In my last blog entry, I made it pretty clear that I think young Earth creationism and its bastard child, Intelligent Design, are full of crap. The argument that people just want to give competing theories “equal time” in the classroom with real science is also garbage. When Bush said that, did he mean just ID? After all, there are lots of other creation myths out there. Why stop at just one that is provably wrong? I can think of dozens!
But one stands out. Somehow, this one speaks to me. It certainly makes as much sense as creationism. Maybe more.
Of course, I speak of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. The logic is hard to deny: on that site there are graphics, drawings, even a mathematical plot (with numbers!) correlating the idea with pirates. I have a PhD and everything, and lemme tell you, that’s a pretty impressive plot.
At first, I didn’t understand why this theory appealed to me. Then I saw the reasons to convert, and the first one really made sense: “Flimsy moral standards”. I can’t argue with that.
Also, on his page about FSM, the author, Bobby Henderson, wrote a letter to the Kansas School Board exhorting them to teach FSM to the students. He ends his letter thusly:
I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.
Even with a belief as rock solid as FSM, it’s still bound to create controversy. Some people will feel that it isn’t scientific, which is of course correct. After all, as a scientist, I can’t advocate teaching this in a biology or astronomy class. But if it has to be taught in school, then is should be taught in the class where it belongs:
Home Ec.
August 5th, 2005 at 12:41 am
As H L Mencken said, “One horse laugh is worth a thousand syllogisms.”
Yet it raises an important point about “teaching the controversy” or teaching creationism straight out. If you’re going to teach the controversy about evolution, are you going to teach all the other controversies? And if you’re going to teach creationism, well, are you going to teach all the “other” creationisms?
August 5th, 2005 at 12:54 am
As a recent convert (as of yesterday, via Pharyngula) to Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, I would like to congratulate you on your excellent proselytising. Keep up the good work!
August 5th, 2005 at 1:06 am
From the FSM site:
“Lots more stuff at the STORE
All proceeds will go to the Flying Spaghetti Monster*.
*Note: The Flying Spaghetti Monster wishes for me to spend the money on myself. I will comply. RAmen.”
For some reason it sounds disturbingly familiar…
August 5th, 2005 at 1:14 am
Discussions about this type of thing can tend to get a bit heated at times, so let’s remember that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is a religion. It should therefore be placed apart from other superstitions such as astrology, clairvoyance and crystal healing, and afforded special protection against criticism regardless of any fear, oppression, conflict or loss of life it may cause.
August 5th, 2005 at 1:18 am
What, now that the Flying Spaghetti Monster moves into town, everyone forgets about the Invisible Pink Unicorn, may her hooves never be shod? Sheesh, what you guys lack in religious vigour would make baby J.R. “Bob” Dobbs cry.
August 5th, 2005 at 4:20 am
We can have SF/Fantasy fun with all of this. However, it does not excuse the problem that general science education in the United States is declining for many reasons.
Again, I recommend a reading of Stanley Schmidt’s editorial in the October 2005 Analog SF/SF magazine: “Cowardice in the Classroom”.
August 5th, 2005 at 7:23 am
That is one funny site…I need to buy a shirt…or an eyepatch. Haven’t decided which.
But on the serious side, science needs to be kept pure. When you inject Purpose (that’s a capital P Purpose) into science, you get crap. :/
August 5th, 2005 at 7:27 am
We should also be teaching Lamarckian Evolution (long discredited by serious scientists), where change occurs because an animal passes on to its offspring physiological changes it has undergone in its own lifetime, and those changes come about by its responding to its survival needs.
And I’ve never really trusted that “Germ Theory of Disease”, either. After all, it’s ONLY a theory.
August 5th, 2005 at 7:54 am
The Spaghetti Monster conjecture is clearly flawed.
It cannot explain the Milky Way, for that you obiously need a leaky udders of the Cosmic Cow, Auðhumla – I mean, just look, does it look like alfredo sauce to you? I don’t think so.
August 5th, 2005 at 8:23 am
What I like best about FSMism is the power of science to correlate not only the rising temperature of the earth, but in fact all the ills of the modern age to the decline of pirates with the same uncanny accuracy. Perhaps Talk Like A Pirate Day will reverse the trend?
I’d laugh at you Americans and your wacky ID-loving President, but up here in Canada, we have our own brand of nutjobs who need to be kept in their place with a lot of effort, so I can’t be complacent. Let’s keep science alive!
