Irony

I recently read the most ironic thing I have ever read in my life. It seems that a teacher in Kansas had a co-worker of his put a FSM poster on his classroom door. The board of directors who are bent on having Intelligent Design taught in science class saw the poster on a walk-through and Connie Morris, one of the board members, had this to say, "The scary thing is that some of these Pastafarians actually believe in their religion." Unfortunately, the article seems to have been removed from the Wichita Eagle newspaper that originally published it. Funny that.

Edit: I found the quote and it is not quite so damning, so to speak, but still telling.

"They are very serious about claiming to be a religion," she said. "We know it's a satire. I don't mind the ridicule; it comes with the job. But I do personally object to my own religious beliefs being ridiculed, and that's what the Pastafarians delight in doing."

So for one thing she contradicts herself by saying she doesn't mind the ridicule but objects to being ridiculed. For another, yes it is satire but it is the entire point of that particular satire to say that it deserves to be a religion as much as any other belief does because they are equally plausible. The truth is, the Pastafarians are more serious about making that point than about forming a religion.

To me all of the fairy-tale bits of all religions look equally implausible. From Joseph Smith's gold plates and oracle stones, to Noah's Ark and Adam and Eve, Mount Olympus and the Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory and by all I hold dear that crazy Xenu. They really are all on par with each other and probably meant to be allegorical (a point that is somehow lost on fundamentalists).

All I know is that if Bobby Henderson saves up enough money from his book sales to buy that pirate ship, I want a ride on it and at that point, Pastafarianism will have given me more than any other religion.

-Aaron