Flying Spaghetti Monster joins crowded holiday display at Wisconsin State Capitol

[IDemo]

Source: Raw Story

A college atheist group has set up a Flying Spaghetti Monster display at the Wisconsin State Capitol to make a point about religious expression on public property.

The Atheists, Humanists, and Agnostics group at the University of Wisconsin set up the satirical religious display alongside a “Festivus” pole and a “Winter Solstice Nativity” scene featuring Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and Mark Twain that was set up by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

“The rotunda is getting very cluttered,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. “But if a devotional nativity display is allowed, then there must be ‘room at the inn’ for all points of view, including irreverency and free thought.”

The secular displays join traditional Christmas items such as a 30-foot balsam fir tree encircled by a toy train set, and they have been part of the capitol holiday displays since a 1984 lawsuit failed to remove the Capitol Christmas tree, halt a menorah lighting and end an annual nativity pageant.



Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/17/flying-spaghetti-monster-joins-crowded-holiday-display-at-wisconsin-state-capitol/

[trof]

1. K&R. WOOHOO! GO PASTAFARIANS!

[NastyRiffraff]

2. Yay! All hail the FSM!

Love what they're doing.

[HockeyMom]

3. Love it!

[Grassy Knoll]

4. Good Job...

[PeoViejo]

5. Bless You

In the name of the Pasta, Sauce and Holy Meatballs

Ramen

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

23. LOL...

eom

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. Win-Win: Atheists get to giggle and snark, while Goddies get to reinforce their persecution complex

Everybody ends up happy.

[IDemo]

11. All part of the War on Baked Ham n/t

[countryjake]

7. He boiled for your sins...

http://wiscatheists.blogspot.com/

"All Pastafarians are encouraged to make the pilgrimage to this holy site"

[1000words]

22. On a side note:

The Wisconsin Capitol rotunda is gorgeous!

[countryjake]

41. Yes, I think so, too. Wisconsin & Connecticut have the neatest capitols.

At least, of all the capitol buildings I've been to, they do.

[Jim Lane]

38. Look closely at that photo, at the point directly across from the FSM plaque.

Someone put up a statue, approximately half life-size, of the Invisible Pink Unicorn (bbhhh).

[countryjake]

39. I hadn't noticed that...

I know that while I was reading about all the other displays at the capitol (the rotunda is becoming quite crowded), I saw a pole created out of stacked beer cans and was wondering what that signified.

Thanks for that link...who ever thought that she would end up getting her own wiki page. And in the capitol, too!

Too cool.

[rdharma]

8. Putting the FSM back in Chrifsmas!

[RushIsRot]

47. FSM is the Reason for the Seasoning!

[CrispyQ]

48. ...

[Hissyspit]

9. My Flying Spaghetti Monster has FOUR meatballs, not two!

These heathens must die!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

13. Blaspheme!!!!!

[PeoViejo]

15. Apostate

[rocktivity]

17. That's A-PASTA-ATE to YOU!

Last edited Wed Dec 18, 2013, 03:56 AM - Edit history (1)

rocktivity

[Hissyspit]

19. Ah, an adherent of Grammarnaziafarianism.

Last edited Wed Dec 18, 2013, 12:51 AM - Edit history (1)

[rocktivity]

40. That's Grammar-nazi-PASTA-farianism to YOU!

rocktivity

[Hissyspit]

43. Hmm, do grammarnazipastafarians only worship two meatballs?

[Ace Acme]

52. You get 50% more breads with 4 meatballs, but 100% fewer breads with 1 meatsball. nt

[klook]

29. DUzy subthread!

Pesto, marinara, clam sauce, or Alfredo - we are all touched by his noodley appendage.

Napasta.

[idwiyo]

10. He is delicious!

[rdharma]

12. Megan Kelley says FSM is covered with white alfredo. nt

[eggplant]

24. You win one internets. n/t

[CrispyQ]

49. ...

[Politicub]

14. May you be touched by his noodly appendage

[1000words]

18. Ramen!

[zeemike]

16. Actually that won't help at all.

Sense it is a joke and all know it...so it will trivialize the genuine protest of it....IMO.

