This is one of the greatest things to happen in the history of Pastafarianism. The Cumberland County Courthouse lawn in Crossville, Tennessee now features an enormous statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Behold:

This was the work of Ariel Safdie and her brother David, and it is spectacular. I am sure that everyone who sees it will feel Touched.

Statement at Installation Ceremony

We are lucky enough to live in a country that allows us, its citizens, the freedom of speech. I have chosen to put up a statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to represent the discourse between people of all different beliefs. The many faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds of Cumberland County’s residents make our community a stronger richer place. I respect and am proud that on the people’s lawn, the county courthouse, all of these diverse beliefs can come together in a positive dialogue. Here, we are all able to share the issues close to our hearts whether it is through a memorial to the soldiers killed fighting for our country, the Statue of Liberty honoring our nations welcoming promise to all, a group’s fight to stop homelessness, or powerful symbols of faith. I greatly treasure this open forum between everyone in the community.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a pile of noodles and meatballs, but it is meant to open up discussion and provoke thought. Being able to put up a statue is a celebration of our freedom as Americans; a freedom to be different, to express those differences, and to do it amongst neighbors -— even if it is in a noodley way.

Here’s a television news report of the display:

“Our message is freedom of speech, freedom of religion” — Well Said! All Pastafarians should feel fortunate at having such a fine ambassadors for our cause.

I strongly suggest that everyone check out Ariel’s site, itlovesyou.blogspot.com. You’ll find the whole story behind the statue, pictures of the build, and updates as they happen.

Here are a some more pictures:

FSM Bless America

Media takes notice

Just a dream at this point

Construction begins

Assembly continues

Thank you very much Ariel – you did an amazing job. Please let me know if you need funding for a Beer Volcano.

Update: cnet news.com has picked up the story here.

It’s coming up quick. I’ve already seen a few FSM costumes, and one pumpkin.

If you send me pictures of your FSM Costume and/or FSM pumpkins, I’ll post them here for everyone to see.

Some of my favorite pumpkins from last year (one of them is mine):

If you want to take a look at past years costumes/pumpkins here are some links (sorry this is not more organized):

2006 FSM Pumpkin Contest entries

A few pumpkins from 2005

Halloween Missionaries from 2005 and 2006

One last note – Halloween is a fantastic time to Spread the Word. There are very few days where it’s socially acceptable to walk around as a pirate. FSM literature/propaganda can be found here. I’m just saying. Good luck.

A question posed to Yahoo:

Does the flying spaghetti monster really exist?
Or is it just the product of the minds of sinners and liars whose father is really the Devil?

I was very impressed by the number of Pastafarians who responded. Some of my favorite answers:

He is real (or at least as real as your God).
Ramen

of course The Flying Spaghetti Monster exists!!! How can you not believe it? I believe it, because it’s true, and so should you!

If you don’t believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster then you can’t believe in Julius Caesar either, because we have more evidence that the FSM exists than we have that the whole Roman Empire ever existed!

Of course he exists. May you be touched by His noodly appendage

There is more proof of the FSM then there is of the Christians’ so called god…

Are you daring to blasphemy the glorious FSM? May you be touched with a noodly appendage.

The question and all of the replies can be found here.

The Baltimore Sun ran another article today about Jacob Corbin’s FSM billboard on the side of his Hampden house.

Jacob Corbin-Beal bought a Hampden rowhouse that happened to have a billboard on one side, and he wasn’t sure what to do with the thing. The seller had led him to believe it wasn’t quite kosher under city regs, unless he rented it back to the guy, who owns a repair shop and was offering a measly 40 bucks a month.

Then Corbin-Beal had an idea. An epiphany, really, inspired by the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

He bought yards and yards of sump pump hose, a couple of saucer sleds and some spray paint, then created what looks like a giant plate of spaghetti and meatballs. Two Wiffle ball eyes poke out from the pile. Below, in black and white, it says, “Believe Your Noodly Master, Hon.”

The article is pretty good, you can read it here.

