Customer Reviews

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

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4 star:		(26)
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2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Let me start by saying that The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a great read in a less than steller book. The quality of the paper and the cover a more like a grade school workbook than anything else I can compare it to. That said, reading the words as written by the Prophet, Pasta be upon his plate, Bobby Henderson is a riot! There are jokes throughout this book that are genuinely Laugh-out-loud funny, like the evolution of the tail bone for fighting or the War of Aggression against pirates wages by the Harri Christnas...

The book is comprised mostly of a satirical look at the ID movement and claims of the religious kooks out there. There are some rather brilliant passages that are really just ID transposed as FSMism, making one think quite often "how do they believe this crap?"

There are some other aspects of the book that read more like "Genesis" than the "open letter" that The Prophet, pasta be upon his plate, is famous for. These are entertaining and serve as a solid foundation for faith in his Noodly presence. But it's the revelation of the FACTS that truly reveal the Glory and prove the existence of our Noodly Master.

Oh, and BTW, DO NOT fall for the review of Mr. John Smith. He's trying to shill his book "God Speaks! The Flying Spaghetti Monster in his own Words."

As a science teacher, I believe that if we are to teach the controversy and let children decide, then we should teach ALL alternative theories to evolution, including FSM ideas. In that case, this gospel would provide an excellent teaching resource.

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is one of the funniest things I have come across in a while. Bobby Henderson, a physics grad student, has ingeniously crafted a mock religion that effectively parodies the fundamentalist aspects of western religions (especially Christianity) that mainstream Christians and non-Christians find groan-worthy.
Henderson created the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, also known as Pastafarianism, in response to the recent trials over Intelligent Design and whether or not it belongs in a school's curriculum (or whether evolution has no place there). FSM claims that the world was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster, that pirates are His chosen people, and that Earthly problems, such as global warming are a direct result of the shrinking numbers of (actual) pirates in the world (Henderson has a graph that shows there is a direct correlation between the number of pirates and average global temperatures).
Using "facts" and "science", Henderson shows how evolution is wrong and that life can only have been created by the FSM, who obviously has a sense of humor due to certain things that happen in life. He also talks about how FSM heaven is so much better than Christian heaven due to the presence of a beer volcano and a stripper factory.
Other great aspects are the twists on biblical stories and places (such as why the great flood occurred or the Olive Garden of Eden) as well as the 8 Commandments (or is it Condiments) or FSM, commonly known as the "8 I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts", due to the fact that each one starts off with, "I'd really rather you didn't...".
Obviously, this book requires a sense of humor to be enjoyed, because it pokes fun at religion. But if you can see this book for what it is, a great parody of some of the stranger aspects of religion, you will definitely enjoy it.

As a long time FSM convert I can testify that when one is touched by the true god's noodles or tasted the bounty his Meatballness offers all free, you will forever be changed. Come forward all of you lost people and discover the truth that will set you free.

The FSM view of creation must be taught in our public schools and our laws must be changed to allow everyone to find out how the one true god created mankind - evolution is a bunch of voodoo crap, and Intelligent Design is just a branch off the same decayed tree of lies.

What many of Bobby Henderson's critics seem to miss is that he's not anti-religion, he's anti-teaching-Intelligent-Design in SCIENCE classes. Strangely, he also seems to have a problem with pseudo-science, wherein correlations are accepted as evidence of causal relationships.

I particularly love the people who curse him (read the site for some scary threats) and don't seem to get the meaning of the word "parody."

53% of today's Americans believe that humans were plopped down on the planet in the exact form seen today? Sheesh.......thank the beer-factoried heaven that there are bright lights like Bobby to cheer us up.

Some reviewers are discussing the flimsy workmanship: Nope--Villard is a legitimate company in the Random House family, definitely NOT a vanity press. Who knows why they couldn't spring for a better quality binding? No beer factory or strippers for THEM!

First, I would like to thank Mr Henderson for one of the greatest spoofs of pseudo-science in history. His FSM added some fun to an otherwise truly sad and worrying phenomenon.

Then, being European, let me add that I find the success of intelligent design and (even worse) creationism in the United States a truly incomprehensible phenomenon. This being the country I live in, and a country that under many many respects I certainly respect and admire, I cannot fathom how someone can be so obtuse as to being a creationist (I have somewhat more benign thoughts for genuine supporters of ID. Evolutionism certainly IS a mind-boggling idea). The fact that millions of people do believe in the literal truth of "science" reported in a BOOK written 2000 years ago, in a country that is producing much of the best science in any discipline on this planet, is for me a source of immense and endless frustration. Then it is true that Europe still have people believing in communism... Nobody's perfect, I guess.

I am certainly aware that Evolutionary Theory is not perfect, and that Darwin and his followers's findings have been often misrepresented and misused, but for G**'s (right...) sake...

One day creationists and ID supporters will vanish as Dodos, but it's still frustrating to see that right now they are still with us (I am not hoping for their physical demise, of course: I just wish they saw the light...)... I can see why people may disagree on issues such as abortion of stem cells, but this should not be about belief, it should be about science...

For those of you who would like to know more about the Kitzmiller et al. v. Dover Area School District ruling, I highly recommend reading the whole document available at w w w. sciohost.org/ncse/kvd/kitzmiller_decision_20051220.pdf

As a Christian with a strong belief in the value of Intelligent Design principles, I was horrified to hear of this book. It seemed to be a mockery of all that we righteous stand for. Despite this, I think it's very important to know thy enemies, and so I read a copy fo this book as soon as I was able.

Let me tell you, this book really is on to something. I think the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a true divine being, and we are not doing enough to teach it's gospel. I think it's entirely possible, having read this book, that we Christians have so much to learn and incorporate about the FSM. I am going to fight to get this book into our schools and our classes. And I have started a letter writing campaign to Judges Roberts and Alito to try to get them to see the value in praising the FSM in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have. Really.

Ramen.

Anyone interested in the whether school districts should teach intelligent design will enjoy this book. It clearly lays out the fundamental beliefs of FSMism in a way so entertaining I had to read it all at once -- which, when you consider how slow I read, means a whole lot.

The only religion based on empirical evidence. No faith required? Stripper factories? Beer volcanoes? Pirate regalia? Flimsy moral standards and every Friday is a religious holiday? Other religions will obviously soon be a vestige of the past.

On the downside, I was slightly disappointed that there weren't more stripper-factory illustrations, but the warning about Christian Athletes alone was well worth the price of the book. This book could save your life.

RAmen

Bobby Henderson has produced a humorous, thought-provoking, and enjoyable read for people of all backgrounds and belief systems. However, the construction of this book is horrendous. Simply put, I'm pretty sure that it was printed and bound by a company that generally dedicates itself to the production of coloring books. The cover is thin and will no doubt bend and fall off in time (I've used clear packing tape to reinforce mine), and the pages are cheap, thin, and pulpy. I like to own books because I know they will be around for a long time for myself and others to enjoy. This one may not make it past a few reads.

Purchased after reading a review in Scientific American. It is a truly wonderful "defense" of Intelligent Design, written by a physicist using purely scientific methods and sure to sway any doubters. A truly hilarious work, it will be found particularly offensive by those who would most benefit from serious consideration of its contents. (I suspect will at least slightly offend nearly every reader.) I loved it!