https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/i-pastafari-...41804.html
EXCERPTS: Michael Arthur admits there are no official metrics to back up his claim that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is “the world’s fasting growing religion.” His evidence is as much anecdotal as it is statistical, with the filmmaker pointing to the explosion of social media groups devoted to the movement. “It’s everywhere,” Arthur, the director of the new documentary I, Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story, tells Yahoo Entertainment.
[...] Of course, that’s if the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism, can even be considered a religion — and exploring the question of what constitutes a religion in the first place? “And who decides that?” Arthur asks. “Because if the state decided that, then that's a violation of the separation of church and state. A state can't say your religion is [valid].”
[...] While other filmmakers may have been tempted to approach Pastafarianism through a quirkier lens, Arthur offers a more serious look. ... In the Netherlands, Pastafarianism was ruled a life choice, not a religion — and the movement is often viewed by other international bodies as farcical, not genuinely spiritual.
The entire Pastafarianism movement was in fact born out of satire. In response to debates being held in Kansas over the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes, then-24-year-old Oregon State student Bobby Henderson composed a letter to the Kansas State Board of Education. It claimed that if creationism was being taught side-by-side with evolution in schools, so should his beliefs in Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, which Henderson argued was just as legitimate and provable as intelligent design. (Arthur was unable to convince Henderson to appear in the film, which he says was his greatest failure.)
[...] While the movement has a strong foothold in the U.S., the documentary focuses primarily on European members in Holland, Germany and Austria whose defenses of Pastafarianism often feel more like critiques of Christianity and other organized religions than devoutness in their own. If so many millions of people believe that Jesus Christ walked on water or Moses crossed a parted Red Sea, Pastafarians will tell you ... why shouldn’t their own beliefs, no matter how outlandish, be recognized?
[...] I, Pastafari is available on-demand starting Tuesday, July 7. (MORE - details)
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sLPyuiL1J4Y
EXCERPTS: Michael Arthur admits there are no official metrics to back up his claim that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is “the world’s fasting growing religion.” His evidence is as much anecdotal as it is statistical, with the filmmaker pointing to the explosion of social media groups devoted to the movement. “It’s everywhere,” Arthur, the director of the new documentary I, Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story, tells Yahoo Entertainment.
[...] Of course, that’s if the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism, can even be considered a religion — and exploring the question of what constitutes a religion in the first place? “And who decides that?” Arthur asks. “Because if the state decided that, then that's a violation of the separation of church and state. A state can't say your religion is [valid].”
[...] While other filmmakers may have been tempted to approach Pastafarianism through a quirkier lens, Arthur offers a more serious look. ... In the Netherlands, Pastafarianism was ruled a life choice, not a religion — and the movement is often viewed by other international bodies as farcical, not genuinely spiritual.
The entire Pastafarianism movement was in fact born out of satire. In response to debates being held in Kansas over the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes, then-24-year-old Oregon State student Bobby Henderson composed a letter to the Kansas State Board of Education. It claimed that if creationism was being taught side-by-side with evolution in schools, so should his beliefs in Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, which Henderson argued was just as legitimate and provable as intelligent design. (Arthur was unable to convince Henderson to appear in the film, which he says was his greatest failure.)
[...] While the movement has a strong foothold in the U.S., the documentary focuses primarily on European members in Holland, Germany and Austria whose defenses of Pastafarianism often feel more like critiques of Christianity and other organized religions than devoutness in their own. If so many millions of people believe that Jesus Christ walked on water or Moses crossed a parted Red Sea, Pastafarians will tell you ... why shouldn’t their own beliefs, no matter how outlandish, be recognized?
[...] I, Pastafari is available on-demand starting Tuesday, July 7. (MORE - details)