-Andy B
August 5th, 2005 at 8:30 am
i’m worried that His Noodly Appendage is making me write this but… buy pirate gear!
taks
August 5th, 2005 at 8:56 am
there ya go aiabx, throw in a bunch of ad hominems to give yourself credibility.
taks
August 5th, 2005 at 11:31 am
It’s turtles all the way down, suckers.
August 5th, 2005 at 12:15 pm
Far too often I’ve seen scientist and science popularizers hem and haw when the question of creationism comes up during an interview. Perhaps it’s because they are promoting a book and are afraid of losing sales or maybe they just don’t want to appear politically incorrect by stepping on someone’s faith. Both of which I consider copouts.
So all kidding aside folks I think we should give the B.A. a round of applause and a rousing cheer for standing up as a voice of reason in what Carl Sagan called the Demon Haunted World.
Hip, Hip Hooray for the B.A.
August 5th, 2005 at 12:44 pm
Well i think parites haven’t decreased they just switched the stuff the pirated…
Software
August 5th, 2005 at 1:06 pm
Thanks, Star Girl!
Now buy my book.
August 5th, 2005 at 2:25 pm
I may be naive here but is creation etc. actually taught alongside science in American schools? Here in the UK the two are, for the most part, kept very much apart. I say for the most part – some slips through.
Still great website. May the appendage guide you.
August 5th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
thanks BA… I have finally seen the LIGHT!! (err… is free pasta included? nope? lasagna perhaps?)
August 5th, 2005 at 3:23 pm
Behold His meatitude! He who created the first mountain, the first trees, and the first midget will undoubtedly be pleased by this blog entry. Arrrrr!
August 5th, 2005 at 4:16 pm
To saga_con: I have retired from nearly 34 years in the public school business, where I was a teacher and an administrator. My son is now at the beginning of his career as a public school science teacher. So I know something of the state of public middle school education.
In my experience and that of my son (so far) creationism has never been taught. Science teachers I have known either avoid the issue altogether or skirt around it by pointing out the controversy which exists and telling students they will have to make up their own minds. Indeed, that’s what it all really comes down to in the end. Just because we teach something in school, doesn’t ensure that students will adopt our lessons as truth.
There is a wonderful series of films created by Harvard University which I used many times as teacher in-service sessions. One is titled “A Mind of Their Own” and another is “A Private Universe”, which demontrate the difficulties science teachers, et al, must deal with when explaining natural pheonomena. My favorite vignette is one where a bright, eager 6th grader is asked to explain how sight works. He explains that our eyes shoot out “rays of light” which hit an object and reflect back, thus creating vision. When asked how he came to such an understanding, he relates experiences watching his grandmother’s cat in a dark room. Mistaking the cat’s glowing retinas for emitted light, he concludes that we see by eye rays.
As the Harvard interviewer asks additional questions, designed to convince the boy that his theory doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, the young man finally realizes that he must be wrong. Frustrated, he stills ends the discussion with the statement, “Well, my ideas make sense to me.”
My son has had several of his 7th grade science students openly object to his lessons where evolution or other scientific realities were being discussed. Several have made statements like, “That’s just not true. Evolution is a theory!” (or a myth, lie, conspiracy, etc.).
Teachers do whatever they can to bring the light of understanding to their charges. In the end, the kids make up their own minds. Sadly, to many, the ideas of creationism and ID make sense to them.
August 5th, 2005 at 4:49 pm
I have finally found my religion. ;P May the FSM bless you. (This website is PURE GOLD! What a humorous slap in the face for them creationists!)
YARRR!
August 5th, 2005 at 5:57 pm
“The Spaghetti Monster conjecture is clearly flawed.
It cannot explain the Milky Way, for that you obiously need a leaky udders of the Cosmic Cow, Auðhumla – I mean, just look, does it look like alfredo sauce to you? I don’t think so.”
Where do you think the meatballs came from?
August 5th, 2005 at 7:39 pm
I think a huge point is being missed, here; whether or not one subscribes to “creationism”, “young earth”, “old earth”, “flat earth” or “spaghetti”, using childish slang such as “crap” to describe opposing views undermines one’s credibility. What is also not being discussed is that any of the above views will not, in the foreseeable future, be discussed in the average classroom because they offend the religious Evolutionists. Non-religious evolutionists are willing to discuss opposing views, and any good scientist (for whom his science is not an inassailable dogma/religion) knows that new knowlege is a good thing, not a threat to life as we know it (although it may be a threat to his thesis, which might make him touchy).
