The High Holy Days of Pastafarianism

Today is one of the two holiest days in the calendar of Pastafarianism, or more formally, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. As Wikipedia explains: The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism (a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarian), a movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools. A man named Bobby Henderson wrote a letter in 2005 to the Kansas State Board of Education protesting its decision to permit teaching the so-called "intelligent design" as an alternative to evolution in public school science classes. In that letter, Henderson satirized creationism by professing his belief in a religion that --- like all religions everywhere --- depends on untestable assertions, knowledge gained through private and subjective revelation, and the actions of an invisible deity. He eventually spun an entire codified belief system, as rigorous and detailed as any of the world's other myriad religions and mythologies. Henderson's point, of course, was that if you teach any religion as science, than you must teach them all: One set of untestable assertions is as valid as any other. One of Henderson's 'revelations' is that pirates were the original Pastafarians, and that a decline in the number of pirates over the years is the cause of global warming. Here's his proof: This was, of course, intended to highlight a mistake made in virtually all religions: correlation is not causation. (E.G. "I prayed for something and it came true!") Building on his revelation, Henderson said that Pastafarian priests should dress and talk like Pirates. That makes two days --- Halloween and Talk Like A Pirate Day (today, Sept. 19) --- the two High Holy Days of Pastafarianism. Yes, it's good fun, but with a serious intent: To make people realize that even deeply-held subjective beliefs are not the same as objective facts; that correlation is not causation; and to be deeply suspicious of anyone who says "God told me..." or "My religion told me..." as justification for imposing their beliefs on anyone else. Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: http://www.venganza.org/ Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster Pastafarian dress: http://www.venganza.org/category/pirates/ Talk like a pirate translatos: http://talklikeapirate.com/translator.html Pirate name generator: http://gangstaname.com/names/pirate#.VBwgAPldXkU