Can someone explain FSM to me?

Question

I'm reading The God Delusion right now and it mentioned FSM. I also have seen in mentioned on this forum. I know it is the "Flying Spaghetti Monster", but what are the details. Please no hateful comments. Just an explanation of it. Thanks.

Answer 1

It's the Flying Spaghetti Monster... it's a made-up deity created in order to be a parody of religion and God.

http://venganza.org <=== That is the official FSM website.

The whole point of the FSM is to get people thinking "well that's absolutely ridiculous... why should I believe in that?" to which a "Pastafarian" (a follower of the FSM) replies "can you prove the FSM doesn't exist? Look, we even have a gospel. How can you deny His holy word? You must not want to be touched by His Noodly Appendage".

And hence a parody of religion is born.

Answer 2

It's a parody religion. It pokes fun at the arguments people try to use to prove Biblical creationism and "Intelligent Design". For example, you can't disprove God, but you can't disprove the Flying Spaghetti Monster either. It's a demonstration of how weak those kinds of arguments are.

Answer 3

Someone just made up that super being as a way of demonstrating how anyone can make stuff up and get people to believe it. Of course, it is a joke, but he makes a great point. Now FSM is slowly making its way into our culture and vocabulary.

Answer 4

In school ppl wanted to teach creationism (with the Christian god),
so this guy drew up FSM.
The rest I'd have to reread, but it's on that venganza website.

Answer 5

Another who wishes to be touched by His noodly appendage.
Welcome sister.Meet me at the beer volcano and I will gladly share meatballs and pasta with you.Others have given you the link.Go and rejoice.

RAmen

Answer 6

it's a brilliant commentary on the ridiculous nature of mythology of which all religion stems

Answer 7

Laugh at him to your peril!

Answer 8

try venganza.org. It will explain everything...

Answer 9

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the fictional deity of a parody religion[1] founded in 2005 by Oregon State University physics graduate Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. In an open letter[2] sent to the education board, Henderson professes belief in a supernatural Creator called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which resembles spaghetti and meatballs. He furthermore calls for the "Pastafarian" theory of creation to be taught in science classrooms, essentially invoking a reductio ad absurdum argument against the teaching of intelligent design.[3][4] Followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) call themselves Pastafarians, a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarian.

Due to its recent popularity and media exposure, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is used by atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, as a modern version of Russell's teapot.[5]

Contents [hide]
1 Beliefs
1.1 Pirates and global warming
1.2 The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
2 History and developments
2.1 The MySpace Worm
3 The Flying Spaghetti Monster in popular culture
4 See also
5 References and notes
5.1 Footnotes
5.2 General references
5.3 Other media coverage
6 External links



[edit] Beliefs

A Pastafarian depiction of the creation of the universe sent in an open letter to the Kansas School Board. It includes the Monster, a tree-covered mountain, and a midgit [sic].Henderson proposed many of the beliefs to parody common arguments by proponents of intelligent design.[4] These are the canonical beliefs set forth by Henderson:[6]

An invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe, including a mountain, trees and a midget, spelled "midgit."
All evidence for evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The FSM tests Pastafarians' faith by making things look older than they are (q.v. Omphalos). "For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 11,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how that can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease."
The Pastafarian belief of heaven stresses two points. "A) It has beer volcanos as far as the eye can see & B) It has a stripper factory."[6]
"RAmen" is the official conclusion to prayers, certain sections of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and so on, and is a portmanteau of the Semitic term "Amen" (used in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and Ramen, a noodle. While it is typically spelled with both a capital "R" and "A", it is also acceptable to spell it with only a capital R.

[edit] Pirates and global warming

Chart comparing Number of Pirates versus Global Warming; an example of the fact that correlation does not equal causation.According to the Pastafarian belief system, pirates are "absolute divine beings" and the original Pastafarians. Their image as "thieves and outcasts" is misinformation spread by Christian theologians in the Middle Ages. Pastafarianism says that they were in fact "peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will" who distributed candy to children.

The inclusion of pirates in pastafarianism was part of Henderson's original letter to the Kansas School Board. It illustrated that correlation does not equal causation. Henderson put forth the argument that "global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of pirates since the 1800s."[6] A chart accompanying the letter shows that as the number of pirates decreased, global temperatures increased; this is a farcical demonstration of how statistically significant correlations do not imply a causal relationship.