Just my two cents. I’m very grateful for the Bad Astronomy web site and I LOVE the movie reviews. You’re a voice crying in the wilderness…
August 6th, 2005 at 2:03 am
I honestly don’t understand the creationism (et al) versus science debate. I don’t see what one has to do with the other. I believe that science seeks to answer how things work, and religion strives to understand why things work. They are related topics, but are not the same.
I think both sides of the argument have become very much engaged in striving simply to undo the other. Is it not possible that the laws of Science are the laws of God? That God works through evolution and tectonic shift, and He shows us beauty in nebulae and the patterns of molecules? It brings many comfort to believe that someone is at the helm. It also brings many comfort to look and touch and know that what is before them is real.
This, I think, should be the essence of intelligent design. There is someone there, and He has given us the means to understand what He is doing.
Anyway, who are we to descend into dogmatic, ad hominem attacks? Even the Bad Astronomer indulges in these from time to time.
August 6th, 2005 at 5:16 am
What I like most about Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is that it demonstrates how ridiculous a belief in any religion is.
An interesting exercise is to take a sample of text in which religion is being discussed, copy it into your favourite text editor, and replace all occurrences of ‘God’ with ‘Flying Spaghetti Monster’, all occurrences of ‘religion’/'creationism’ with ‘Flying Spaghetti Monsterism’ and so on.
I’ve done this with some comments from this, and Phil’s previous, blog entry:
“Is it not possible that the laws of Science are the laws of Flying Spaghetti Monster? That Flying Spaghetti Monster works through evolution and tectonic shift…”
“A great many of the scientists, doctors, and innovators today are, in fact, Flying Spaghetti Monsterist and believe in a Flying Spaghetti Monster.”
“ALL sides have several valid arguments. Suppose that MY theory is correct and Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is really how it DID happen but Flying Spaghetti Monster used evolution to make it happen? It would be a shame if there was a 5 year old in some obscure school in some obscure part of the United states that could prove this theory correct with out a shadow of doubt but cannot because he was never taught the theory of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.”
“If you want to teach it as a Flying Spaghetti Monsterist alternative to science, along with other Flying Spaghetti Monsterism’s thoughts on this topic, I think that would be very beneficial to students.”
“My only problem with science today is that it rules out Flying Spaghetti Monster from the start.”
I’m interested in hearing why anybody thinks the original comments are less ridiculous or more valuable than my edited versions.
August 6th, 2005 at 5:34 am
I always thought that I was an Agnostic, but now I see the light of the FSM !
Thank you!
http://yolanda3.dynalias.org/tsm/tsm07.html#20050804
August 6th, 2005 at 7:52 am
The fight between His Noodly Appendage and the Holy Invisible Horn (blessed be its benevolent Hoofprint!) has been lasting through everlasting centuries, culminating with the immediate victory of Our Blessed Pink-Maned Greatness.
It is clear that Spaghetti Monsterism is a myth created by the dark forces of His Noodly Appendage to discredit Our Noble Invisible Pink Unicorn (all glory upon his Horn!) and you’ll all go to Hell for that.
…
;D Go Phil!
August 6th, 2005 at 8:48 am
I would buy the “I was touched by his Noodly Appendage” shirt but since I’m a girl…
May his holy Noodly Appendage always spread the sauce of joy on your path, good BA
August 6th, 2005 at 10:30 am
Richard Board,
As they say in talk.origins, the point is not to convince the creationists. The Hoaglands and Dembskis of the world, like the kid in your example, have already made up their minds. What talk.origins and the Bad Astronomer are doing is educating the teeming millions who may not have a firm opinion on the matter, and more importantly don’t have all the facts.
In your example, the Harvard interviewer may not have convinced the boy who believed in eye rays, but with any luck he will have influenced the rest of the class, who may see why eye rays are wrong, and also may learn something about how to examine similar claims in the future.
August 6th, 2005 at 10:57 am
Shaun said: “Anyway, who are we to descend into dogmatic, ad hominem attacks?Even the Bad Astronomer indulges in these from time to time.”
