views, lines will be drawn.
83 - October 10th, 2006 at 8:08 pm - SaucyWench Says:

Padriac, well said. I also have two teenagers, who were exposed to particularly rabid Christian fundamentalism at my ex-husband’s house. One of my responses was to take them to as liberal a church as I could find- the Unitarian Universalist. We went to Solstice celebrations, Bless the Animals Day, and even talked once about what aliens might think about us here on Earth. I told them that other people believed differently than their father and stepmother, and that they were free to choose. They are both now staunch tree-hugging free-thinkers, and I’m grateful for that. Not to go off on a different rant, but what you said about speech and actions is very pertinent to my daughters’ lives. Their stepmother, whose license plate says “Pslm 23″ has been to prison twice since she married my ex-husband. Her crimes have been based in deceit and thievery, yet she did nothing but bash me to my daughters about what a liar I am. This is just one of a long list of transgressions she has accumulated. I have shortcomings, to be sure, but I am a good and honest person. Anyway, I guess I’ve got some pretty strong feelings against fundamentalist Christians based on direct dealings with one of them. I do realize that she is an individual, and does not officially represent Christianity, yet she did a lot of damage to my family “in Christ’s name”. I guess I should go to therapy and work on forgiveness, huh? Isn’t that what Christ would want me to do?
I’m sure Christ never intended for his teachings to be so misused and mutated. I’m sad now and I’m going to sleep. May the FSM, or someone, anyone, bring peace to our wounded lives.
84 - October 10th, 2006 at 9:32 pm - Padraic Says:

SaucyWench,
No, I don’t think therapy is really necessary, the tolerance thing is so difficult when you are subjected to intolerance. You are absolutely correct when you say that Christ didn’t plan on christianity to turn out the way it did. I wish I could remove your sadness, but neither God (?) nor the FSM can do that. Only you can remove that. Remember, Saint, we are the ones completely in control of what we feel and how we perceive everything around us. Sometimes, though, it takes another person to help us realize that and give us the initiative to pull ourselves from our despair. My buddhist tendancies remind me of the simple rules I try to apply to my life: help relieve people’s pain and to cause no harm. I hope I have done that for you.

Peace.
85 - October 11th, 2006 at 12:25 pm - john bowden Says:

It’s funny how in the name of GOD…….. fanatics will kill to save you from going to hell.
86 - October 11th, 2006 at 3:22 pm - Squidward Says:

I think the answer really lies in lemons. The steady decline of pirates over the last few hundred years is what is causing our global warming. This much we know. One of the major causes of death amoungst pirates was scurrvy which is caused by a lack of vitamen C in their diets. Lemons have a great deal of vitamen C in them. Over the last few hundred years lemons have become more and more plentiful, yet our pirate bretheren numbers keep on getting smaller. My only way to answer this riddle is to ask our great creator, FSM, why has he/she been keeping lemons from us? Is it because it truely compliments his/her deliciousness? Is there a greater picture that you humble servant, Squidward, cannot see? Please help me aim my beek in the right direction and find the answer.
yours tangily
S
87 - October 11th, 2006 at 7:54 pm - AlucardsBitch Says:

Dear Carol Rupe,
I’m not sure if you’ll ever read this little leatter I am writing, but I write it all the same;
I beleive that we SHOULD breed Pirates in order to help with the Global Warming situation, and also to bring the magestic creatures BACk to our world for everyone to be robbed by. Names like good old Black-Beard, or Captian Jack Sparrow, or even Iron Ethel Flint are seldom remebered today, even though once, they were houshold names and treated as royalty.

In conclusion, Save out friends the Pirates! Visit my blog and show your support! Save out world from Gloabal Warming and the threat of never seeing these amazing spectacles of nature again! Visit http://savethepiratesfromglobalwarming.blogspot.com/

Thankyou!
88 - October 12th, 2006 at 6:11 am - weeble Says:

It really must suck to be a teacher in America - so many rules and regulations! I teach in England and i WILL be teaching FSM to my students during classes in Sociology of Religion.
89 - October 13th, 2006 at 3:34 pm - Little Pirate Will Says:

Oh me fellow pastafarians, as I read above, I weep for Kathy and for all of us!

Is this fast mockery of Kathy, the quick hostility, the instant intollerance of her innocent ignorance, is this all what the FSM has sauced us up with? Wouldn’t his holyness want us to extend our appendages to Kathy, how ever dumb and stiff they are, with the love, and tastyness, that decends from his meatball core? Anger like this is not the grace of parmagean that he sprinkles into our souls, is it? NO! NO! We may not be more than men, or women, though women are generally more than men - but we can be more like pasta! Reach out I say, show her all that is his glory, bring her near, wrap her in our embrace, and when she is really close, then… then you wack her with a wet noodle!!!

