The Flying Spaghetti Monster is on display on the grounds of the courthouse in Crossville, Tennessee. No joke, there's a statue of the Diety of Noodles and Gravy on public display. Read all about it here.Sheer awesomeness. The mayor of the county undoubtedly had to ask himself which of several very bad alternatives he faced. First, he could disallow the sculpture. If he did so, he'd have to disallow nativity scenes at Christmas -- surely a decision that would be really unpopular with the local citizenry. Second, he could try to disallow the sculpture but still try to get the nativity scene up. That could get him and his county sued, or at least lampooned. Or third, he could allow Cumberland County to be Touched by His Noodly Appendage, which would as you can see looks absolutely ridiculous.
In all seriousness, I think there shouldn't be displays of religious advocacy on public property at all, of any kind. But as a second-best proposition, if you're going to allow one kind of religion to advocate, you have to allow them all. And you aren't allowed to decide whether someone else's religion is "for real" or not. So, up with the Flying Spaghetti Monster! For sheer, sophomoric awesomeness, this is hard to beat.
RAmen.
Yeah I found this last night. HI-larious. And there's something comforting about typing the words, "His Noodly Appendage"...
ReplyDeleteToo funny.
This makes me happy in a way I can't quite express or explain.
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ReplyDelete[Updated with fewer meaning-altering typos!]
ReplyDeleteI think there is a legitimate argument as well, beyond "sheer sophomoric awesomeness." I think for many, the FSM is a representation of their belief that, in fact, there is no supernatural force which directly interferes with human affairs. Just as the Old-White-Man-with-Beard-in-Flowing-Robe serves as a representation of "God" to many, the FSM, cheese be upon him, represents a contrary theological position. In sum, I believe there is a very solid logical, theological, and legal foundation that a representation of the FSM, cheese be upon him, deserves equal access with other religious iconography.
"there is no supernatural force which directly interferes with human affairs."
ReplyDeletethank you, karl smith, for that wonderful and noncontroversial statement of exactly what almost everyone *really* means when they call themselves atheists or agnostics. the perfect middle ground between dogmatic idiots of both religious and anti-religious types. and it really is what a 'parody religion' like FSM or Discordianism really represents for its 'faithful!'