Seems Legit

Seems Legit

Scientific replication

This is why I think any religious or metaphysical belief should be based on observable empirical evidence, not the ravings of some sunstruck desert nomads.

Source

Source

Becoming a Pastafarian Priest

For many years I've been thinking about becoming a man of the cloth. Now I can do that for only $30 USD. And the best part? Its ok if the cloth becomes splattered in spaghetti sauce!

From http://www.venganza.org/ordination/

Yay for the (un)holy Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM)!

What I love most about FSM, is the basic tenants, reproduced below from http://www.venganza.org/about/

By design, the only dogma allowed in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the rejection of dogma. That is, there are no strict rules and regulations, there are no rote rituals and prayers and other nonsense. Every member has a say in what this church is and what it becomes.
To outsiders it makes us hard to define, but here are some general things that can be said about our beliefs:

• We believe pirates, the original Pastafarians, were peaceful explorers and it was due to Christian misinformation that they have an image of outcast criminals today
• We are fond of beer
• Every Friday is a Religious Holiday
• We do not take ourselves too seriously
• We embrace contradictions (though in that we are hardly unique)

Is Christian Science an oxymoron

I know it's not, but sometimes I wonder.

Source

A Theologian, Philosopher and a Scientist walk into a Bar

Choose your own punchline

Source

Spagetti and real monsters

Spent some time tonight reading

The Church of the Spaghetti Monster at http://www.venganza.org/  - loving it for its irrelevant take on religion and the intelligent responses of its adherents to the vitriolic hate mail. I'm hoping to be touched by his noodly appendage but I'm not in the manga tentical fantasy.

The Rejection of Pascal's Wager at http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net/ - for its well researched and thought out responses to religious (specifically Christian) dogma. The pages on the evil done by the the various popes - see http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net/papacy.html

Death by Music

There's been a few times I've thought about killing someone for their taste in music or for playing it too loud, but not for just playing music in general.

A student has died after being beaten to death by pro-Taliban radicals at a Pakistani university.

The beating, which occurred earlier in the week, culminated in the death of Anan Khan, who attended the University of Engineering & Technology in Peshawar.

He was severely beaten with several other students at the university by members of a student wing of the hard-line Jamiat-e Islami party.

Witnesses have said the IJT attacked Adnan for playing music.

Members of the IJT have a record of breaking up music appreciation functions and dance parties on the campus.

What kind of evil fuckers think that music is sinful? Its one of the most amazing creations in gods creation. All creatures sing, birds make music, devotion to god is shown in song - even the very heavens make sounds.

People are stupid and the Taliban and the most stupid and evil of all. Worst, they to hide that level of evil behind the guise of purity and religion.

They might subjugate and oppress women and ban girls from getting an education, but at least they don't rape children they claim to care for (that I've heard of, at least). Can't believe that, in that regard, the Taliban are better than the Catholic church.

Evil hiding with the Good

If you were evil  the best place to hide as someone so good, you are above suspicion - say as a priest.  Is there anything more evil than someone who rapes children? The thought that someone could do such a outright unredeemable act makes me worry for the the future of humanity. Even worse is the thought that people who are there to oversee this  person find out about the evil that they have done then sweep it under the rug in order to protect the name of the church... the institution of control, created by men, in order to tell others how to live in the, supposed, name of god.

And that it what the pope has done:

The spreading scandals of paedophile priests in the pope’s German homeland have snowballed, after it was found that a 2001 church directive he wrote, while a Vatican cardinal, instructed bishops to keep abuse cases confidential. Source http://story.australianherald.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/c08dd24cec417021/id/611852/cs/1/

And

a personal letter from Cardinal Ratzinger to bishops accompanying the 2001 document said complaints against paedophile priests were covered by “pontifical secret”, to be handled by bishops in strict confidentiality. Thus, the charge of “cover-up” against the Pope. Source http://www.independent.ie/national-news/pope-will-struggle-to-survive-abuse-scandal-2098357.html

Sadly, it should be noted that the previous Pope John Paul II wasn't much better. See http://atheism.about.com/od/popejohnpaulii/a/sexualabuse.htm

Not to forget that the current Pope was in the Hitler Youth. While he may have been conscripted, as put at http://atheism.about.com/od/benedictxvi/i/RatzingerNazi.htm

Ratzinger’s recollections of his youth in Nazi Germany makes it seem as though all the problems, violence, and hatred existed outside his local community. There is no recognition that resistance to the Nazis existed — or was needed — just outside his door

the article continues:

 While Ratzinger was not a Nazi in the past and Benedict XVI is not a Nazi now, there is more than enough reason to question his handling of his past. It appears that he hasn’t been honest with others — and probably not honest with himself — about what he did and what he could have done.

It’s simply not true that resistance was impossible at the time. Difficult, yes; dangerous, yes. But not impossible.

This is the highest of offices in a church that not only enforces abstinence for priests and prevents the use of birth control but has become synonmyous for child abuse. As far as I am concerned, its time to tear the whole man-made, symbology strewn, archaic edifice down.

At least the Scientologist don't rape the children in their care - or at least no one seem to have come forward yet to state it happened to them

You'll never be born here again.

Need to record this newest piece of evil as reported in Newsweek at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20227400/site/newsweek/

Aug. 20-27, 2007 - In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."


But beyond the irony lies China's true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region's Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country. By barring any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation, the law effectively gives Chinese authorities the power to choose the next Dalai Lama, whose soul, by tradition, is reborn as a new human to continue the work of relieving suffering.

Makes me so angry. Oh for a free Tibet.