The Satirical World of Atheist Activism

[rug]

Isaac Fornarola
Journalist, satirist and teacher covering identity politics and LGBTQ issues. Based in New York City. Founder and editor of @FluxWeekly
Posted: 01/05/2016 12:46 pm EST
Updated: 5 hours ago

Recently, Massachusetts resident Lindsay Miller won the right to wear a colander in her State ID photo on account of her belief in Pastafarianism. There are two ways of interpreting this:

1. This is compelling. Most Departments of Motor Vehicles only allow head coverings in state-issued IDs for religious reasons (most commonly allowed are kippahs, veils, or turbans). A denial of one's right to wear a colander in the name of Pastafarianism would mean the State of Massachusetts has decided that Pastafarianism isn't a religion, which calls into question the method by which the government makes these distinctions.

2. This is ridiculous. This is a ridiculous person with a strange belief system and, if an activist, even stranger priorities.

Part of my interest in this story was my belief that the ridiculousness of the colander overshadowed what could potentially be a real advocacy movement, that the popularity of the viral ID photo could be part of a reflection of a cultural shift away from religion and custom. Pastafarianism might be trending right now, but is the popularity of atheist performance art and activism a marker of a larger cultural shift toward secularism? Recent research has shown that Millennials are markedly less religious than previous generations. And while this trend has been observed before, many young people of past generations will opt to identify as "spiritual" rather than religious. This is also untrue for Millennials--we're just really, truly, not as invested in spirituality. Atheist activism like The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has all the makings of a successful Millennial social movement: it's catchy, it's absurd, and it's mostly organized online.

interviewed Cynthia Nelms-Byrne, an artist, activist and Pastafarian in Dubuque, Iowa. In her mind, the colander ruling is indeed a victory, but its real significance is that it gives visibility to the Pastafarian cause, which boils down to keeping intelligent design out of school curriculums. She and other Pastafarians participate in the religion by writing letters to school boards that say, as Cynthia explained (with notable sarcasm), "This is great that intelligent design is fighting against evolution being taught in schools! We want our dogma taught too, our creation story." That story just so happens to be that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world. So?

Pastafarianism got its start in 2005, when a man named Bobby Henderson set out to find an effective way to protest the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to allow intelligent design in school curriculums. Henderson wrote a letter, since internet famous, in which he professed his belief in a supernatural creator named "His Noodly Appendage". He argued that his creation story, resembling intelligent design in structure though decidedly different when it comes to the details (Henderson's deity strongly resembles spaghetti and meatballs), should be taught alongside creationism and evolution in school.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/isaac-fornarola/the-satirical-world-of-atheist_b_8912554.html

[Cartoonist]

1. Item one

By allowing the colander, the state is indeed recognizing pastafarianism as a religion. Actually, they are probably just avoiding a legal hassle. Same thing.

Item two.
Ridiculous? Now the writer knows how I feel about all religions.

[rug]

2. Item three

It's stupid.

[Cartoonist]

4. Of course it's stupid

You are talking about religion, right?

[rug]

7. No, I'm talking about parody performed poorly.

[Human101948]

26. No stupider than the conehead hat worn by the Pope...

Or the mullahs with the bath towels swaddling their heads.

[gcomeau]

6. What makes it stupid?

The point of course is not that it is not stupid... but the criteria you recognize as establishing it as such and the consistent application of said criteria to other subject matter.

[rug]

8. You have precisely defined what makes it stupid.

[gcomeau]

9. Really? Where?

I actually have done so elsewhere, when speaking about slightly different but clearly related subject matter, but I *very* much doubt you are signing up to say the criteria I use are valid. So which criteria are you referring to exactly?

[rug]

11. Assuming the critera you refer to means the critera of recognozing a religion,

it's stupid because it creates a straw man of what religion is and attempts to top it.

It is also stupid because you have otherwise rational people disengenuously declaiming their adherence to pastafarianism when no one, including themselves, consider it anything other than a parody.

And it is stupid because it severely misunderstands and misapplies the jurisprudence that has evolved concerning the relation of the state to religion, which one assumes is the issue they really want to get right.

[gcomeau]

17. Is that so?

"it's stupid because it creates a straw man of what religion is and attempts to top it."

What specific points is it employing which are straw men and how are they recognized as such?

"It is also stupid because you have otherwise rational people disengenuously declaiming their adherence to pastafarianism when no one, including themselves, consider it anything other than a parody."

So is it parody that makes it stupid then? If so, what aspect of parody do you find stupid?

"And it is stupid because it severely misunderstands and misapplies the jurisprudence that has evolved concerning the relation of the state to religion,"

Details please. How so?

[rug]

18. I"ll spare us both time.

http://www.venganza.org/about/

All of it.



Feel free to show me which of it isn't.

