Greetings from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
What’s coming up for 2019?
Lots of people volunteered to help. The sentiment I heard from you guys, and I agree, is that the book should be positive, and not a cynical look at religion. I think it will be focused on the FSM Creation story and so forth, and illustrated. We intend to make the book free online as an interactive website, and also do a high quality print run for anyone who wants a nicely printed book.
I’ve got a few holiday gift ideas, below. We don’t really do merchandise anymore (though you can surely find knockoff shirts and things on the internet if you look.) The only thing we do now is the Ordinations, and I’d encourage everyone to become Ordinated, or to nominate a friend, if it feels right. Here we go:
• Nominate someone to the Ministry of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Do you know someone of impeccable character, ready to serve as a spiritual leader? This Holiday season why not surprise them with Ordination credentials?
FSM Ministers will receive Lithograph Paper Certificates and PVC Minister’s ID cards, and will be added to the official registry. You can order as a gift here. (Or for yourself here). I will send something you can present the nominee, before their credentials arrive in the mail. If they decide to not join the Ministry, you can re-nominate or get a refund.
• Send a Holiday e-Card to your friends and family
You can create a festive card with personalized message here. It takes only seconds and costs nothing. Below are a few of the designs. I will not smash any ads into your e-cards, nor will I read them.
A spokesperson for Joint Base Charleston told News19 Sunday morning that a group of 12 C-17 cargo jets took off from their base around 7 p.m. Saturday. Courtesy Charleston, SC (WLTX)
Staff Sgt. John Eller conducts pre-flights check on his C-17 Globemaster III Jan. 3 prior to taking off from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii for a local area training mission. Sgt. Eller is a loadmaster from the 535th Airlift Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo)
Christopher Hitchens: The Last Interview AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS
By CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
PRODUCT DETAILS
Published by Melville House Dec 05, 2017
ABOUT CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: THE LAST INTERVIEW
“If someone says I’m doing this out of faith, I say, Why don’t you do it out of conviction?” —CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS
One of his generation’s greatest public intellectuals, and perhaps its fiercest, Christopher Hitchens was a brilliant interview subject. This collection—which spans from his early prominence as a hero of the Left to his controversial support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan toward the end of his life—showcases Hitch’s trademark wit on subjects as diverse as his mistrust of the media, his love of literature, his dislike of the Clintons, and his condemnation of all things religious. Beginning with an introduction and tribute from his longtime friend Stephen Fry, this collection culminates in Hitchens’s fearless final interview with Richard Dawkins, which shows a man as unafraid of death as he was of everything in life.
Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, 2011. Courtesy YouTube.
CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS was an English-born American writer, essayist, and journalist, as well as an outspoken atheist. He began his writing career in England as a correspondent for a socialist publication before writing for the New Statesman. He then moved to the US in 1981 and became an editor for The Nation. In 1992, he joined Vanity Fair as a contributing editor and he stayed with the publication for the remainder of his life. He also wrote a monthly column for The Atlantic, contributed regularly to the New York Review of Books, appeared as a talking head on countless television shows, and wrote or co-authored seventeen books. Hitchens also taught as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a liberal studies professor at the New School. In 2010 he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, though this did not slow him down much as he continued to write and give interviews until he died on December 15, 2011.
“He’s one of the most terrifying rhetoricians that the world has yet seen.” —Martin Amis
“His unworldly fluency never deserted him, his commitment was passionate, and he never deserted his trade. He was the consummate writer, the brilliant friend. In Walter Pater’s famous phrase, he burned ‘with this hard gem-like flame.’ Right to the end.” —Ian McEwan
“He was an intellectual with the instincts of a street brawler, never happier than when engaged in moral or political fisticuffs.” —Salman Rushdie
“There was nothing that Hitch liked to do more than talk— and all the better if talking meant arguing.” —Anna Wintour
Why Skepticism Is the Right Approach to the Afterlife, Immortality & Utopia
Michael Shermer via Big Think
HEAVENS ON EARTH: THE SCIENTIFIC SEARCH FOR THE AFTERLIFE, IMMORTALITY, AND UTOPIA is a scientific exploration into humanity’s obsession with the afterlife and quest for immortality from the bestselling author and skeptic Michael Shermer.
Pre-orders are now available.
In his most ambitious work yet, Shermer sets out to discover what drives humans’ belief in life after death, focusing on recent scientific attempts to achieve immortality by radical life extentionists, extropians, transhumanists, cryonicists, and mind-uploaders, along with utopians who have attempted to create heaven on earth. For millennia, religions have concocted numerous manifestations of heaven and the afterlife, the place where souls go after the death of the physical body. Religious leaders have toiled to make sense of this place that a surprising 74% of Americans believe exists, but from which no one has ever returned to report what it is really like.
Heavens on Earth concludes with an uplifting paean to purpose and progress and what we can do in the here-and-now, whether or not there is a hereafter.
“Some claim that the church is purely a thought experiment or satire, illustrating that Intelligent Design is not science, just a pseudoscience manufactured by Christians to push Creationism into public schools. These people are mistaken — The Church of FSM is legit, and backed by hard science. Anything that comes across as humor or satire is purely coincidental.”
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About the Church:
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, after having existed in secrecy for hundreds of years, came into the mainstream just a few years ago.
With millions, if not thousands, of devout worshipers, the Church of the FSM is widely considered a legitimate religion, even by its opponents – mostly fundamentalist Christians, who have accepted that our God has larger balls than theirs.
