Jedis and Pastafarians: Real religion or just a joke?

Ecumenical News International News Highlights
15 August 2011

Jedis and Pastafarians: Real religion or just a joke?

Washington, D.C. (ENInews)--When congregants of West Side Church and
the Christian Life Center in Bend, Oregon, awoke in June to news that
their churches had been vandalized, they expected to be frustrated.
What they
didn't expect was to be confused, Religion News Service reports. In
addition to the anti-Christian slogans scrawled on the walls of the
two buildings, the words "Praise the FSM" were painted everywhere.
After a Google search, they learned "FSM" stood for "Flying Spaghetti
Monster," the noodle-limbed deity of a fictitious religion. While the
vandalism seemed to be an isolated incident, it and other developments
have spurred a discussion among atheists about the usefulness of
so-called "joke" or "invented" religions in the nonreligious movement.
Some are wondering: has the joke gone too far? [865
words, ENI-11-0426]

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