[gcomeau]

24. *As parody*...

I can't find anything about it that's stupid. It would seem to be succeeding greatly from all observations.

You're going to have to be a little more explicit and make some kind of argument for how any aspects of it are stupid given its intended nature and goals.

[cleanhippie]

22. I think he finds it stupid because it treats religion fairly and equally.

Be it parody or religion, if one says they believe it, there's no way to prove otherwise. And with one mans parody is being another mans religion, we must treat ALL religious belief equally.
And to those accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression. Which in turn gives us the "because it's stupid" defense.

[rug]

23. And, again, you think wrong.

What I wrote needs neither your interpretation nor any biased gloss you wish to apply.

So, be honest for once, Do you see it as a parody or as a religion. Or are you openly stating you are incapable of seeing the difference?

[NeoGreen]

31. Is this an "Either/Or" Trap?

Maybe there is another option...

...he could see all religions as parodies of one another.

Or some other option not yet openly discussed...

What should we infer?

What was implied?

Questions...questions...

[rug]

32. Given his non answer, he may consider a question a trap.

[Lordquinton]

34. I always think back to a line from Fight Club

at the beginning where he's going to all the support groups, and Marla starts showing up making him uncomfortable, his thought

"Marla -- the big tourist. Her lie reflected my lie."

nails theists reactions to Pastafarianism perfectly.

[NeoGreen]

36. Oh, good...

...for a second there I thought you were going to quote Marla after she and Tyler do their screaming rabbit act in bed..."I haven't been f^€£ed like that since grade school...."

which, apparently, was acceptable to the censors but "I want your abortion" was not.

[cleanhippie]

40. Funny, that's exactly what I thought I had said. You got it.

It's seems plain enough you'd think only an idiot wouldn't get it.

[rug]

41. No, yo've never posted anything remotely like this:

"Americans are losing the ability to see any issuev as anything but a clash between two extremes. Subtle grays don't register."

And that's from the cartoon.

After all, you can't distinguish pastafarianism from a religion. However, I would never suggest you're an idiot for that. That would be trolling.

[rug]

43. In fairness, that particlarly nasty post reflects on the poster not pastafarians.

A host locked the thread after that post before the inevitable swarm. It's obvious it was a dog whistle.

There are people incapable of discussion without making it personal.

[gcomeau]

44. A single discussion board post by a single person is ...

..."the Pastafarian response to the refugee crisis"?


Really? Want to think that over for a bit?

[rug]

5. If you;re referring ti Islam, it does not stem from the nephilim.

It stems from Surah 24:30:"Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest".

[rug]

12. I see. You believe the attire was to prevent women from being raped by giants, not by men.

[rug]

14. What is nonsense is rejecting anthropolgy for antitheism.

[rug]

16. When you have a choice between examing why early societies valued modesty

and reject the theory that it was a social device against sexual attacks on women for the theory the people were afraid of giants you are rejecting a theory based on evidence for one based on ideology.

Atheism is not a cross purposes with anthropology; it has nothing to do with it. Nonbelief has nothing to do with anything at all beyond the rejection of deity.

But I was talking about antitheism, not atheism.

No one asked, but you said you're not an atheist. In that case, I will ask. What are you?

[rug]

20. That didn't take long at all

[Lordquinton]

35. No point asking questions

you won't get any answers, just deflection and personal attacks.

[rug]

38. That must be it.

[NeoGreen]

25. One might suggest that utilizing the "ridiculous" to develop effective "ridicule"...

...is a time honored process in the US:

Ridicule

When you ridicule someone, you mock or make fun of them. They become the object of your ridicule or mockery. Your bad behavior might bring ridicule on your parents, who raised you to know better.

The word ridicule is related to ridiculous. If you ridicule a friend, you try to make them look ridiculous.
Both words come from the Latin redire which means to laugh.
When you are ridiculed, you are made a laughing stock, but being the object of ridicule is never funny.

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/ridicule


Maybe the objective is to show Ridiculousness by Association, not necessarily venerate a pile of pasta and a few meatballs?

[On the Road]

27. I agree:

Maybe the objective is to show Ridiculousness by Association, not necessarily venerate a pile of pasta and a few meatballs?

I also means it is not a real religion and has no business trying to pretend it is.

[NeoGreen]

29. Could this be inferred to mean that there are no "true Scotsmen?"...

...in any of the "real" religions?

...who gets to decide what is pretend and who is pretending?

...who gets to be the arbiter of what is and what isn't a "True Religion™"?

...who gets to decide who will be the arbiter?

[cleanhippie]

30. Kindly explain just what a "real religion" is.

[gcomeau]

33. You don't really get how parody works, do you? -eom

[whatthehey]

28. Both, and doubtless intentional in both cases.