Where have I made an ad hominem attack? I make the premise that many ID Proponents are, essentially, liars. I have links to evidence of this. I say their evidence is wrong. I have links with evidence to this. I never call them stupid, or anything that is incidental to their claims. The attacks I make on them are directly related to their believability and their argument techniques. This is not only allowed in these kinds of discussions, but they are pertinent and critical.
August 6th, 2005 at 12:13 pm
“Crap”, “Garbage”, and “But I fight ignorance all the time, and I know what depths its proponents will sink to.” hardly smack of a debate that’s even pretending to be civil. You tend to let them get to you on a personal level, instead of keeping this about ideas, instead of people.
“If I sound angry, it’s because I am.”
August 6th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
Shaun, can you really blame him? It is very hard not to use the same techniques when the Creationists contiually spout ad hominems, straw mans, mined quotes and other whatnot.
August 6th, 2005 at 2:12 pm
The BA said: “I made it pretty clear that I think young Earth creationism and its bastard child, Intelligent Design, are full of crap. The argument that people just want to give competing theories “equal timeâ€? in the classroom with real science is also garbage.”
“Full of crap” is his evaluation of the concepts promoted in ID. “Garbage” is applied to the notion that the IDers are seeking equal time in the classroom for a balanced view of all ideas. Sure, these terms are judgmental. But they are not insults, they are judgments of the statements made by the IDers. Admittedly, they are the personal judgments of the BA, but they are not ad hominem.
The BA: “But I fight ignorance all the time, and I know what depths its proponents will sink to.�
This is a summary conclusion about the tactics used by the IDers and Creationists, and he provides links to the evidence upon which he bases this conclusion. This conclusion is also based on evidence from dealing with the likes of Hoagland, Kaysing, Sibrel, and the “Planet X” crowd. Again, it is a bit value-laden to describe their tactics as “depths [the] will sink to”, but that is a fair description of the tactics demonstrated.
Such as: quote mining, distorting quotes out of context and using them to support the antithesis of the position of the person being quoted. Deliberately misrepresenting the findings of science. Deliberately misrepresenting the theory being debated.
And being upset about these issues does not mean he’s crossed the line from critical debate to trading insults and naysaying.
August 6th, 2005 at 3:03 pm
To arensb: Thanks for your reply. The whole point of my using those Harvard films as in-service sessions for my faculty was to show how children come to school with “minds of their own”, i.e., preconceived notions. My comments were in response to saga_con, who was asking if religious dogma was really being taught in our public schools.
The truth of the the matter varies from place to place. My state (WV) has a statewide curricula, which allows local (county) Boards of Education to adopt textbooks from “approved” lists, designed to meet the standards measured on annual tests. That’s another issue altogether, which is not germane to this blog. There’s no current debate in West Virginia about teaching creationism or anything like it in our public schools, and my county’s science texts treat evolution as scientific reality.
There is, however, a very large and influential movement away from public schools to home schooling; which is almost entirely driven by religious zealots who object to many facets of public education – not the least of which is the teaching of evolution as scientific fact. Whether these folks will become a real threat to the science curriculum of public schools in my state or nationwide remains to be seen.
The best advice I can offer, from many years in the public schools, is to carefully question and examine the candidates for local BOE’s and make certain those who would undermine science are not given a forum with which to advance their ideology. As in everything else, one must be involved and informed to protect what one values.
August 6th, 2005 at 5:22 pm
Sigh… it’s Penne Arrabbiata (with extra strong chillie) all the way down
August 6th, 2005 at 9:34 pm
His Noodly Appendage gets a PR Firm
I am sure that “Swiftboat Veterans for His Noodly Appendage” is just a matter of time…
August 6th, 2005 at 10:14 pm
I be an FSM buckwheat noodles heretic, me lads! Arrr!
August 6th, 2005 at 11:37 pm
The serious part:
Not all home-schoolers are religious zealots. I currently reside in the US midwest (central time zone) and know several people who home school (or will be doing so within the next year). A lot of the reasons I’ve heard cited by them are budgetary and “quality of education” related, rather than religious.
Some people home school their children because they feel they can give a better quality education than their children might receive in a public school, and can’t afford the tuition costs of a private school where quality education might still exist. Some public school districts that continuously have dwindling budgets & staff cuts, coupled with increased class sizes (more students per teacher, and fewer teachers to go around), result in the quality of education suffering. Teachers won’t have as much time nor ability to give individualized attention where it may be needed, and students may receive a more “generic” education that’s been “dumbed down” (sorry for that inelegant term) to the point that students aren’t challenged; they’ll just regurgitate facts to pass the next test or quiz, without really grasping concepts.
