I don't know......I have a certain amount of faith for something, but I gotta say, The Flying Spagetti Monster is starting to look more reasonable all the time.........

Another Pastafarian in the making! Soon you'll be one of us! You have been touched by his noodley appendage! All hail FSM!!!

Crossville, Tennessee allows FSM statue on Courthouse lawn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtIyYEPVgTk

FSM spotted in Germany!!! Exclusive deity on video!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL7FcvEy ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5axlwCBXC8

this will clear it up!

i'll tell you what!

you will tell us what, but when?

Who?

Where?

Why?

Test on the quote thing.

I really have no problem with the Monster it's just that the "religion" just seems like another patriarchal one, and I don't see why females of the species would be interested, as with some other religions where when you die you go to heaven and get to have so many virgins etc (I don't think there are any male virgins there for the female believers some how) So the same goes for the Monsters' form of heaven being beer volcanoes and a stripper factory. Hey on a hot day I enjoy a cold beer, but I have a problem the (female of course) stripper factory. I don't understand why females would join even in jest

Some females are even finding it hard to join some Athiest Forums because it always seems to turn into a locker room (where they feel marginalized) or nasty. Thank goodness for Arlonet where we can be anything we want, even part of a tongue in cheek religion and we can all comment on what we think with open minds and basic friendship despite our different thoughts!

I think this would be one of the few. And of course we have our moderators to thank to!

Meanwhile back at the Obama ranch..........or should that be the OK Corral?
Hils is really Annie Oakley???? Packing a six shooter? Gosh that woman is talented.

Meanwhile all over the world we wait. Many are following as close as they would elections in their own countries.We will all be effected.

All over the world we wait.

I think that the FSM is thought to be male because of the (meat) balls. Maybe there's a penne pasta in there as well. Probably no patriarchal thingy implied. It's just that there aren't too many pastas that resemble female reproductive organs, are there? Manicotti sort of could be either, depending on your perspective.

I visit Richard Dawkins web site ( as I respect him tremendously) but most of the atheist web sites (as you say) spend too much time overanlyzing arguements about why there is or is not a God (and how clever they can be in logical proof) and arguing about whether there is a basis for evolution (not scentific arguements or people with little knowledge of the scientific arguements arguing from a faith based perspective (kinda like religion)))) (I can never remember how many parenthesis I have thrown in when I minnd blank at the key board). I have not noticed a lot of mysogeny on those sites but I can say I have encountered some fairly sharp witted women posting on some. (Women can be the most ardent objectivist, I think it is a back reaction as females are the ones that bear the brunt of religious indoctrination since males are expected to slip into darkness occasionally as they must interact in the world (so it is OK for males to occsaionally partake of the fruit you see) while the female is supposed sit at home and feel guilty about having functional sexual organs (that includes the mind you see as much of the role of the sexual organ is to make the mind think about things like manicotti (thanks for the image Zap))))...So, there she sits feeling guilty about having desires and also (eventually) knowing she has fallen from grace (that reminds me of my Pre Cana story...that was a good one..yes I was raised Southern Baptist and married a Catholic..that pre cana is a good one) and (in the best of religion philosophies) she knows she better have her biscuits in the oven and her buns in the bed when her man gets home (you know what I am saying) and on top of all that it is her job to make sure that the next generation is fully compliant with all these previously assumed and accepted "religious practices". Christian women can be an uppity lot and when they loos the bonds they can be something else, Just imagine if the women of Islam began asserting their freedom (of course (sadly enough) they often face the penalty of death).

In general, in my objective opinion, I try to focus on the good things about gender differences (I am a guy) and I find the independent, confident and dogma free woman to be incredibly attractive and exciting (as I said, the brain is a sexual organ).

So what has this to do with Obama...let's see...well I guess it means that gender is not necessarily going to sway my vote hhmmm....((((these threads have a mind of their own...but I like a good strong independent thread).

Leo, you got an A+ on the "test"

I had an English Comp prof who broke almost everything in literature and life down to symbolism. A good part of it was gender. Female (or women) being represented by vessels, circles, bodies of water, etc. and male (men) being things like baseball bats, bolts & nails, ... well, you should get the picture. He even incorporated it into sports: baseball, for instance, has an egg shaped object being struck by a phallic bat. And then two teams of guys are chasing after the egg. Yep, lots of sexual symbolism there .... I guess. Then you've got things like the Tao, Yin & Yang, Wicca. Lots of gender symbolism in those too. In theory, the two genders produce a balance.

But one thing that I've noticed (being an "interest agnostic" when it comes to Paganism/Wicca) is that more than a few women discount the male side of the equation. Yeah, I can see getting huffy for being left out of the mix for so long but I don't see too much difference between matriarchal and patriarchal systems. Both are half (or less) of what they could be. Yep, I can see leaning one way or the other if you're partial to one side or the other but to completely eliminate one is to diminish the other. Like the late Stewart Farrar said, it's like having only one terminal on a battery. You wind up with no power (energy/output) at all. If you acknowledge one, then it would probably be an exercise in cosmic balance to acknowledge the other. But I do think that splitting hairs over the FSM's gender is getting dangerously close (in a different way) to a Fallwellian Teletub Babies controversy.

Now, back to the other political debate: Is it me or are all of the presidential candidates starting to make you worry as well? Like Simon said,
"Going to the candidate's debate.
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you've got to choose
Every way you look at this you lose."