Flying Spaghetti Monster, what is done to combat them?

[Mannyfit75]

Have you heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Church? It’s a group of Atheist who created this church to mock Christianity. It’s insulting to our beliefs.

 

[mikew262]

Have you heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Church? It’s a group of Atheist who created this church to mock Christianity. It’s insulting to our beliefs.

Ignore them. You can’t fix “Stupid”.

 

[corvidae]

So do what you do with little kids who do something just to provoke you.

Ignore them, and do not give them the attention they want.

When they see the atheist with real questions and less mockery getting the attention, maybe they will change their ways.

A lone Raven

 

[yessisan]

venganza.org/

This is soooooooo disrespectful to God!!!

(note that the word venganza means vengeance)

 

[LilyM]

I don’t believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster idea was created to mock religion in general - simply as a counterpoint to theories of Intelligent Design in particular.

Rather like when Darwin’s theory of evolution was first published, those who supported literally the creation story of the Bible would draw cartoons of monkeys in suits and tophats to mock the idea that human beings developed from apelike creatures.

All false religion is an insult to God - of course some are more false than others. But can we possibly rid the world of all of it?

 

[Le_Cracquere]

Give me the Church of the SubGenius any day: at least that was a clever fake religion in its heyday. (“I don’t practice what I preach because I’m not the kind of person I’m preaching to!” --J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, 19??)

In the present case, do let’s not lower ourselves to combat. In the words of an old Sicilian restaurateur I once knew: “Son, never get into a wrestling match with a Flying Spaghetti Monster. You both end up covered in garlicky marinara sauce, and the Flying Spaghetti Monster likes it.”

 

[the_phoenix]

I suppose, on being confronted with a Flying Spaghetti Monster, I would quickly put the following items to good use:

bowl, knife, fork, grated cheese … oh, and plenty of napkins!

~~ the phoenix, who is now hungry
…

 

[Mirdath]

FSMism is not a parody of Christianity but of ‘Intelligent Design’ specifically. It’s a response to the recent fuss in Kansas over creationists attempting to get their young-earth beliefs taught in public schools by thinly disguising it as ‘science’.

It’s silly and cute, not offensive (except maybe to young-Earth creationists)

‘Pull the wool over your own eyes.’ - J R ‘Bob’ Dobbs

 

[LilyM]

I suppose, on being confronted with a Flying Spaghetti Monster, I would quickly put the following items to good use:

bowl, knife, fork, grated cheese … oh, and plenty of napkins!

~~ the phoenix, who is now hungry
…

I was about to say it’s a bit difficult to believe in a Supreme Being you can eat … then that verse from some other religion’s book came to me … the one that goes ‘take and eat, this is my body …’

 

[AdvanceAlways]

This was not designed to insult God. It was designed to show ID for what it is, absolute garbage that has no place in our school curriculum.

 

[BobCatholic]

Have you heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Church? It’s a group of Atheist who created this church to mock Christianity. It’s insulting to our beliefs.

Simple.

Take their line of credit at the mirror store away from them. They have been worshipping the merchandise a little too much.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Have you heard of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Church? It’s a group of Atheist who created this church to mock Christianity. It’s insulting to our beliefs.

++ It’s very funny

Laughter is usually the best response - getting serious about this is the greatest mistake possible.

AdvanceAlways:

It was designed to show ID for what it is, absolute garbage that has no place in our school curriculum.

++ Amen to all that ++

 

[MichaelTDoyle]

++

So you do not think an Intelligent being created the universe? Or do you thik it’s impossible for God to take an active hand in His universe?

I find flippant condemnation of ID almost as scary as blanket acceptance of evolution, a scary and dangerous theory when not rigorously watched.

 

[Carrie_Andrews]

Ignore them. You can’t fix “Stupid”.

I agree, nothing more frustrating for someone looking for attention then to be ignored!!!

 

[ComradeAndrei]

I find flippant condemnation of ID almost as scary as blanket acceptance of evolution, a scary and dangerous theory when not rigorously watched.

Amen. It is foisted off as being comical-in order to show that “religious fanatics” are not to ever be taken seriously. The worst damage you can do to an idea is to make it sound rediculous and let it be ignored.

While I do find some of the ideas about ID from certain fundamentalists completely rediculous and foolish-that is not how I personally experienced the “Attack of the Flying Spaghetti Monster”. No-the angry, vocal, infantile, college student atheist/agnostic/Christianity hating folks go right on to redicule the Catholic Church because we are the only ones with any real clout who are willing to go toe-to-toe against them on their own turf.