[jberryhill]

31. Protest of what?

[zeemike]

32. Religious displays in government.

To be effective you need other religions to make the point, like Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim, not a joke religion.

[jberryhill]

33. I think you may be missing the point

There is nothing wrong with religious displays in a public place, so long as any and all are permitted to do so - or none.

The group which insists on always having one is more likely to find a "joke religion" more offensive than an actual one, and then seek to have them all forbidden than a religion which might otherwise appear unseemly to attack.

Aside from which, there is no reason for those other actual religions to be seeking to have a display at this time of year, and it's not as if they have any desire to go out of their way to score a point.

If we are talking about permanent displays, such as the OK State Capitol grounds, then I'd see what you are saying, but Hindus for example have no particular motivation to seek temporary display space just because some other religion happens to be having a holiday.

[zeemike]

34. Well Muslims do, and so do Satanist.

Muslims recognize Jesus as a prophet and Satanist are the anti Christians.

But I disagree that a joke religion has more effect than a real one...Christians are not worried about a joke religion catching hold and stealing their members...and besides what does the FSM have to do with the birth of Jesus?

[1000words]

36. Joke religion?

That's fusilli!

[Hissyspit]

37. Pastafarian Persecution!

[Ace Acme]

20. You're not fooling me for a minute.

That's not the Flying Spaghetti Monster. That's a Flying Chow Mein Monster. There's a difference.

[Hissyspit]

44. Marco Polo!

Progenitor of all pastafaria.

[Ace Acme]

51. Methinks WalMart. nt

[onehandle]

21. That'll feed people, clothe children, and create jobs. nt

[Capt. Obvious]

45. People can eat the baby Jesus

Wear the three wise men's clothes, and there's jobs setting up the nativity scene and taking it down (not to mention jobs hunting down the baby Jesus when it's stolen).

Did you send your post from the same soup kitchen or are you volunteering at another one?

[WowSeriously]

25. I love it! Almost makes me want to freeze my a** off in Wisconsin :)

[yellowcanine]

26. Blessings on his noodlely appendages!

[mdbl]

27. Merry Noodlemas!!

and Seasoned Greetings!!!

[RoccoR5955]

28. RAMEN!

And never forget that He boiled for your sins!

[painesghost]

30. I actually like the Satanists approach better.

Even staunch Christians can laugh off the FSM. Puting a statue of Satan up will actually make people furious and has a better chance of getting the removal of all religious symbols. That being said honestly a Nativity scene doesn't bother me if the same space is open to all people for displays, religious or non-religious. Although I do think it would get even more crowded even quicker.

[Trajan]

53. I have a feeling that most people have no idea what Satanism is

There is no red scaly demonic icon with pointy horns and a bifurcated tail, holding a pitchfork as he flashes fiery red eyes and stabs the world with a forked tongue ...

I recommend reading up on the subject

[painesghost]

55. I wasn't talking about real Satanist, like the Church of Satan or Temple of Set.

I was referring to a group of joke Satanists that was discussed in another thread that wanted to put a display of Satan in a park to force the State to adopt a secular policy for public spaces. They no more believe in Satan than Pastafarians actually believe in a Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[Nye Bevan]

35. I much prefer this kind of inclusiveness to banning stuff (nt)

[painesghost]

56. Me too n/t

[Hekate]

42. Ramen! Now it's getting fun!

[TBF]

46. RAmen. K&R nt

[sinkingfeeling]

50. About time!

[Gothmog]

54. Juanita Jean predicted that the FSM would get its own celebration

http://www.juanitajean.com/2013/12/09/well-its-not-like-they-werent-begging-for-this/

Once the Oklahoma Lege approved putting the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the State Capitol, that opened the door big and wide for other “religions” to have tributes to their beliefs. The first to apply? The New York based Satanic Temple, of course.

They are submitting a plan for a $20,000 designs. The Ten Commandments tribute was only $10,000, the but Satanic one will include “an interactive display for children.” That alone caused three semi-serious cases of the heart flutters in Oklahoma and one suicide attempt.

And while I will enjoy this process, I think it would have been so much more fun if the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster had applied.