Student punished for spaghetti beliefs

[HairyHeretic]

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?...mp;in_page_id=2

Student punished for spaghetti beliefs
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Flying Spaghetti Monster
The Flying Spaghetti Monster

A student has been suspended from school in America for coming to class dressed as a pirate.

But the disciplinary action has provoked controversy – because the student says that the ban violates his rights, as the pirate costume is part of his religion.

Bryan Killian says that he follows the Pastafarian religion, and that as a crucial part of his faith, he must wear 'full pirate regalia' as prescribed in the holy texts of Pastafarianism.

The school, however, say that his pirate garb was disruptive.

Pastafarians follow the Flying Spaghetti Monster (pictured), and believe that the world was created by the touch of his noodly appendage. Furthermore, they acknowledge pirates as being 'absolute divine beings', and stress that the worldwide decline in the number of pirates has directly led to global warming.

Pastafarianism gained wide attention when its key prophet, Bobby Henderson, wrote to the Kansas School Board during the height of the controversy over 'Intelligent Design' being taught in science classes. His letter, also published on his website, demanded equal time be given to the teachings of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as was given to ID and evolutionary theory.

Since then, the Flying Spaghetti Monster has gained countless followers worldwide, although there are those who remain spagnostic.

The school, in North Buncombe, North Carolina, remains adamant that their decision to suspend Killian for a day has nothing to do with his religion, and quite a lot to do with his repeated refusal to heed warnings against wearing pirate outfits.

[Cherri Tart]

i can't help but applaud him for standing up for his right to dress as a pirate - i think, as a show of support, i'm going to begin wearing pirate garb as well :)

[HairyHeretic]

I approve of your decision. Here's 3 eye patches, that should cover your costume nicely  ;D

[RubySlippers]

This young man needs to join the Universal Life Church and get legal status for his noble faith path. When he turns eighteen of course the ordinatiion takes around two minutes.

If the first amendment the most important protect Scientology it surely protects the worshippers of the Spagetti Monster.

[Jefepato]

I'm pretty sure just joining the ULC won't really be any help in getting legal status for your pirate regalia.  ULC ministers can perform weddings, but if you want to do something disruptive like wear pirate regalia, I don't think a church that ordains anyone and doesn't enforce its only rule will do you any good in court.

[RubySlippers]

You can't take a jestful idea and have fun with it? So serious...

[Vandren]

If the first amendment the most important protect Scientology it surely protects the worshippers of the Spagetti Monster.

Sadly, in order to get First Amendment protection, the federal government has to acknowledge your beliefs as a "real" religion.  Which these days . . .  :(

(Something similar came up in the U.K. when folks tried writing in "Jedi" as their religion on census forms.)

[Swedish Steel]

Hmmm. I wonder if I could get away with writing Asatro on my census form. I must say a big pantheon of gods is a whole lot more fun than a monoteistic religion.

[Vandren]

Hmmm. I wonder if I could get away with writing Asatro on my census form. I must say a big pantheon of gods is a whole lot more fun than a monoteistic religion.

Definitely.  :)  Not that Christianity has ever really been monotheistic.

[Swedish Steel]

Yes. Guilty of idolatry, the lot of them.

[HairyHeretic]

Hmmm. I wonder if I could get away with writing Asatro on my census form. I must say a big pantheon of gods is a whole lot more fun than a monoteistic religion.

Asatro? Is that your version of Asatruar?

[Swedish Steel]

Yes. The old version of it, not the Icelandic revitalized one. It isn't a religion officially recognized by the government.

[HairyHeretic]

Really? I thought it had been? I know its recognised in Iceland, and could have sworn it was in one of the nordic countries.

[Swedish Steel]

Norway, and recently Denmark. Not Sweden though...but come to think of it, it would be a nifty idea! Might even make a religious man out of me. :)

[Vandren]

Greece is going through something similar these days.

