Pastafarians fight county commissioners for Holiday display

[znk666]

[QUOTE]On Tuesday Nov. 27, the Chester County Pennsylvania Commissioners held their monthly “Sunshine Meeting.” During the “public comments” portion of the meeting, Pastafarian Minister Tracy McPherson requested a space on the county courthouse lawn next to the Jesus crèche, Hanukkah menorah, Christmas Tree, and Santa for a Pastafarian Tree representing the winter Pastafarian holiday of Holiday.McPherson made a point to inform the county commissioners that she and other local Pastafarians take their religious beliefs very seriously. Commissioner Terence Farrell (R), asked McPherson about the numbers and meeting places of her group even though none of that is relevant considering the fact that the government cannot elevate one religion over another regardless of the size or meeting places of those religions.
Still, Farrell was answered respectfully by McPherson:
[I][B][I]“As pastor of the Evangelical Pastafarian Church, I lead my congregation through this time. Our church has more than 10,000 members, many of them local; the wider Pastafarian church has a membership in the millions. It would be meaningful to our congregation to see our faith recognized on public property at the Chester County Courthouse in the same way that the Christian and Jewish religions are currently acknowledged.”
[/I][/B][/I]Despite the guarantees of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the County Commissioners will probably reject McPherson’s request. In fact, they hinted at that conclusion later in the meeting.
Following the Pastafarian request, Margaret Downey of the Freethought Society requested space for the non-theist[URL="http://www.examiner.com/article/in-defense-of-the-tree-of-knowledge"]“Tree of Knowledge”[/URL] to be included on the courthouse lawn. In 2007, 2008, and 2009 the atheist group was[URL="http://www.examiner.com/article/atheist-tree-of-knowledge-under-attack"]reluctantly granted a spot[/URL] on the winter lawn, but then in[URL="http://atheist%20holiday%20display%20officially%20excluded/"]2010 this changed[/URL]. Since then the group has [URL="http://www.examiner.com/article/freethought-society-protests-tree-of-knowledge-exclusion"]attempted to regain their place at the table[/URL] but has been continually rejected.
After Downey’s comments at Tuesday’s meeting, Commissioner Ryan Costello (R) flat out stated that he rejects changing the winter display from last year. Commissioner Kathi Cozzone (D) expressed interest in allowing a more inclusive courthouse lawn during this winter season. This would make Farrell the deciding vote and he was the one who wrote [URL="http://www.chesco.org/archives/42/Holiday_display_resolution_pressrelease.pdf"]last year’s guidelines[/URL]specifically to exclude non-Judeo-Christian displays like those of the [URL="http://www.examiner.com/topic/freethought-society/articles"]Freethought Society[/URL] and the Evangelical Pastafarian Church.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.examiner.com/article/pastafarians-fight-county-commissioners-for-holiday-display[/url]

[imptastick2]

We had complaints at my old job because our sign included Happy Holidays, Hanukkah, and Kwanza along with Christmas. Apparently we were "Taking the Christ out of Christmas". Too many people get worked up about things like this when the season is, regardless of your views, normally about coming together. I dont think any government property should have religious displays of any kind anyway, just so it is fair.

[Zillamaster55]

This Holiday season, I hope everyone can put aside their differences and enjoy the company of friends and family, drink up, open presents, eat a ton of food and pass out until New Year's Eve.

[Badunkadunk]

[QUOTE=imptastick;38626987]We had complaints at my old job because our sign included Happy Holidays, Hanukkah, and Kwanza along with Christmas. Apparently we were "Taking the Christ out of Christmas". Too many people get worked up about things like this when the season is, regardless of your views, normally about coming together. I dont think any government property should have religious displays of any kind anyway, just so it is fair.[/QUOTE]

On the other side we had this giant legal dispute that got everyone in the damn city taking sides over the name of an event called "The Christmas Village" because people got offended that it was Christmas and not their holiday/lack thereof. I hate whiney idiots who take offense to everything, and then work til the end of time to destroy it.

[GarrettFox]

So many holidays centered around this time of year. None of them having anything to do with the actual fucking reason there are holidays this time of year.

