Welcome to the first anniversary post from the Land of Disillusionment. In this article we will be looking at a strange turn of events that has occurred recently in the debate between Theists and Atheists. This will be a lighter article than the others, but I will not break the tradition of always providing the truth as I know it. So, what is the question being asked today?
"What exactly is Pastafarianism?"
Strange question to ask, right? Well, you will understand once I have answered it.
Pastafarianism is a new religion actually started by an Atheist. Bobby Henderson, the world's first Pastafarian, created this religion to contest the idea of Intelligent Design being added to the Kansas School Curriculum alongside Evolution. The word "Pastafarianism" is a parody of "Rastafarianism" and every prayer ends with "RAmen" rather than "Amen" to support this parody. The irony of this is that, in creating a Theistic religion from scratch, he managed to create one that was more supported by science than any other.
The god of Pastafarianism is the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) who created everything in such a way that science can't tell that it didn't happen as we believe it did. In actuality, however, we humans evolved from Pirates. This is one of the many strange, yet impossible to deny "facts" of Pastafarianism (FSMism) that is mentioned in the original article as well as Henderson's book "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" in which he explains the entire religion in detail, as well as uses some rather profane language and a myriad of insults to people of short stature.
To make a long explanation short, this is a parody religion created for the purpose of showing how ridiculous some Atheists find all religions to be. To further prove the point, a great many Atheists claim to have converted to FSMism after being "touched by His Noodly Appendage." And, since the gospel perfectly explains why science has never been able to disprove this religion, everyone who has joined is declaring it the best religion ever and the only true one.
I would like to emphasize that I am not making any of this up. If you would like to learn more about Pastafarianism, Bobby Henderson, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, feel free to go to the FSM website, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monter.
RAmen
Friday, October 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The Divine War
Since Atheists have started to speak out more and more, especially since the invention of the internet, many Theists have been taking a more defensive stance. Atheists are constantly accused of wanting to remove all religions from the world. This prompts most of the direct attacks made on Atheism, such as declaring it a religion.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, however, Theists still believe this to be a valid accusation. Atheists are under constant attack from two fronts, those who want to convert us and those who just want to silence us. Many Atheists obviously fight back, but this usually leads to promoting the accusation to a fact in the minds of Theists. So, let's handle the accusation properly.
"Are Atheists trying to convince everyone to stop believing in their religion?"
No, we are not. And we should not, either. However, when a Theist decides to attack us for being Atheists, we must defend ourselves.
On the other hand, there is a place where religion should not be allowed, and that is when ruling a nation. In America, for example, there is a separation of "Church" and "state" in place. This means the religions can do their thing, as long as they don't break the law, and the government can do it's thing, as long as it has nothing to do with religion. The reason this is in place is to prevent the prejudice we have seen in other countries that have had a religious leader. This is also why American Currency used to have "E Pluribus Unum" on its currency, instead of the now popular "In God We Trust." For those who are unfamiliar with it, "E Pluribus Unum" means "From Many, One" which is the perfect definition for America.
So, no, we are not trying to remove all religion. In fact, there are times when religion can be very helpful. However we are also not permitting religion in governmental decisions nor are we going to stand by while religious people attack us.
To put it quite simply, if they stay out of our lives, we will stay out of theirs.
Despite all evidence to the contrary, however, Theists still believe this to be a valid accusation. Atheists are under constant attack from two fronts, those who want to convert us and those who just want to silence us. Many Atheists obviously fight back, but this usually leads to promoting the accusation to a fact in the minds of Theists. So, let's handle the accusation properly.
"Are Atheists trying to convince everyone to stop believing in their religion?"
No, we are not. And we should not, either. However, when a Theist decides to attack us for being Atheists, we must defend ourselves.
On the other hand, there is a place where religion should not be allowed, and that is when ruling a nation. In America, for example, there is a separation of "Church" and "state" in place. This means the religions can do their thing, as long as they don't break the law, and the government can do it's thing, as long as it has nothing to do with religion. The reason this is in place is to prevent the prejudice we have seen in other countries that have had a religious leader. This is also why American Currency used to have "E Pluribus Unum" on its currency, instead of the now popular "In God We Trust." For those who are unfamiliar with it, "E Pluribus Unum" means "From Many, One" which is the perfect definition for America.
So, no, we are not trying to remove all religion. In fact, there are times when religion can be very helpful. However we are also not permitting religion in governmental decisions nor are we going to stand by while religious people attack us.
To put it quite simply, if they stay out of our lives, we will stay out of theirs.
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