Relatedly, some school districts cut or severely reduce “extra” programs that would benefit students. I’ve heard of one district that has eliminated “advanced” programs and is substantially reducing other helpful (to those who need it) programs such as speech.
Home schoolers I know of don’t want a sub-standard public education that gets worse due to continuing budget cuts, and likewise they can’t afford the cost of sending their children to expensive private schools, so they feel that home schooling is the next best alternative. (Of course, since the people I tend to hang around aren’t religious zealots, maybe my impressions aren’t indicative of what’s going on in the rest of the US.)
Anyway, as Richard Board suggested, get involved in local school boards! (Even if you don’t have children of your own; it’s the whole nation–and ultimately the whole world–that suffers the results of poor education.)
The silly part:
As for the FSM, I really have a blast with the whole concept. Then again, the IPU has a lot of merit, too. I don’t know, though… the pirate angle kind of wins me over to the FSM side, especially since I dressed up as a pirate last Halloween, before I’d even known of FSM’s existence. ARRR! (Gee, could there be a religious war to convert me, of all people, to the “one true” side that’s right? This could get interesting.)
August 7th, 2005 at 6:10 am
This might be of topic, but what the heck…
Fox TV could learn a little from their show I suppose. It’s also nice to see that this tiresome conspiracy theory regarding the moon landings have been debunked by P & T as well as by many others.
I didn’t know the Bad Astronomer had been on Penn & Teller’s BS! show. Way cool though!
On another note, I love the BA website and check it almost on a daily basis. Great book too!
//Henrik, Space Engineering student, Luleå, Sweden
August 7th, 2005 at 10:50 am
“But if it has to be taught in school, then is should be taught in the class where it belongs:
Home Ec. ”
Ha! You just made my day good sir!
August 7th, 2005 at 6:45 pm
Hmm. I have a natural affinity for noodles, I’m taking every friday off this summer until the end of september, and few would argue that my morals are anything but flimsy.
And I’m definitely into pirates. In fact, at my instigation, my office has celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day since 2002, in full pirate regalia, specifically to help combat global warming.
We also have a mountain nearby. With trees. Trees I tell you!
If I see a midget tomorrow, I’ll know I’ve been chosen by His Lordship the Flying Noodle Monster. Chosen for INFAMY!!!
August 7th, 2005 at 8:45 pm
This is somewhat off topic as well but in the IDist’s minds it won’t be. Does the BA have any plans on a sort of creationist bad astronomy? Surely covering biology, the actual evolution part, wouldn’t be a part of it. However, creationists seem to consider the development of the cosmos part of evolution, so combating at least that part would stick to the site’s topic, yes? I would imagine an undertaking even limited to that would probably be as involved as debunking astrology, but I think it would be worth it. I happen to know a few creationists who really like coming here for the other stuff, so it’d reach at least 2 people for sure.
August 8th, 2005 at 5:24 am
To CR: I shouldn’t have painted the entire national homeschool movement with one large brush. I was referring to my local public school district, which is an excellent one. My school was cited several times as a state and national school of excellence and my students won many awards at national competitions and exhibitions from science to the fine arts. Still, I had many parents in my district homeschool their children. They told me the reason they did so was because we continued to teach the “theory of evolution” or that we didn’t have daily prayers and the Ten Commandments posted in our classrooms. So my experience with the homeschoolers is different from that which CR describes. I am aware that there are excellent homeschool programs around the country.
By the way, did anyone read Pat Buchanan’s column in the op/ed pages yesterday (Sunday)? There is an intelligent, educated person defending the ID position with access to millions of readers. Of course, he oversimplifies and misrepresents many things, but he is a voice that is hard to combat. Science teachers face an uphill battle.
August 8th, 2005 at 7:14 am
Shaun wrote August 6th, 2005 at 2:03 am: “This, I think, should be the essence of intelligent design. There is someone there, and He has given us the means to understand what He is doing.”
Okay, Shaun, who is there and where? Why is this “someone” a He?