[edit] The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Gospel of The Flying Spaghetti MonsterMain article: The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
In December 2005, Bobby Henderson received a reported USD $80,000 advance to pen The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. According to the author, he plans to use the proceeds from the sale of the book to build a pirate ship, with which he may travel the world in order to convert heathens to the Pastafarian religion.[7] The book was released on March 28, 2006 (ISBN 0-8129-7656-8).

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the Pastafarian equivalent of the Bible. It parodies biblical figures with characters such as Captain Mosey, a pirate and the FSM equivalent of Moses. The Gospel contains The Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts", parodying the Ten Commandments.





[edit] History and developments

The FSM logo is a parody of the Ichthys or "Jesus Fish". It contains the basic body shape of the Ichthys, two eye stalks, six "noodly appendages", and the initials "FSM" for Flying Spaghetti Monster.The first public exposure of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its eponymous deity can be dated to May 7, 2005, when Bobby Henderson sent his open letter regarding the FSM and the teaching of intelligent design in science classes to the Kansas Board of Education. Henderson posted the letter on his website, and subsequently published the responses[8] he received from board members.

As word of Henderson's challenge to the board spread, the website and Henderson's cause gathered more attention and support. The satiric nature of Henderson's argument made the Flying Spaghetti Monster popular with bloggers as well as humor and internet culture websites. The site was featured on Sensible Erection on June 17, 2005.[9] and sites such as Boing Boing, Something Awful, Uncyclopedia and Fark.com. The mainstream media quickly picked up on the phenomena as the Flying Spaghetti Monster became a symbol for the case against intelligent design theory in public education.[10][11][12] Over time, the website has expanded in response to the growing lore surrounding the FSM as well as publicity received.

In August 2005, in response to a challenge from a reader, BoingBoing.net announced a $250,000 challenge, later raised to $1,000,000, of "Intelligently Designed currency" by other bloggers, payable to any individual who could produce empirical evidence proving that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, though Jesus is not a part of Pastafarianism.[13] The challenge is modeled after a similar challenge issued by creationist Kent Hovind (an award of $250,000 to anyone who can prove evolution "is the only possible way" that the Universe and life arose) that has been criticized by scientists as being logically flawed in design.[14] Pastafarians in Australia recently used the Census in Australia of 2006 to raise public awareness of Pastafarianism in a campaign similar to the Jedi census phenomenon. They asked Australians to record their religion as "Pastafarian" in the August 2006 Australian Census.[15] Self-declared Pastafarians continue to independently produce and document artwork and tributes to the Flying Spaghetti Monster in various media.


[edit] The MySpace Worm
A flash worm appeared on MySpace in July 2006, replacing a user's "books" section with a link to the Gospel's website. A large, black banner promoting Pastafarianism also consumed the top portion of any affected Myspace. An estimated 170,000 users were affected. The FSM website and Bobby Henderson were not responsible, and instructions on a fix were posted on the same website the worm advertised.[16]


[edit] The Flying Spaghetti Monster in popular culture

Some websites sell shirts, mugs, and other paraphernalia in support of Pastafarianism.The band New York Dolls added the FSM to their music video "Dance like a Monkey".[17]
A section of the open letter to the Kansas School Board appeared in the January 2006 edition of Playboy.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster has been used by Richard Dawkins to demonstrate ideas from his book The God Delusion on several media appearances, including The Colbert Report and Talk of the Nation - Science Friday[18].
The Flying Spaghetti Monster has been referenced in several television programs, including The IT Crowd and South Park. The reference in South Park, during the episode Go, God. Go!, was however a reference to Richard Dawkins using The Flying Spaghetti Monster to demonstrate his point. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is also mentioned several times by Mrs. Garrison.
The Hunger Artists Theatre Company produced a comedy called The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant in December of 2006, detailing the history of Pastafarianism. [19]
The Flying Spaghetti Monster was featured in a parody interview on G4's Attack of the Show. FSM took the shape of a bowl of spaghetti with two eyeballs.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster was featured in the Dec/Jan issue of the Science magazine Seed in a section dedicated to the year in review.