Discordians sometimes comment that they aren't sure whether the tenets spelled out in the Principia Discordia are a joke disguised as a religion or a religion disguised as a joke. The same appears to be true of Pastafarianism, the beliefs articulated by the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Originally created as a parody of Christian Creationism, Pastafarianism may be the first religion to go viral on the Internet, with professed followers all over the world. Last Saturday Russian Pastafarians held a "pasta procession" in Moscow that was broken up by police, resulting in the detention of eight participants.
The Russian government of Vladimir Putin has come down hard on the side of conservative religious beliefs recently, with the arrest of punk band Pussy Riot for performing their anti-Putin "punk prayer" in a church, legislation outlawing "insulting the feelings" of religious believers, and an outright ban on even mentioning the existence of homosexuality. And now they appear to be coming for the pasta strainers as well, or at least those who believe in wearing such attire on their heads. One wonders where this all will end.
Pastafarians wear sieves on their heads, worship The Flying Spaghetti Monster and believe that their religion was founded by pirates, their website says. They consider every Friday a religious holiday and do not take themselves seriously, it says.
Russian Pastafarians announced a “pasta procession” in Moscow and St. Petersburg to celebrate the birthday of US actor Robert De Niro who played a character nicknamed “Noodles” in Sergio Leone’s 1984 mafia drama Once Upon A Time In America, according to their web-posted statement.
However, Moscow authorities did not sanction the procession which was disrupted by riot police and activists with the God’s Will Orthodox group headed by Dmitri Enteo, according to a message by Russian Pastafarians on a social networking website.
The Russian government of Vladimir Putin has come down hard on the side of conservative religious beliefs recently, with the arrest of punk band Pussy Riot for performing their anti-Putin "punk prayer" in a church, legislation outlawing "insulting the feelings" of religious believers, and an outright ban on even mentioning the existence of homosexuality. And now they appear to be coming for the pasta strainers as well, or at least those who believe in wearing such attire on their heads. One wonders where this all will end.
I view the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" as being a bit flippant.
ReplyDeleteAs we see in the work of Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, the archetypes and symbols used in religion, are what they are for a reason. "Pastafarianism" is really just a mockery of religion, from that standpoint.
Now I can see mocking cultural philistinism disguised as religion. I just don't think these people do it intelligently, or in an interesting way.
Also, keep in mind that Zbigniew Brzezinski and George Soros are constantly funding these sort of odd "subversive" groups, creating "Color Revolutions" all over Central Asia.
Putin is boorish for his anti-gay propaganda, but I criticize him for that. Pastafarianism doesn't get that respect from me. If they come up with something substantive, maybe that will change.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/miriamelder/why-russia-turned-against-the-gays
ReplyDeleteWhy Russia Turned Against The Gays
Vladimir Putin’s new campaign for national — and political — survival.
I definitely consider them far more joke than religion, but the point is that they're essentially harmless and the Russian riot police slapped them down anyway. Making fun of religion shouldn't be a crime.
ReplyDeleteI support Falun Gong in China too, but I believe they've been co-opted by the Western powers.
ReplyDeleteWhen WW3 stars in 2015, they'll be our resistance inside china. Li Hongzhi is probably teaching "the boys" how to stare at goats.