What galactic or solar system scientific, material, and detectable evidence can you provide for which our tecnhically advanced planetary (Earth) civilization can send spacecraft to explore? Why, with all of our technically advanced telescopic instrumentation (radio wave through gamma ray (the whole darn electromagnetic spectrum) on this planet, orbiting this planet, and all of the various spacecraft moving through our Solar System or orbiting other plants have we not yet discovered any extra-terrestrial spacecraft, or “someone” existing?
Magical thinking, make-believe beings and pretend friends are okay for young children–but when adults continue to have them, it’s called delusion: “a false, presistent belief maintained in spite of evidence to the contrary.” SYN: “delusion implies belief in something that is contrary to fact or reality, resulting from deception, a misconception, or a mental disorder.”
The only “Intelligent Designers” are overselves, the species we call ourselves, Homo sapiens sapiens.
August 8th, 2005 at 11:54 am
Diguana wrote:
I wrote: “The Spaghetti Monster conjecture is clearly flawed.
It cannot explain the Milky Way, for that you obiously need a leaky udders of the Cosmic Cow, Auðhumla – I mean, just look, does it look like alfredo sauce to you? I don’t think so.â€?
Where do you think the meatballs came from?
Exactly! The Cow! No Cosmic Cow, no meatballs.
Well, unless you carve them from the endlessly rejuvenating flanks of the Pig of Feasting (Sæhrímnir), but you’d have to fight the Einherjar for those… I’d go with beef meatballs.
Hold on; meatballs in alfredo sauce… something wrong here.
August 8th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
HOORAY! I got my FSM shirt in the mail today. I will wash it and wear it proudly. I have been touched by his noodly appendage. And I feel pastariffic.
August 9th, 2005 at 10:26 am
As you know the FSM gave the world his children (Architeuthis dux, and Vampyroteuthis infernalis) to rule over the seas.
August 10th, 2005 at 6:33 am
Amazing FSM, how sweet the touch,
That served me a plate of fettuccine.
I once was empty, now, I’ve eaten way too much,
‘Twas on Atkins, but now, an FSM weenie.
‘Twas FSM that taught my mouth to water,
And FSM, my hunger relieved.
How did FSM know, it was right to cater,
The pasta I first received?
Though many cheeseburgers, fries, and cokes,
We already have woof-fed down,
‘Twas FSM saved us wretched blokes,
And to FSM we are bound.
FSM has promised me clam sauce and roti,
Its word my hope secures.
FSM will my entrée, and portion be,
As long as pasta endures.
While the boiling waters roil and seethe,
Rolling and cooking in the pot.
We’ve no time left to test with the teeth,
FSM will make sure al dente we’ve got.
Amazing FSM, how sweet the touch,
That served me a plate of fettuccine.
I once was empty, now, I’ve eaten way too much,
‘Twas on Atkins, but now, an FSM weenie.
August 10th, 2005 at 9:55 am
Hooray! I was on vacation when I read Mr Bush’s most unfortunate comments, and could hardly wait to find some time to wander over and see how the BA weighed in on the subject. Imagine my delight to find not only a piquant rejoinder, but a new belief system to boot!
Brava, BA!
August 10th, 2005 at 11:43 am
I have added my voice and devotion to those who support the FSM:). I have seen the light!
August 10th, 2005 at 12:14 pm
Home Economics isn’t the place BA. You wouldn’t want all those queshes (sp?) falling, or eggs burning, while the student’s were debating. Think how many seams would have to be ripped out and resown. Oh the horror!
I think it should be Phys. Ed for both sides
. Much safer that way.
August 12th, 2005 at 11:57 am
“RAmen” Bwahahahahaha!
LMNAO!
(Does that mean it’s a sin to eat noodles, or is a visit to the Olive Garden like communion?)
August 13th, 2005 at 9:50 pm
Flying Spaghetti Monster
How the universe was created.
WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTERISM
Flimsy moral standards.Every friday is a relgious holiday. If your work/school objects to that, demand your religious beliefs are respected and threaten to call…
August 15th, 2005 at 7:50 pm
Shaun said: “I honestly don’t understand the creationism (et al) versus science debate. I don’t see what one has to do with the other. I believe that science seeks to answer how things work, and religion strives to understand why things work. They are related topics, but are not the same.�
The problem is that while scientists are happy to stick to science, there are many in the field of religion who aren’t happy to stick to religion. They want instead to teach their religion as a form of science. I have no real problem with creationism being taught in religious education classes, but proponents of creationism and intelligent design want to change the science curriculum to include their versions of science.