Arrrrgh!
90 - October 14th, 2006 at 8:54 pm - Free Thought Says:

God created man, and being a gentleman, man returned the compliment. Out of guilt, several times apparently.

:)
91 - October 15th, 2006 at 4:14 am - English Dave Says:

As an outsider (UK)looking in, I am saddened to witness the hate disguised as â€˜concern for salvationâ€™ that certain groups of your citizens seam communicating. From banning books (is book burning still practised in the USA?) to confusing science based on a philosophy of developing statements (hypothesises) and testing then by trying to disproving them; with science based on belief and tradition. There are upsides and down sides to both methods, unfortunately for FSM devotes belief & tradition doesnâ€™t provide us with all that new stuff that is good, useful and life saving in the world today. Science based on belief on tradition would still have us tying animal genitals to our foreheads to cure headaches.

This still doesnâ€™t detract from the fact that the great FSM created the universe; maybe he just lit the fuse and stood back.

Oh, and if anyone else mentions that â€˜weâ€™ used to believe that the world was flat ask them for some evidence. Pear shaped yes; round defiantly; flat no.

â€œAnimal genitals and foreheadsâ€ see Naturalis Historia written in the 1st century (2000 years ago) by Galus Plinius Secundus (aka Pliny the Elder) whose writings were considered an authority by many including the Christian church.

Thank you for reading
Hail to our new chief FSM
92 - October 15th, 2006 at 9:36 am - One Eyed Jack Says:

To English Dave,
.
“is book burning still practised in the USA?” Sadly, some churches still do. Harry Potter books are a favorite, though I can imagine Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion” finding a place in their flames as well.
.
Relocating to Canada is looking better every day.
.
RAmen
93 - October 15th, 2006 at 1:41 pm - gill Says:

If they can burn Harry Potter because they don’t agree with it, then does that mean someone could burn the bible and not cause chaos? Not that I really want to, just wondering.
94 - October 16th, 2006 at 8:13 pm - Why Cough? Says:

Having been converted to Pastafarianism about half a year ago, I can easily say that it makes the most sense out of any religion I’ve ever heard of. I worship FSM as the true creator, and Kathy Martin is discriminating against my beliefs!
95 - October 17th, 2006 at 6:07 pm - Rienholt Says:

I would just like to point out that there are actaully more pirates today then there were during the Age of Exploration, the Age of Sail, and the Napoleanic Era. Otherwise I the theory behind Pastafarianism is sound.

~Rienholt

PS: I am including privateers and not including software, music, and video pirates.
96 - October 19th, 2006 at 7:19 am - pariah Says:

Prepare for cooler summers!!! We need more pirates. Much better religion than the others ive seen, and ive tried tried a few.
97 - October 19th, 2006 at 8:08 am - The Aker Says:

Yarr. May his noodle-iness find the poor lost souls of the Kansas School Board. The word must be spread by our pirate brethren to the hethens of The Kansas State Board of Education. If they don’t, then they will never bask in the light of the Beer Volcanoe and the Stripper Factory. I send out a message, help save these poor souls, as they so frequently try to do for us.
98 - October 19th, 2006 at 4:29 pm - Deck Schwab Burf Says:

So, in essence, to make sure we are all on the same page here, and also to mrs. Martin,
If you find nothing silly about your God, then there can be nothing silly about our noodly God, think about it. All bobby did was rename all the aspects of the christian beliefs in his own terms. i’ll explain:

*God = Flying Spaghetti Monster (there is no difference unless you think on a low level of “physical aspects” which means little in the infinitness of God or FSM)
*Christ = His Noodly appendage (they are both the direct influence from “the power above”)
*baptised in water = baptised in sauce (if you are immature enough to think that spaghetti sauce is silly and water is not.. well then theres nothing more i can say to try to share my opinion)

So really all Mrs. Martin is arguinh over is things names. hmmm… thats really gonna get us places….

YARRR! RAmen!
99 - October 19th, 2006 at 5:02 pm - nikkiee Says:

One Eyed Jack
…â€œThe God Delusionâ€ finding a place in their flames as well….
That should help sales in the bible belt. Then we could use these sales to point to the fact that the christians are actually closet opponenets of ID. I refer to comments in other posts that “most” scientists believe in ID. High sales figures would provide more “evidence” of this than those provided with those comments.
100 - October 21st, 2006 at 3:27 am - Abdula125 Says:

Yabadabadooo!!!
heh… What the “Kansas School Board Responses to the Open Letter” 4 fck?!

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An elaborate spoof on Intelligent Design, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is neither too elaborate nor too spoofy to succeed in nailing the fallacies of ID. It's even wackier than Jonathan Swift's suggestion that the Irish eat their children as a way to keep them from being a burden, and it may offend just as many people, but Henderson, described elsewhere as a 25-year-old "out-of-work physics major," puts satire to the same serious use that Swift did. Oh, yes, it is very funny. -- Scientific American