
World's first Pastafarian wedding takes place in New Zealand - tim333
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/18/worlds-first-pastafarian-wedding-takes-place-in-new-zealand
======
Freak_NL
Pastafarianism is a great non-violent method of highlighting the privileged
position of organised religions worldwide. When a nation decides that church
and state should be separate, and no religion is promoted over any other, you
usually end up with a handful of religions with privileges (e.g., tax
exemption, access to civilian private records, etc.) that no other
organisation can attain. When another religion gains popularity, they too
claim these privileges (which is only just, as there is no state sanctioned
religion).

This creates a neat conundrum for the lawmaker; what _is_ a religion? When is
an organisation a church? Can you legally define what a religion is?

Why is the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster _obviously_ satire, and
Catholicism a _proper_ religion? What about Scientology? Is it about the
number of adherents? Something tangible? A short-list of pre-approved
religions? Pre-approved by whom? On what legal basis?

If you follow this line of reasoning to the extreme, you must conclude that a
satirical organised religion is just as much a _real_ religion as any other.
Which is fine, but it implies that have to provide the same (legacy)
privileges to all, or accept not being a secular state (and rewrite your
constitution as a consequence).

Pastafarianism is all about proving this inherent silliness afforded to
established religions.

~~~
humanrebar
Religions make some kind of honest claim on metaphysical Truth. Satire is at
odds with that.

The clever thing is that getting the government to pick winners here is
actually worse than letting someone wear a colander in his ID photo. This
doesn't undermine organized religion as much as it demonstrates the
limitations of liberal government.

I'm not sure that's a win for anyone.

~~~
Freak_NL
If governments are eventually forced to abandon the special privileges
afforded by law to religions because of satirical mock-religions, then I think
the country as a whole benefits.

The question pastafarianism poses though, is how can you differentiate between
satire and 'the real thing'? What if pastafarians claim that, yes, it started
out as a joke, but now we really believe in His Noodly Appendage? As a normal
citizen it isn't hard to conclude that 'obviously', this is satire, but law
must not be based on what we _feel_ is satire or religion, it has to be
objective.

~~~
arethuza
Apparently some people argue that the absurdity of these religions can itself
lead to a spiritual experience:

 _" Several religions that are classified as parody religions have a number of
relatively serious followers who embrace the perceived absurdity of these
religions as spiritually significant"_

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody_religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parody_religion)

------
MikeNomad
In other words, Bob is not a Prophet. Bob is the Profit Margin.

Cheers to the Newlyweds. May their pasta bowl never be empty.

------
chippy
I was my understanding that ninjas were also involved, or is that a splinter
group?

~~~
tim333
There appear to be a number of sects with varying positions on the Ninja
question. I pray this does not devolve into sectarian Sunni vs Shia style
warfare between the Pirate and Ninja faiths.
[http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Pastafarian_Sects](http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Pastafarian_Sects)

~~~
logfromblammo
I fear that it will not stop there. With Pirate and Ninja sects already
identified, I must conclude that the Zombie and Robot sects are worshiping in
secret.

