Headstones for pastafarian veterans

[Occam]

The United States Department for Veteran Affairs recently was forced to allow a Wiccan symbol to be displayed on the headstones of dead soldiers.

I know this is morbid but as we are sure to have Pastafarians serving in the US armed forces it makes sense to plan ahead and submit a symbol for fallen noodly ones.

Here is the current list: http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hm/hmemb.asp

I was going to submit a drawing myself but if I had to pick a headstone I'd definitely be going for the Radioactive Man symbol that atheists get.

[MPTrooper]

The United States Department for Veteran Affairs recently was forced to allow a Wiccan symbol to be displayed on the headstones of dead soldiers.

I know this is morbid but as we are sure to have Pastafarians serving in the US armed forces it makes sense to plan ahead and submit a symbol for fallen noodly ones.

Here is the current list: http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hm/hmemb.asp

I was going to submit a drawing myself but if I had to pick a headstone I'd definitely be going for the Radioactive Man symbol that atheists get.

Forced? It wasn't "forced" to do anything. The DOA is a slow moveing animale and getting it to change anything requires tons of red tape and money.

Also, I have many dead soldier friends. Unless you ignored the countless threads we have on the subject, FSMism isn't nor will it ever be a real religion thus it will never get a recognized headstone. Atheit's already have one, they don't need another. I ask that you treat this subject with more respect.

[blackeyedbutch]

why can there only be one atheist symbol when there are about 20 for the slightly differant christian churches?

[MPTrooper]

why can there only be one atheist symbol when there are about 20 for the slightly differant christian churches?

Why do you feel an Atheist honestly needs more then one symbol?

[blackeyedbutch]

why do you feel a Christian needs more than one

[MPTrooper]

Christians have many different views and beliefes of the faith and thus symbols to differentiate between them.

Now, answer my question. Why should an Atheist have more then one kind of symbol?

[blackeyedbutch]

Athiests have many different views and beliefs of the faith and thus symbols to differentiate between them.

[Occam]

Look at the atheist symbol. It has 'A' in the middle of it. Okay, it makes sense for the VA as an English speaking organisation to use an A but if you were a Chinese speaker it wouldn't be very apt.

Actually if you look at the list the Humanists are technically atheists (who don't like being called atheists) and they have the Happy Human symbol. I suppose this means there is no reason why you couldn't notify them and suggest others which would then be evaluated on merit.

Do you think if enough people suggested Jedi ...

[MPTrooper]

Athiests have many different views and beliefs of the faith and thus symbols to differentiate between them.

Seeing as how these headstones relate to a person God Belief I'd LOVE to know what other views an Atheist would have on God.

[EarthRise]

Athiests have many different views and beliefs of the faith and thus symbols to differentiate between them.

Seeing as how these headstones relate to a person God Belief I'd LOVE to know what other views an Atheist would have on God.

I kinda gotta agree. I can't differentiate between atheists in terms of spirituality, except for in two examples (IMO): Buddhism and Unitarian Universalism (both of which are lenient enough to allow one to be an atheist while a practicing member). However, the essence of atheism still doesn't change in either of these cases; they both end up not believing in God.

Now, if we address them not as atheists and instead as a Buddhist/UUist, I can see the need for alternate headstones. But your comment, BEB, suggested that there are more strains of an atheist. What are these?

[Occam]

Now, if we address them not as atheists and instead as a Buddhist/UUist, I can see the need for alternate headstones. But your comment, BEB, suggested that there are more strains of an atheist. What are these?

Perhaps a person's family would like a headstone to reflect who the deceased actually was.

As I said in another post, defining someone by their lack of belief is ridiculous. "Here lies John Doe, beloved husband and father. Who didn't believe in god."

It's not about strains of atheism its about personal beliefs that people feel strongly enough about to put on a marker. I hate that if a person dies their memorial should be dismissed as irrelevent because they did not have faith. Just look at that Atheist symbol in the list. The first time the bereaved might see that symbol is when they actually see it on the headstone! How thoughtless, how callous.

Okay, I can see that allowing people to put whatever they want might not be workable as efforts should be made to maintain the dignity of a cemetery. No smiley faces or pictures of grey aliens smoking joints. Fine. But allowing a choice between Atomic Man logo and blank doesn't cover it for me. I'd personally have the Happy Human symbol that is already in the list but I am the only non-believer I know who would.

[supercheetah]

I would imagine that a lot of Satanic soldiers (and I'm talking about LeVayan Satanism, for anyone ignorant enough to not already know it) would want the upside down pentacle with Satan drawn in them. Also, as others have mentioned, Buddhism and UUism don't require any belief in a deity.

I'm willing to bet that at some point in the future, Satanism will get to have its symbol put on gravestones. If it was about deity-belief, why allow for Buddhist and UUist symbols? When Satanism gets its symbol, why should Pastafarians be discriminated against?

[EarthRise]

I think atheists should use the Brights symbol, rather than the rather ugly image on the list (I just now looked at it).

In any case, why doesn't Pastafarianism have a spaghetti headstone marker? Because Pastafarianism is a parody religion. That's pretty much the issue in a nutshell.

[Zankou]

When Satanism gets its symbol, why should Pastafarians be discriminated against?

I don't know much about LeVayan Satanism, but Satan is evil...

Uinless he used the root word, Shaitan, and it simply means "adversary", and has no other anti-christian stuff.



Anyway....to answer.

We don't actually have a religion.

[Mathin]

When Satanism gets its symbol, why should Pastafarians be discriminated against?

Anyway....to answer.

We don't actually have a religion.

Well technically if you expand the definition of Atheism to include Buddhists and UUists then they should have the same symbol as the Atheistic one. I think that adding FSM as another choice for Athiests would just be broadining the selection for them. They may just think "I'm atheist and love spaghetti so why not?" Along with that who can we really offend if were just another group of athiests who don't want their gravestones to look as if they died in a failed A-Bomb test.