The 20th century brought religious freedom to most of the world. People got the opportunity to independently choose which god to believe in and which religious rites to follow. One of the first to use it was the Tatars, scattered throughout all the CIS countries, who massively began to return to the faith of their ancestors. In addition, many parents began to refuse early baptism of their children, justifying this by the fact that descendants should consciously come to God and choose their own spiritual path.
All kinds of charlatans took an active position, creating an abundance of sects and pseudo-religious teachings, aimed mainly at replenishing the wallets of the creators at the expense of the gullible flock.
However, the most interesting trend is the so-called Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (aka Pastafarianism). Moreover, two factors at once: firstly, it does notseeks to take funds from its supporters, and secondly, while the world community has not come to a consensus, what is it - a global joke or a serious religious direction.
Several different looks
Some people believe that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a well-reasoned spiritual teaching that has a solid philosophical, scientific and religious basis. Moreover, they assure that Pastafarianism is more justified in its essence than the vast majority of other religions.
Most of the people refer to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a good joke, almost an April Fool's prank. They can be understood: the external accessories of this religion are very comical.
Supporters of traditional churches (primarily Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant) perceive the new teaching as a desecration of their symbols and codes, a mockery of everything that is sacred to them.
History of Pastafarianism
Faith in the spaghetti monster itself is very young. It arose only in 2005 through the efforts of a certain Robert (Bobby) by the name of Henderson. He was very indignant at the compulsory study of the Intelligent Design course at school, similar to the lessons of the word of God in pre-revolutionary Russia. This concept was supposed to replace evolutionary theory.
The future prophet, who was subsequently declared by the Church of the Spaghetti Monster, said that there is no evidence that the world createdLord. Therefore, we can just as well assume that pasta with meatballs took part in its creation. So the founder of the new trend called for it to be studied in all schools along with other subjects.
Meaning of the name
Initially, the pasta monster religion was conceived as a parody and protest. This is reflected in the name Pastafarianism. The first part comes from pasta (tracing paper from Italian), the second - from the Jamaican Rastafarians. Pasta is understandable, yet the creator of things is the pasta monster. But the ideas of Jamaican religion have changed somewhat. If marijuana is part of the faith on that island, then in Pastafarianism it has been replaced by the cult of beer.
Basics of the new religion
The main principle of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the unprovability and undeniability of any postulates. Its followers are sure that any proof of something is set up by the creator himself, who remains, though imperceptible, but still active to this day. That is, having found scientific proof of the put forward hypothesis, the scientist actually gets not the exact result, as he thinks, but what the pasta monster himself wants to see or show to a person.
The indestructible dogma of Pastafarianism is the complete rejection of all and every dogma.
Everyone will go to heaven, regardless of faith. The flying spaghetti monster (the official website states this for sure) is indifferent to whether the person was a supporter of it. And in paradise everyone is waiting for a beer volcano, to which anyone can venerate. Some more promised"Striptease factory", but somehow it is not very clear what it is.
Pastafarians have their own analogue of the procession, called pasta; each prayer ends with the word "ramen" (a symbiosis of the classic amen and the name of the Japanese soup, all with the same pasta). Those who are close to the belief in the spaghetti monster consider pirates to be saints, whose bad reputation is due to the fact that they were slandered.
Holy Book LMM
2006 made the world happy with the creation of the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. And not just written, but also published in a fairly large circulation. It declared Friday to be the main holiday, which at the same time does not have to be celebrated at all. However, it is supposed to be celebrated by doing nothing.
Pastafarians paid tribute not only to Christianity. They have a ramindan holiday that looks suspiciously like ramadan. On this day, you need to eat instant noodles. Halloween and Pirates' Day are also celebrated, probably instead of the Catholic All Saints' Day.
The Gospel of the Spaghetti Monster endowed its followers with commandments, which, at the same time, it is not at all important to observe, since this teaching generally denies dogmas.
Pastafarian commandments
They are presented rather as recommendations: “it would be better not to do something”. There are 8 of them in total, and some of them are somewhat similar to the Christian commandments, only set out in a softer, more humorous and modern tradition. In principle, the result of these recommendations can be reduced to two points: behave well and getenjoyment of life. If the first is fully consistent with Christianity, then the second fundamentally contradicts it.
The most zealous follower
The most vocal belief in the Spaghetti Monster comes from an Austrian who battled his country's bureaucracy for three years for the right to be in a driver's license photo with a colander on his head. He was nevertheless able to prove that this kitchen appliance was an integral part of his religious attire, and in the end he proudly showed the world both his “headdress” and the photo on the rights in it.
It can be said that the Austrian fully fulfilled his duty to his faith: he brought the most ordinary everyday process to nonsense and absurdity.
The spread of Pastafarianism in the world: Russia
Gradually, the new religion is expanding the territory of its distribution. Russia has become fertile ground for her, where they always liked to joke themselves, are able to appreciate the scope of someone else's prank, and the joys of life in the form of beer and idleness also do not leave Russians indifferent.
At first there were not so many Pastafarians on Russian territory, but in January 2011 their website was launched. At the end of spring, there were already two thousand virtual supporters of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Certificates for believers began to be issued. The new doctrine in Russia began to gain momentum. In 2013, it became possible to talk about registering the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in Moscow (so far as a religious group). The application was written on July 12, and already on July 17August pastoral was held.
Pastafarian groups now exist in Chelyabinsk, St. Petersburg, Tver, Vologda and some other cities.
Some observers believe that the "pasta church", conceived as a protest and libel, in Russia is beginning to acquire the scale of a solid religious organization. Pastafarian lawyers are seriously preparing documents for the registration of a new church, and the founders of the Russian branch of this doctrine themselves are preparing for the necessary examinations, commissions and overcoming various obstacles. True, they still do it in accordance with the commandments of their monster: they say they will refuse - also a reason to joke and neigh.
Orthodoxy is still cautious in its assessments of what is happening. Either the hierarchs do not take the Spaghetti Monster Church seriously, or they have not heard of it at all, or they do not draw parallels between their faith and Pastafarianism. However, believers are indignant at the ideas of the Kansas founding father, and the religious organization "God's Will" even behaved quite aggressively during the pastoral procession.
The spread of Pastafarianism in the world: Ukraine
Ukrainian neighbors are no less active in this regard. Last year, on October 11 (as it should be, on Holy Friday), the “Ukrainian Pastafarian Church” was registered, though not as a religious organization, but as a public organization. The following day, Spaghetti Monster supporters held a pasta move to celebrate the successful registration. There were few people - about three dozen, but the procession went outcheerful, almost conflict-free and colorful. Of course, there were unfriendly passers-by who threatened the afterlife, but in general everything went pretty nice.
Gone are the days when heterodoxy was punished, often by death. Religious tolerance and tolerance, loy alty to the spiritual world of man are loudly proclaimed all over the world. It is all the more strange to meet aggressive statements against the parodic, mocking, absurd and frivolous Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Even if someone is annoyed by the expectation of a posthumous beer volcano by the Pastafarians, this is by no means a reason to declare them heretics and blasphemers. Let them bring their actions to outright clowning - maybe these people are just tired of the unbearable seriousness of life and relax in this way. You should not suspect a neighbor of offending your religious feelings with his way of praying. It is quite difficult to offend a truly deeply and sincerely religious person, unless he is a fanatic.
