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Worshipping the Flying Spaghetti Monster Isn't a Real Religion, Court Rules (arstechnica.com)
WheezyJoe writes: A court in Nebraska has officially ruled that Pastafarianism is not a real religion, and therefore a prison inmate with "several tattoos proclaiming his faith" will not get $5 million or privileges to order and wear religious clothing and pendants, nor meet for weekly worship services and classes and receive communion. The Federal judge ruled that The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is not a "real" religion eligible for protection under the First Amendment...
In ruling against the inmate and the church of Pastafarianism, the judge wrote "there must be a line beyond which a practice is not 'religious' simply because a plaintiff labels it as such... A prisoner could just as easily read the works of Vonnegut or Heinlein and claim it as his holy book, and demand accommodation of Bokononism or the Church of All Worlds [citing Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land]. The Flying Spaghetti Monster Gospel is plainly a work of satire, meant to entertain while making a pointed political statement," and thus not a "real" religion.
In ruling against the inmate and the church of Pastafarianism, the judge wrote "there must be a line beyond which a practice is not 'religious' simply because a plaintiff labels it as such... A prisoner could just as easily read the works of Vonnegut or Heinlein and claim it as his holy book, and demand accommodation of Bokononism or the Church of All Worlds [citing Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle and Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land]. The Flying Spaghetti Monster Gospel is plainly a work of satire, meant to entertain while making a pointed political statement," and thus not a "real" religion.
I stole this from an Ars post, but this is going to be appealed and the State will loose. It's already been seen by the Supreme Court in 1985, specifically Wallace v. Jaffree : "The individual's freedom to choose his own creed is the counterpart of his right to refrain from accepting the creed established by the majority. Moreover, the individual freedom of conscience protected by the First Amendment embraces the right to select any religious faith or none at all. "
http://stuff.co.nz/life-style/...
well, why can't you worship through satire?
You can -- of course you can. This isn't about means of worship, it's that this isn't worship because the guy in question doesn't actually believe there is a flying spaghetti monster.
But dismissing the entire thing as not a religion because satire, well, no. Sorry, that just doesn't fly.)
In what sense? A religion is a formal structure incorporating a belief system. What do "pastafarians" believe? None of the professed beliefs on the website are genuine beliefs -- they're just a parody of other people's beliefs. No belief, no religion.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
The difference is in how seriously the devotees take the faith. If the church of the flying spaghetti monster had lots of people gifting all their income to the church or spending years of their lives at sea working for the church then they would likely be considered a real religion.
I would give up all my belongings if the Flying Spaghetti Monster asked it of me, but he hasn't. Presumably because I am such a devout follower of his. On the other hand, it seems he has impersonated other gods to make people who don't believe in him give away all their stuff.
The FSM certainly contains satire, but it also contains genuine beliefs that are not satire, one of which is the belief that satire is a good tool for their goal of "belief equality" (e.g. that certain religious beliefs should not have special privileges).