[HairyHeretic]

Norway, and recently Denmark. Not Sweden though...but come to think of it, it would be a nifty idea! Might even make a religious man out of me. :)

Ah, ok. Well, I was close :) I do know that one Swedish group recently got permission to use some of the old sacred sites though. That might have been what I was thinking off.

Greece is going through something similar these days.

Yeah, I recall seeing that on the BBC news website a while back. I was quite amused by the fire and brimstone denunciation coming from the greek orthodox priest they spoke to.

[Elvi]

Sadly, in order to get First Amendment protection, the federal government has to acknowledge your beliefs as a "real" religion.  Which these days . . .  :(

(Something similar came up in the U.K. when folks tried writing in "Jedi" as their religion on census forms.)

They didn't 'try' writing it on census forms, they DID write it on census forms and it was notated as 'other' for statistical purposes.
Mine had the whole religious thing crossed through with NOT APPLICABLE written across it....

[Vandren]

They didn't 'try' writing it on census forms, they DID write it on census forms and it was notated as 'other' for statistical purposes.

Well, yes.  That was typed fast, the "try" referred to their attempt to have it acknowledged.  :)

Yeah, I recall seeing that on the BBC news website a while back. I was quite amused by the fire and brimstone denunciation coming from the greek orthodox priest they spoke to.

Fortunately, because the E.U. requires religious tolerance, and the Greek government really wants to get into the E.U. as a full member, the G.O.C. is starting to lose its stranglehold on the government.

[GothicFires]

I haven't decided if I'm amused by the FSM or not. While I do support the point that all religions should be taught to school children equally or not at all, I’m not sure picking a method of protest that is obviously absurd was the correct way of doing it.

Alas, having said that I have discovered that I am a follower of FSM and didn’t even know about it. I first read this thread while eating pasta for lunch and I do dress as a pirate quite frequently  :-\

[Vandren]

I think the point of FSM is more that if school districts are considering the Book of Genesis to be "science" - that is, something they'll teach in the science classroom - then they have to consider the FSM version of creation to be "science" no matter how far fetched it may be.  Honestly (and with no offense to the religiously minded out there), the FSM account of creation is no more or less plausible than the Judeo-Christian-Muslim version.  Sometimes the best way to get the point across is to go to the absurdist extreme - as when the tobacco companies published a call to ban bread in order to point out the really weak arguments that anti-tobacco lobbies were using in the 1970s and 80s (yes, I personally am an anti-tobaccoist, but the arguments back then were thin and weak).

[Lilac]

Though I can't imagine anyone here is a devout creationist, should probably move this here >_>

[Jefepato]

Though I can't imagine anyone here is a devout creationist, should probably move this here >_>

I don't see why not.  Nothing about creationism inherently contradicts Elliquiy.

[RubySlippers]

Not at all I'm a devout Creationsit Elvi I believe the Deity extended the Creation guiding it over ages conforming to the Book of Genesis up to the Creation of Man which occured around ten to at most twenty thousand years ago. Since we over all life has a soul imbued by the Deity. This mostly fits what secular science has demonstrated and some is a function of pure faith.

[Vandren]

Not at all I'm a devout Creationsit Elvi I believe the Deity extended the Creation guiding it over ages conforming to the Book of Genesis up to the Creation of Man which occured around ten to at most twenty thousand years ago. Since we over all life has a soul imbued by the Deity. This mostly fits what secular science has demonstrated and some is a function of pure faith.

Ah, but that's not the "devout Creationist" position.  That's the hybridized Creationism-Evolution position, one version of which is Intelligent Design.  Devout Creationists believe that "six days" means "six days" and only "six days" not several thousand years (or the several million years that geology, biology, and paleontology have demonstrated).

[Elvi]

Not at all I'm a devout Creationsit Elvi I believe the Deity extended the Creation guiding it over ages conforming to the Book of Genesis up to the Creation of Man which occured around ten to at most twenty thousand years ago. Since we over all life has a soul imbued by the Deity. This mostly fits what secular science has demonstrated and some is a function of pure faith.

Humm....what?
Was that directed at me for a reason?