Some claim that the church is purely a thought experiment or satire, illustrating that Intelligent Design is not science, just a pseudoscience manufactured by Christians to push Creationism into public schools. These people are mistaken — The Church of FSM is legit, and backed by hard science. Anything that comes across as humor or satire is purely coincidental.
Sounds great but where do I start?
For a taste of what we’re about, watch this video made by our friend Matt Tillman, an Introduction to Pastafarianism: Spaghetti, Wenches & Metaphysics.
What is this business about pirates, and the Beer Volcano, and Stripper Factory?
Religious texts tell us that humans evolved from Pirates. Consider that so-called “science experts” would have us believe humans evolved from primates, pointing towards the shared 99% shared DNA between humans and primates. But humans and Pirates share upwards of 99.9% of DNA.
We believe that Pirates were the original Pastafarians and that they were peaceful explorers. It was only due to Christian misinformation that they have an image of outcast criminals today.
No one knows what the afterlife really holds, but we are told FSM Heaven has a Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory.
How Do I Join?
There is no formal membership process and we do not collect money from our members. The site is supported purely by our Certificates of Ordination.
Must see: Follow link here for printables/flyers/brochures:
Courtesy Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.Courtesy Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Courtesy Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
The Website offers an faq section (Well worth reading), a blog, church-related news, fan photos and art, hate mail, and much more. it is both intelligently written and lots of fun.
Harry Price fancied himself to be one of the first scientific paranormal investigators in modern history. Although he had no formal scientific training, he aspired to create a reputation for himself as a debunker of paranormal fraud and hoped to become a legitimate investigator of scientific truth.
Price gained fame by exposing William Hope, spirit photographer extraordinaire, and an account of his investigation titled A CASE OF FRAUD WITH THE CREWE CIRCLE was published in 1922 in the Journal of Society for Psychical Research.
Read Spirit photography: William Hope Cashed in on Grief
But Harry Price walked a fine line between skepticism and belief. He seemed to debunk some, while letting others slide, especially if he could use them to further his own fame. (The case of the “mediumship” of Willi and Rudi Schneider will be discussed in another article).
To this end, Price created a laboratory where paranormal investigation could take place. Originally named the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, it was moved to the University of London and renamed the Council for Psychical Investigation, but was never an official project of the university itself.
The National Laboratory of Psychical Research, London, 1926.
In this 10-minute film, Harry Price reveals tricks of fraudulent mediums, clairvoyants and more. Price gives us a fascinating tour of his laboratory in 1936:
Figures from the annual Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, run by ScotCen social researchers, have shown the highest ever proportion of non-religious people.
The new findings from Scotland’s most authoritative survey of public attitudes show that nearly six in ten (58%) now say that they have no religion, up 18 points on 1999 when the figure stood at four in ten (40%).
Young people are least likely to be religious; three quarters of young people (74% of 18-34s) say they have no religion compared with 34% of those over 65.
Commenting on the new figures, Gordon MacRae, Chief Executive of Humanist Society Scotland said:
Gordon MacRae, HSS Chief Executive
“This change is part of a long term trend that has seen more and more people in Scotland live happy and fulfilled lives without a religious belief.
“Humanist weddings for example are now more numerous in Scotland than any religious service.
“Today’s figures help support Humanist Society Scotland’s long held view that we should end privileges that some faith groups unfairly enjoy. A modern Scotland should ensure individuals of all faiths and none are equally respected.”
The Sagan Series is an educational project working in the hopes of promoting scientific literacy in the general population. Created by @ReidGower http://twitter.com/reidgower
Today Infowars linked to the following story, now widely shared on various social media sites. Before you start sharing away, The Local Se, a website dedicated to providing Sweden’s news in English, gives a more accurate accounting of the case.
A story making headlines in some media outlets claims that a man was convicted in Sweden for ‘eating bacon’ in front of women wearing veils. But the reality is that the man was charged after insulting them on the grounds of their ethnicity and religion.
The incident, which happened on a commuter train to Stockholm suburb Märsta in 2015, saw a 52-year-old man walk up to a group of three women who were wearing veils, then hold bacon in front of their face and demand that they should eat it.
When the three women changed to different seats, the man followed them. He also said he “hates muslims”. Attunda District Court judged that the man’s intention was to insult the three passengers on the grounds of their ethnic origin and creed.
According to the court’s judgement, which The Local has seen, the man “held bacon up to their faces, demanded that they eat it, then ate it in front of them. From CCTV evidence from the train it is clear that there was ample seating space in other parts of the train. Despite that, he followed the plaintiffs when they changed place in order to avoid him, and facing them, which is made clear by the CCTV film, continued to eat bacon in front of them”.
“At this stage, he stated to the plaintiffs that he ‘hates Muslims’. The district court considers his actions make it clear that the purpose was to insult the plaintiffs because of their ethnic origin and creed,” the document continues.
Evidence from CCTV footage, witness statements and accounts provided by the three women was used in the case. The man was ordered to pay damages of 5,000 kronor to each of the women, as well as 60 “day-fines” – a type of fine based on the offender’s income.
The 52-year-old also stood accused of racial agitation over an incident a year later at a subway station in Stockholm where it was claimed that he said “I hate muslims” and “bloody Arab” (“jävla arab”). The man was acquitted in that case however as it was judged that there was not sufficient proof for a conviction.
Greetings from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