Thanks to the Baltimore Sun for writing about this a second time, and Jacob for taking the time and effort to make such an impressive billboard.

This is pretty good. Nice work – I admire your motivation.

I was going through my books and I found a pile of textbooks from back when I was a physics student at Oregon State University. I decided to box them up and send them back as a donation. Addressed to the SPS room (sort of a study area for physics people), I sent a pile of books, FSM propaganda (car emblems, Holiday cards, the Gospel, etc..), along with this note:

With my attachment you can view Him in my 4th period class as i have advertised him by drawing him on the board. My teacher was very kind to it, and today when i came to class i realized someone had erased it so i re-drew Him. I am going to begin sending out flyers and have currently converted one serious member to His greatness.
please get back to me. RAmen. –Matt

I almost got shot. kinda.

A few days ago, as I was leaving my apartment, a car sped across the parking lot to intercept me. I had just about reached my car when I noticed the driver stopping directly behind my car, blocking me. The two passengers jumped out of the car and came straight at me.

I get a lot of hate-mail and I’ve had more than a few death threats. I keep my address a secret, but I’ve had people track me down in the past. So, when I saw a car speed up and two people jump out, it freaked me out.

One of them asked me if I valued the mind and body benefits of exercise. I said yes and that I needed to get going. They assured me that they’d move the car, but perhaps I wanted to take some reading material with me to look over when I had more time.

So I took their pamphlet. My only excuse is that I thought I was going to get stabbed or something, and I just wanted to get out of there. It wasn’t until later that I looked at the pamphlet. It slowly went from exercise to Jesus. It turned out to be disguised Jehovah’s Witness propaganda, the Watchtower. I figured that they tricked me fair and square, so I felt obligated to read it.

…

What I learned by this experience

The pamphlet, itself, was kind of Jesusy. But it gave me some fantastic ideas for expanding the Pastafarian congregation. Clearly, the way to get more members is to trick them; make them think they’re signing up for one thing and then – bam – all the sudden you hit them with the gospel-speak, and you’ve got them.

So, I’ve decided that we’re going to do a similar campaign to trick people into joining FSM, specifically, members of other religions, especially the religions who propagandize. I figure that we’ve already got the open-minded people, now we need the gullible ones.

Internet advertising – like magic, but nerdier

You can target advertisements to specific categories of websites. We’re going to be targeting competing religious websites. Any religion who hands out pamphlets is fair game. Lots of religious websites sell ad-space through 3rd parties, and we’ll be able to place OUR ads on their pages, and steal their members.

It’ll work like this: their members will go to the church websites as usual, and they’ll see a small ad suggesting that there is more to their religion. Some of them will click the ad and be brought to a specific catch page, where they’ll hear fantastic arguments on why they should convert.

I need your help with any of the following:

1) Specific strategies for each religion. For example, for Jehovah’s Witnesses, we could push that we, also, reject Orthodox Christianity. And the strategies don’t need to be that on-topic. The Jehovah’s Witnesses got me with an exercise pamphlet, we could just as easily have a pirate angle or something. We’ll have different strategies for the other religions – Mormons, Young Earth Christians, Scientologists, etc. Let’s brainstorm. Either post in the comments or send me an email at bobby.henderson@gmail.com

2) Nich text ads. We need short, catchy text ads that will appeal to each of the target religions. The content of these ads will be more clear once we’ve established our strategies for each religion.

3) Small Image Ads. People with art skills, get creative. Same deal with the text ads, we’re going to know more once we know what our angle is. We’ll need ads in the following dimensions:
200×200
250×250
468×60
336×280

4)Individual Catch Pages. Once they click the ad, they’ll be brought to a page on the FSM site which will expand on the idea presented in the ad and slowly make the argument that they should convert to Pastafarianism. I need help with this.

5) Money. I’ve put aside a few thousand for this. Ads cost between $0.25 and upwards of $5 per thousand views. I’m hoping for a budget of at least $5k. If you want to help, you can either donate, or buy some FSM merchandise.

So, that’s my idea. What do you think?