Our friend Matt Tillman has finished his major design project, an introduction to the Church of the FSM. You may remember a few weeks ago when we asked if there was a sound designer willing to help. Well, you guys came through with flying colors. Enormous thanks to one of our own ordained ministers, the Reverend Dajaun Martineau, for supplying the music and sound effects.
Anyone out there with sound experience and willing to help with a student project? Please get in touch with Matt, details below. Click for big version.
The Telegraph has an article about my all-time favorite Naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, and the campaign he’s joined to combat religion in science.
The naturalist joined three Nobel laureates, the atheist Richard Dawkins and other leading scientists in calling on the government to tackle the "threat" of creationism.
…
Andrew Copson, chief executive of the BHA, said: "Evolution is probably the most important idea underlying biological science and we support the view of many experts that it should be introduced right from primary level in all state-maintained schools.
"At the same time, the threat of creationism and ‘intelligent design’ being taught as science is real and ongoing, particularly as more and more schools are opened up to be run by religious fundamentalists.
"It has never been more urgent for concrete steps to be taken to ensure that all state schools teach evolution, and not creationism, and we urge the Government to implement the simple and sensible measures suggested in this new statement."
I love that Sir David Attenborough has gotten involved. I worry when the ones who make a stand come off as petty and one-dimensional. David Attenborough is such a likeable guy, and his work so accessible … I think a whole lot of people are all the sudden going to want to listen.
Here is my favorite video from Mr. Attenborough’s Planet Earth:
Please see the attached picture of the FSM guitar I built. It debuted at the Center For Inquiry Indiana annual picnic. I have wanted to build this for three years and finally got it done. The guitar is a very playable instrument (but only while standing up). My friend, retired medical illustrator Craig Gosling (photo left) did the sketch for the body shape. I constructed the guitar and Eric Ward did the paint.
The paper Certificates of ordination are ready. If you’d like one, you can order one here. Updated — The cost is $20 shipped to the US and $30 shipped international.
Note — the certificates have been updated to use a nicer lithograph paper. The price is now $25, for both Domestic and International orders, shipping included. We also now have ID Cards.
People have been asking for Certificates of Ordination for a while and I’ve said we could only do it if we got some real embossed foil seals, like the ones universities have made for their diplomas.
Note — Certificates of Ordination are now available here for $25 including shipping anywhere in the world.
The Australian census is here and now is the time to mark Pastafarian as your stated religion, if you like.
I won’t make a long argument and I won’t say that you should absolutely do this. But I do believe it’s a reasonable and legitimate choice. If there are things in the Pastafarian religion that you identify with, and if you would like to see the Pastafarian religion gain formal legitimacy, then please designate Pastafarian as your religion.
Update 8/10/2011
I see some discussion in the comments, and I got some emails, pleading don’t throw away your votes because they won’t be counted. It’s a reasonable point – marking No Religion will be officially counted, while writing in Pastafarian will not be. But I would ask, what is the actual purpose here? Will policy follow from these results? If you believe that, you might want to mark No Religion. If, like me, you are more cynical and believe policy comes first and the data is used as a justification (and only when it supports the policy decision), you might feel more free to mark Pastafarian, if you’re inclined.
In my band Solstice Coil, we are all major fans of the FSM and his godly work. So much that we decided to thank him on the credits of our second album, Natural Causes.
We posted this on Facebook:
"While many artists (usually rappers or country singers) tend to thank God or Jesus or some other fictional deity on their album credits, we pay respects to the one true creator of all things…"
We do not solicit or accept donations -- the Church is funded by orders of Ordination Credentials. Please consider taking the next step of your Faith and become an FSM Minister.
Kiva is a platform where you can make small interest-free loans to people in poor areas that need help starting small business. The Church of the FSM has one of the top religious congregation teams on Kiva. Check it out.
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 puts satire to the same serious use that Swift did. Oh, yes, it is very funny. -- Scientific American.
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