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New War on religious freedom continues apace
When they came for the Pastafarians, I said nothing, for I was on a lo-carb diet. Well, actually, what I said was "Lo! They're rounding up the spaghetti dudes!"

A prisoner in Nebraska sued the authorities to be provided with the appurtenances of his faith, arguing that pirate garb and a colander, among other things, were required for him to properly observe and participate in the sacraments of his faith, in this case the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (hereafter and in the hereafter "CFSM"). A court has ruled against him.

It would have been gratifying, of course, had the District Court decided instead that the warders were under no obligation to indulge this prisoner's beliefs nor bestir themselves to accommodate the farrago of fantasies, superstitions, arbitrary rituals and pointless taboos comprising the other "religions" practiced by sundry inmates in their charge. Otherwise, as it seemed to me upon learning of this decision, the government is in the position of extending protection and support to the adherents of Creeds A, B, C and D while denying it to Creeds E and (in this instance) F. In his decision, Judge Gerrard appears to acknowledge this ("[The] Courts must not presume to determine the plausibility of a religious claim…"), and bases his ruling on his determination that CFSM is a "parody" religion, a finding with which I will acknowledge, under the sanctity of the IWT confessional, I am disposed to agree (if after uttering this heresy I am found mysteriously drowned in a pool of vodka sauce this afternoon, our other congregants here may draw their own conclusions). Further,
This case is difficult because FSMism, as a parody, is designed to look very much like a religion. Candidly, propositions from existing caselaw are not particularly well-suited for such a situation, because they developed to address more ad hoc creeds, not a comprehensive but plainly satirical doctrine. Nonetheless, it is evident to the Court that FSMism is not a belief system addressing "deep and imponderable" matters: it is, as explained above, a satirical rejoinder to a certain strain of religious argument.
The decision can be found online here. IANAL, of course, but I will say that it seems well-reasoned and well-written compared to some of the arcane and turgid court output that my wife has compelled me to read times past.

devoutly (may His Noodly Appendage enfold and protect us all!),
New It's taught in UU faith classes
My son goes to a Universalist Unitarian church for purposes of comparative religion learning. Amongst the other major faiths (they've been to a Hindu temple, a Buddhist temple, a mosque, a synagogue, and various Christian venues), the kids had a full class on Pastafarianism as well.

I'd say if it's taught in a church, it's valid. Who's to say it's any more or less valid than a religion based on alien souls in a volcano, for example, regardless of its origins? These sorts of things have a way of taking on a life of their own when the naive or ignorant stumble across the Holy Writ online.
qRegards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New That's a tricky one
On the one hand, the whole point of FSMism is to highlight the absurdity of "real" religions and their tenets.

On the other hand, that puts FSMists in the position of saying, "No, this isn't a 'real' religion, but neither is theirs." That's a tough line to walk.

When your legal argument boils down to, "You can't grant them protected status but not me," the judge can say, "Yes I can." Of course to do that the judge has to decide that these guys believe their story, while those guys don't.

I think an FSMist losing on the grounds that they don't really believe what they're saying sets a precedent that you could at least make the argument that other organizations should lose their status on the grounds that their leadership doesn't really believe it. Say ... Scientology.
--

Drew
New "A tough line to walk"
I thought this was one of the most cogent points in the decision:
It is not clear from Cavanaugh's complaint whether his professed adherence to FSMism is grounded…in a literal reading of the FSM Gospel. But to read the FSM Gospel literally would be to misrepresent it—and, indeed, to do it a disservice in the process. That would present the FSM Gospel as precisely the sort of Fundamentalist dogma that it was meant to rebut.
When we planted my father at the military cemetery here in San Francisco last summer, part of the paperwork involved choosing an optional "faith-based" emblem for the stone. The current list can be found here. Considering that the VA is prepared to accommodate atheists, Wiccans(!), Soka Gakkai(!!), Eckankar(!!!) and sundry other fringe sects (Hammer of Thor? Really?), I hope that someday the FSeMblem is made available for this purpose.

cordially,
New Amazing list
Two things that stand out, aside from the multiple instances of "holy shit, I can't believe they have that" (Hammer of Thor ... seriously?).

