Satan in the classroom? Fair is fair.

Also: Pastafarians unite!

Hi everyone,

Yep, in yet another stroke of Herd-Based-Cognitive-Dissonance™, the Louisiana legislature and governor just passed a bill requiring that the 10 Commandments be placed in every school classroom:

Under the new law, all public K-12 classrooms and state-funded universities will be required to display a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” next year. [from APnews]

Now, of course, this is really about enforcing Herd ideology: religious zealots attempting to shoehorn their myopic visions of Christian sharia law into the public sphere by dodging around the constitutional establishment clause in order to codify and legitimize their personal fears and appetites. And, of course, responses to these efforts are an occasion for delicious scorn and ridicule.

For instance, the Satanic Temple has been busy in Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, Texas — and soon Louisiana — asking for equal time. This can mean setting up competing statuary or offering to serve as school chaplains along side legislatively authorized Christians.

Suffer the little children to come unto Cthulhu.

But let’s remember the Big League world champions of religious ridicule: the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, aka, the Pastafarians.

[Here’s their Wikipedia entry.]

Ah, here He is in all his Noodlyness as Michelangelo would’ve painted Him.

And, for the meme collectors out there, the official logo.

The Flying Spaghetti Monster was created in response to the 2005 Kansas School Board decision to teach “Intelligent Design” along side evolution in their curriculum.

The genius of creator Bobby Henderson’s response was to simply ask for equal time since, as he says in the original letter he sent the Kansas School Board:

Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. It was He who created all that we see and all that we feel. We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him.

It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories. In fact, I will go so far as to say, if you do not agree to do this, we will be forced to proceed with legal action. I’m sure you see where we are coming from. If the Intelligent Design theory is not based on faith, but instead another scientific theory, as is claimed, then you must also allow our theory to be taught, as it is also based on science, not on faith.

[Please do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. You’re welcome. ;^)]

The logic here is simply that Pastafarianism is just as scientifically sound as any other theory of “intelligent design”— and it is.

Kansas backed down. Louisiana will too, unless the Herd gets control of the federal government this November… in which case all bets are off.

Nonetheless, the Satanic Temple and the adherents of Pastafarianism continue to call attention to these religiously inflected cases of Herd-Based-Cognitive-Dissonance™.

And here we are.

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