Lots of the fundamentalists are fine with being rediculed and saying to hell with science. That is their problem. However, not so with the Church. Therefore, the only real enemy of the FSM redicule “cult” are Christians (Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestant) who are not willing to stick their heads in the sand and ignore science but are also not willing to worship the false idol of Science.

I will say this, their premise is foolish. They say, “Well, why is the FSM any less real than your God? You can’t ‘prove’ your God to exist…” Their underlying assumption is that God is just an invention of the human mind anyway, so one invention is just as good as another. Furthermore, they run on the Kantian assumption that the only valid proof is that found in the phenomenal world (i.e. temporal and material things that can be observed) and God is of the noumenal realm which we can never know anything about other than that something is in this noumenal realm that we can know nothing about. They look for “proof” that isn’t there according to impossible standards and then write Christianity off as rediculous because it doesn’t stand up to their biased stardards.

The religious person looses if they allow themselves to be dragged into pre-set conditions designed to deny Christianity. Drag them into the realm of Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, et al. and watch them sputter. Problem is, they don’t go there. Simply return the favor.

 

[Mirdath]

Amen. It is foisted off as being comical-in order to show that “religious fanatics” are not to ever be taken seriously. The worst damage you can do to an idea is to make it sound rediculous and let it be ignored.

Well, the FSM ‘cult’ has a specific target: the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools. It’s a valid concern, too; ID is not a scientific theory, it is a theological premise. Its place is in religion classes, not science. Anybody going further than that isn’t following the original intent of the joke.

The religious person looses if they allow themselves to be dragged into pre-set conditions designed to deny Christianity. Drag them into the realm of Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, et al. and watch them sputter. Problem is, they don’t go there. Simply return the favor.

I beg to differ

 

[reggieM]

Agreed.

I also find the comments that the atheists are “cute” with their mockery of our Creator God to be frightening also.

Atheism is very much on the rise. The FSM site is a reflection of that. It is definitely a mockery of God.

It is impossible to believe in the Christian God and, at the same time, deny the truths of the Intelligent Design theory. To do so is to try to find compatibility between atheism and belief. Or else it’s just a complete misunderstanding of intelligent design theory, which is probably more likely.

 

[ComradeAndrei]

Well, the FSM ‘cult’ has a specific target: the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools. It’s a valid concern, too; ID is not a scientific theory, it is a theological premise. Its place is in religion classes, not science. Anybody going further than that isn’t following the original intent of the joke.

Except that evolution is often used as a Trojan horse for atheism and “theological premises” get no attention because of their noumenal status.

I too have a beef with the “evolution is from Satan” fundamentalist folks but the FSM thing mocks religion in general-even if they say it only mocks ID. Indifferentism is no better than outright apostacy.

 

[Le_Cracquere]

Well, the FSM ‘cult’ has a specific target: the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools. It’s a valid concern, too; ID is not a scientific theory, it is a theological premise. Its place is in religion classes, not science. Anybody going further than that isn’t following the original intent of the joke.

No doubt. However, grant that as evolutionary theory is popularly formulated, at the discourse level of journalism, pop culture, and high-school curricula, it is widely applied to epistemological questions in ways that no more belong in science classes than does young-earth creationism. When evolution is conceived as having anything to say for or against theism, it has become what its proponents claim ID to be: an attempt to impose a theological claim in faux-scientific costumery.

In this light, the FSM might do well to pluck the jumbo stuffed manicotti from his own eye before addressing the piece of orzo in his brother’s.

 

[Mirdath]

Except that evolution is often used as a Trojan horse for atheism and “theological premises” get no attention because of their noumenal status.

Theological premises belong in theology and religion classes, not science.
Le Cracquere:

No doubt. However, grant that as evolutionary theory is popularly formulated, at the discourse level of journalism, pop culture, and high-school curricula, it is widely applied to epistemological questions in ways that no more belong in science classes than does young-earth creationism. When evolution is conceived as having anything to say for or against theism, it has become what its proponents claim ID to be: an attempt to impose a theological claim in faux-scientific costumery.

In this light, the FSM might do well to pluck the jumbo stuffed manicotti from his own eye before addressing the piece of orzo in his brother’s.

True enough, the state of scientific education (all education, really) in the States is abysmal

I don’t agree with the use of evolutionary theory or Big Bang theory to preach atheism either – the topic of God, extant or otherwise, should simply not be a part of any science class. Leave that to the philosophy and religion departments.