1) I wonder what used to be #50.
2) They can't show the Muslim star due to copyright, but they'll put it on your tombstone.
--

Drew
New copyright issues
They can't show the Muslim star due to copyright, but they'll put it on your tombstone.
Well, they debit six virgins for royalties. Or is that, "for royalty?"

And given some of the other fringies that make the cut, I think dead Satanist veterans should be entitled to choose the Baphomet iconography for their stones (and I think the sect would have a much stronger case than the CFSM, since it counts some quite sincere adherents in its flock).

cordially,
New With those selections, it should be longer.
Much much longer... So many small groups mentioned.

Wade.
New #50
There is a #50 emblem on the site:
http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/images/emblems/emb-50.jpg

It appears to be an alternate version of the Lutheran Rose.

Someone got caught double dipping?
New My guess is it's just a matter of time.
I skimmed this story at ThinkProgress.

If the Hammer of Thor can make it, then the FSM should be permissible.

Here's how it happened:

Getting the symbol approved wasn’t an overnight process. The Open Halls Project, an organization that connects the community of military Heathens, recounts their work to get the emblem approved by VA. As a result of their work, two headstones, one each for a father and son, were commissioned with Thor’s hammer. Anyone who wishes to add the symbol to their headstone, or any from this list, is free to do so.

VA furnishes, at no cost, a headstone or marker for eligible Veterans in unmarked graves in any cemetery around the world. The program is administered by VA’s National Cemeteries Administration, which routinely bests other federal agencies and private companies in customer satisfaction.

The Hammer of Thor was among another notable addition to the list of approved emblems. The Sandhill Crane was added this summer for the same-sex spouse of a Veteran who passed away.


It looks like a Pastafarian has to die before the symbol can be considered for addition to the VA list.

I think the judge did a decent job, and probably ruled "correctly" at this time. But I think his ruling will serve as a rallying point to eventually have the rules and the laws changed. Recognition of a set of beliefs shouldn't depend on how old those beliefs are, whether someone can cite "scripture", etc. And sincerity cannot be measured. If we're consistent and truly value "Equal Justice Under Law", then either we let people practice their religions or we don't. And if we do, then people who have no religion should not be punished for it (e.g. if people in prison get time to worship, then atheist should get similar time for activities of their choice.)

I'm not holding my breath though. :-/

Cheers,
Scott.
New See what it took for the Wiccans
That was a 10 year ordeal where the VA basically acted as if they had their fingers in their ears, going "Lalalala - I can't hear you!!". But it does seem to have moved things onto a faster track.
New I'm a little more sympathetic to
..."established" religions of ancient provenance because these at least took hold originally among largely illiterate populations and in cultures where "supernatural" was the default explanation for any phenomenon not readily understood, and present-day adherents are working from a substrate of scores of generations of culture and belief. I have less patience with post-Enlightenment growths such as Mormonism, Scientology, Wicca. The founders of the first two were outright frauds, and of the third, the most charitable take on the man who promugated its silly doctrines is that he was a deluded crank.

cordially,
New now, now I have never had a wiccan strive to get in my wallet
always look out for number one and don't step in number two
New Gardner was not the worst of his time.
Sure, as far as Wicca goes, he pulled together where he could and invented where he could not. But most Wiccans pick and choose, anyway, just like Gardner did.

However, the grandest ire is reserved for Margaret Murray who invented reams of history that just don't exist, some of which Gardner built on.

Wade.
New You are of course correct about Mormonism and Scientology, but your incredulity...
...at the Hammer of Thor feels weird, even slightly annoying. Asatro is a prefectly normal religion; everybody in the North used to believe it until those evil Jihadists from the South spread their perfidious lies here. (And in my name, to boot!)

Also, while you may know more than I about the exact composition of modern-day Wicca, I was under the impression that on the whole, it is pretty much like Asatro, an attempted revival of pre-Me religions, only more Celtic than North-Germanic. OK, perhaps with a little more general-pantheistic Nature worship and "New Age" mumbo-jumbo thrown in (though I think many current Asa worshippers also lean in those directions?), but on the whole for most practitioners a more-or-less sincere belief system -- as opposed to Pastafarianism and that Jedi "religion", which also feels more "for fun" to me (although I think I saw an article on it being in some sense "officially recognised" [perhaps in Oz?] even before the CFSM NZ wedding article linked here).