“I think both sides of the argument have become very much engaged in striving simply to undo the other. Is it not possible that the laws of Science are the laws of God? That God works through evolution and tectonic shift, and He shows us beauty in nebulae and the patterns of molecules? It brings many comfort to believe that someone is at the helm. It also brings many comfort to look and touch and know that what is before them is real.�
I’m not going to rule out the possibility that God set up the laws of the universe, pushed a button to make it start, then sat back and watched it all happen. But that rules out the possibility that He intervenes in the universe.
But there’s another problem. When people talk of this possibility, the God they speak of always seems to be the Judeo-Christian God. Why is there this need for a connection between some all-powerful Creator and the Being worshipped in churches? Why the need for worship at all?
“This, I think, should be the essence of intelligent design. There is someone there, and He has given us the means to understand what He is doing.�
But the universe is also full of violence and destruction. Think of a supernova explosion sterilising a portion of the former star’s galaxy, thus preventing or destroying an intelligent civilisation. Is this also part of God’s plan?
Seriously, Shaun, I think you need to do some more reading of the science-religion conflict in general, and the science-creationist conflict in particular. You need to learn about how creationists start with a conclusion and then search by a variety of inappropriate methods for supporting evidence. You need to learn about how creationists are corrected by scientists, then repeat their errors. As I said in my post at the top of this blog entry, if there’s controversy to be taught, why only evolution? And if you’re going to teach creationism, why only the Christian one?
August 17th, 2005 at 7:29 am
There once was a cow. Now there are meatballs. Simple, really.
August 24th, 2005 at 1:20 am
His Noodly Savoriness, The Flying Spaghetti Monster, is the one and only God I can accept as the plain truth. I Adore It all day long. And all night too!
August 25th, 2005 at 12:37 pm
Drink up me ‘earties, yo-ho!
A pirate’s life for me!
The other day we all saw the noble spaghetti and mistaken His Appendagines with the kraken… Arrr!
August 26th, 2005 at 1:31 pm
i find myself offering the Good News to all I meet … Rejoice, FSMism has come and we are all born again in His/Her/Their/Its Noodly Goodness … we may honor His/Her/Their/Its Name in many ways, from the sacrament of homemade sauce to art projects using dried pasta, to dancing in the streets in full pirate regalia, RAmen.
seriously; it is hilarious and joyful to see so much warm good humor in what had been such a dark corner. i have seen letters to the editor on ID in the local Nashville newspaper and wept for my child’s future in a country regressing faster every day.
i feel much better now, thanks to FSMism … let us all spread the Good News and honor His/Her/Their/Its Name.
August 29th, 2005 at 11:00 pm
Ok, here goes. Religion basically makes it seem ok to die. It is not! When you die, there is a chance that your counsciousness ceases to exist. Religion is trying to stop our science from reaching its full potential, which is Immortality.
Instead of wasting all this time IMAGINING there is a GOD and praying/going to church/ or whatever mental hang-up you go through to make you feel better, why not actually contribute to curing or fixing the thing that killed your loved ones?
Example: Mom dies of liver cancer. The church tries to squash the possible cure (stem cells) which could probably be developed in a very few years. But a group of delusional people insist they are all-knowing about a group of cells in a petrie dish, therefore thwarting the advancement of science and contributing to the killing of millions of people. This is why people hate Christians. So everytime you wonder why, now you know.
When sceince can (and it will) do everything you imagine your God can do, why would you need that God anymore? Religion cannot survive; it can only hamper the scientific process in hopes to buy a little more time.
Regards
Leon
September 21st, 2005 at 5:12 pm
Be Forwarned…..this could be in bad taste.
B.A.,
I can see the Hom Ec class now.
“Students, noodles should be aldente. Well, everyone except Sally. She believes Noodles created the universe. It’s okay Sally….you don’t have to eat it… them… er….Him.”
Future children of miine, should I ever concieve you… I swear to you this one promise:
UNAFFILIATED PRIVATE SCHOOL
October 8th, 2005 at 9:24 pm
[...] Hat tip: Phil Plait’s Excellent Bad Astronomy Blog [...]
September 7th, 2006 at 2:59 pm
i beleive its called pastafarianism…