December 20th-25th actually has objective value beyond all this bullshit. It is, roughly, the point in time when the days start getting longer. The sun, in the Northern Hemisphere, peaks at a lower and lower point leading up to roughly December 22nd. Afterwards, the sun slowly begins to peak higher and higher.

I wish we would all just agree to locate the December holidays to more reasonable points in time and instead have a single holiday for the entire Northern Hemisphere that everyone can enjoy. A holiday that binds everyone regardless of race, religion, or nationality.

[Pardalis]

Wait isn't pastafarianism the religion that has a flying being of spaghetti and meatballs for a god

I thought that was satire on other religions?

[Itachi_Crow]

[QUOTE=imptastick;38626987]We had complaints at my old job because our sign included Happy Holidays, Hanukkah, and Kwanza along with Christmas. Apparently we were "Taking the Christ out of Christmas". Too many people get worked up about things like this when the season is, regardless of your views, normally about coming together. I dont think any government property should have religious displays of any kind anyway, just so it is fair.[/QUOTE]

crhsitmas is the only holiday ya IDIT

[Ray-The-Sun]

[QUOTE=latin_geek;38627552]Wait isn't pastafarianism the religion that has a flying being of spaghetti and meatballs for a god

I thought that was satire on other religions?[/QUOTE]
It is. Just because it's satirical doesn't stop it being a legitimate belief that has just as much location in objective truth as any other.

[GarrettFox]

[QUOTE=latin_geek;38627552]Wait isn't pastafarianism the religion that has a flying being of spaghetti and meatballs for a god

I thought that was satire on other religions?[/QUOTE]

I feel like satire is the wrong word to describe it, but I admittedly can't produce a better one.

The point of the religion is to simply make other religions look ridiculous and to produce a useful avenue of attack in the event that religion tries to seep its way into schools or, in this case, public lands.

Unlike Atheists, who can't make decent claims of religious icons to place on public grounds, FSM members DO have religious icons and a fairly healthy following to back up their requests.

[EonVankmer]

"As pastor of the Evangelical Pastafarian Church"

They missed an opportunity there, that should read "As Pasta of the Evangelical" etc etc.

[Pardalis]

[QUOTE=GunFox;38627589]I feel like satire is the wrong word to describe it, but I admittedly can't produce a better one.

The point of the religion is to simply make other religions look ridiculous and to produce a useful avenue of attack in the event that religion tries to seep its way into schools or, in this case, public lands.

Unlike Atheists, who can't make decent claims of religious icons to place on public grounds, FSM members DO have religious icons and a fairly healthy following to back up their requests.[/QUOTE]

Wow I didn't know this, that's a genius idea.

[ZomboJoe]

In Canada 90% of people celebrate Christmas but less than half are Christian.

I think we should rename it to consumerism appreciation day.

[Elecbullet]

[QUOTE=Ray-The-Sun;38627579]It is. Just because it's satirical doesn't stop it being a legitimate belief that has just as much location in objective truth as any other.[/QUOTE]

They're still being utter idiots.

[Big D Duchovny]

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;38628340]They're still being utter idiots.[/QUOTE]

Depends. You can take as a knock on other religions, but generally people feel different about religion than just basic opinions. It's hard for people to take pastafarianism seriously, but if they don't, they kind of forfeit the right to have their own religion taken seriously, and I think that's more of a "Think about the irony here" than taking jabs on other religions. Of course some people use it as attacks, but there's morons everywhere anyway.

[OogalaBoogal]

I'm a Pastafarian. I've bought the religious text, reading over it a bunch of times.

Pastafarianism is less of a statement that religion is bad, but more of the major faults of religion and making fun of how much it can affect how we run our lives and civilization. It also makes fun of insane atheists too, it's fantastic. It's one of the only religions to offer a religion back guarantee! Pirates are divine beings, their absence in today's world responsible for global warming. Heaven has a beer volcano and a stripper factory! If you ever doubt yourself just ask yourself this question : What would a pirate do?

I can answer questions about it, I got the gospel in front of me!

[Conely]

[QUOTE=Elecbullet;38628340]They're still being utter idiots.[/QUOTE]

Criticizing Pastafarianism only opens up a deeper irony. You're not really doing yourself any favors by saying that a ball of spaghetti is less credible than your own god.