And I certainly don't get the same vibe of "organised scam from the start and from the top down" as Scientology, either from Asatro or Wicca; does anyone here?
--
Christian R. Conrad
Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi

(Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
New Wicca, Druidism etc.
Wicca and Druidism had to be made up from scratch, as there was just about zero reliable historical anything.

With Wicca, Gardner's claim to have been initiated by a secret coven of Celtic witches, is, of course, like all such claims (golden tablets, etc), pure bullshit. That it is all made from whole cloth doesn't bother me, it serves the people practicing it, and it's pretty much harmless. Wicca has split into "British Traditional" (Gardnarian) and sects that were not trained in the Gardnarian tradition, primarily in North America and Continental Europe. This is fine - it's a developing philosophy and some of the bullshit is being thrown away. Of course, there's Dianic Wicca, which accepts only naturally born lesbians and recognizes only a goddesses, and other splinter groups - pretty much harmless because of very limited membership. There are plenty of other covens for the rejected.

Contemporary Druidism started out with just about no reliable information except that the Druids believed in reincarnation and had some to do with mistletoe. Everything else is questionable due to having been written by their enemies, and some just by hearsay. It started out monotheistic, based of Freemasonry, but evolved rapidly in the 20th century as archaeologists found more information on Celtic culture. It is now polytheistic and nature based with a strong environmental bent. Again, I don't see a problem - it serves its practitioners and is harmless. Like Wicca, it's highly decentralized. Of course, they like to have events at Stonehenge, which was built 2000 years before the first Druid by a people we know nothing about except they were very good at astronomical mathematics and at moving rocks.

Reconstruction is much easier in places like Lithuania and Abkhazia where much was preserved, and even Russia and Ukraine. The largest Pagan temple in the US is Russian. Ossetia is a good reference for reconstructing Pagan traditions, because 30% of its people still hold to an unbroken tradition, having rejected both Christianity and Islam.

The main problem is in Germany, where violent neo-Nazi groups are disguising themselves as Heathen churches.
New Yeah, IIUC Nordic Neo-Nazis are also big on the Asatro. Sigh...
New LRPD: "Why, that looks so dangerous - I'm sure I'll learn something wonderful!"
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
New Like smoke breaks for nonsmokers
--

Drew
New Yup.
New NZ gives them the proper respect.
New Zealand stages first Pastafarian wedding on pirate boat.
The light-hearted Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has staged its first legally recognised wedding.

Toby Ricketts and Marianna Fenn tied the "noodle knot" in the New Zealand South Island town of Akaroa.

The happy couple say that guidelines of the Pastafarian religion stipulate that wedding celebrants must be pirates.

Members of the church profess the belief that the world was created by an airborne spaghetti and meatballs-based being and humans evolved from pirates.

New Zealand officials last month designated the religion as an officially-recognised faith, allowing Wellington-based Pastafarian Karen Martyn the legal right to conduct marriages.
Alex

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

-- Isaac Asimov
     War on religious freedom continues apace - (rcareaga) - (19)
         It's taught in UU faith classes - (malraux)
         That's a tricky one - (drook) - (16)
             "A tough line to walk" - (rcareaga) - (15)
                 Amazing list - (drook) - (3)
                     copyright issues - (rcareaga)
                     With those selections, it should be longer. - (static)
                     #50 - (scoenye)
                 My guess is it's just a matter of time. - (Another Scott) - (10)
                     See what it took for the Wiccans - (scoenye) - (7)
                         I'm a little more sympathetic to - (rcareaga) - (6)
                             now, now I have never had a wiccan strive to get in my wallet -NT - (boxley)
                             Gardner was not the worst of his time. - (static)
                             You are of course correct about Mormonism and Scientology, but your incredulity... - (CRConrad) - (3)
                                 Wicca, Druidism etc. - (Andrew Grygus) - (2)
                                     Yeah, IIUC Nordic Neo-Nazis are also big on the Asatro. Sigh... -NT - (CRConrad)
                                     LRPD: "Why, that looks so dangerous - I'm sure I'll learn something wonderful!" -NT - (malraux)
                     Like smoke breaks for nonsmokers -NT - (drook) - (1)
                         Yup. -NT - (Another Scott)
         NZ gives them the proper respect. - (a6l6e6x)

I heartily endorse this event or product!
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