Would somebody mind answering a few questions?

[MPTrooper]

I have to say that website is amusing. Especially the parts were they call us Homophobes, antidemocratic, authoritarian and intolerant and a host of other things.

...

MPT, you know very well that there are alot of Catholics (and other, different Christians) who are homophobic, antidemocratic, authoritarian and intolerant.

I never claimed they weren't, however to paint the official Church stance as such is a tad dishonest. Just because we believe that gay sex is a sin, doesn't mean we hate gay people.

In any case, the simply fact people think the can no longer be Catholic shows their lack of knowledge of their faith. Once baptised, being Catholic is your right. You can't simply turn it on or off. Even if you are ex-communicated, you will always be considered Catholic, and thus eligible for forgiveness in the case one grows remorseful and repentant.


Indeeed being ex-communicated means that you are no longer able to receive the Sacraments and thus cut off from the Church until such a time as you relaize your error and as I said seek repentence.

[Rev. Rowan Redbeard]

It still sounds like a way to inflate the membership list to me. If you came across a forum with 10,000 members, of whom only half had posted anything in the last 10 years, wouldn't you dispute their numbers?


(Numbers were pulled out of my *ss and not meant to represent Catholics)

[MPTrooper]

It still sounds like a way to inflate the membership list to me. If you came across a forum with 10,000 members, of whom only half had posted anything in the last 10 years, wouldn't you dispute their numbers?


(Numbers were pulled out of my *ss and not meant to represent Catholics)

It can sound however you want it to sound. The truth of the matter is entirely different.

[Ham Nox]

I mean, religion-wise, other than the promise of a beer volcano and stripper factory in an afterlife, what else does the FSM offer its devotees?

Tolerance. Noodly goodness. Entertainment. Humor. Flimsy moral standards. Fridays off. Complete lack of bloodspilling holy wars. An explanation for the things that ID and Evolution can't explain.

Besides, it shouldn't matter that there are some (unfortunate) members of our church who don't truly believe in the FSM. If Catholicism can count Catholics by baptisms instead of active practitioners, we can count by the number of people who have spilled sauce on their shirts.

I consider Pastafarianism a valid religion. So we might not really believe in the flying spaghetti monster, except in the principle that he's as likely as any other god... That's just the front of what we really believe, and has nothing to do with the religiousity of our group anymore than the 'attack of the zombie jew' portrayal of Christianity. (Though the zombie jew portrayal is REALLY funny.) If people want to say that atheism is a religion--which they do, and as far as some go to be deliberately anti-religious I don't contest that label--then we are definitely more a religion than atheism.

We have a set of practices (The Holy Mannerisms of Pirates), special holidays (Fridays, Holiday), a moral code (they're more like guidelines), a set of beliefs about the supernatural (it doesn't belong in science, an all-powerful deity has better things to do than answer selfish prayers and be fanatically worshiped), and a real community of people who help each other and believe approximately the same things we do.

Our religion is having a sense of humor. Our religion is having adventures on the high sea. Our religion is free-thinking. Our religion is drinking and singing and being merry. Our religion is poking fun at absurdity by being absurd. Our religion is healthy, balanced diet of carbohydrates, protein, and italian seasoning with 30 minutes of friendly brawling and swordplay a day as exercise. We are the PASTAFARIANS!!