Talk:Parody religion

Agnosticism

Fascinating article.

Its lede currently [1] reads in part A parody religion or mock religion is a belief system that challenges spiritual convictions of others, often through humor, satire, or burlesque (literary ridicule). Often created to achieve a specific purpose related to another belief system....

This seems to be a very good description of agnosticism as proposed by Thomas Huxley, who invented the term. But apart from its presence as a link on the Atheism and Irreligion Sidebar the article does not seem to mention agnosticism at all. This is especially surprising as agnosticism is older than any of the other mock religions listed, and appears to me to be the prototypical parody religion.

Of course I am not a citeable source. But am I the only one to have concluded that agnosticism (as proposed by Huxley) was principally a satire on the Christian beliefs he rejected? Of course Huxley always maintained that it was a sincere expression of his own belief system, and it is sincerely believed by many followers, but that fits the model followed by subsequent mock religions perfectly.

Some links that might help...

http://infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/sn-huxley.html

http://atheism.about.com/od/aboutagnosticism/a/huxley.htm

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=QbX-CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT39&lpg=PT39&dq=%22Thomas+Huxley%22+agnosticism&source=bl&ots=ppGkwvqfs_&sig=SVGrhEBJ5zDKciXq8u0LuqwePzo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil5eWKw-jJAhVExWMKHSQIBisQ6AEIVzAJ#v=onepage&q=%22Thomas%20Huxley%22%20agnosticism&f=false

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Comments welcome of course... that's the very reason I post this. In particular, other relevant links, and most especially ones that either source or debunk my conclusion about Huxley's position and agenda, would be very much appreciated. Andrewa (talk) 18:24, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

I don't think agnosticism has ritual, texts, clergy, or anything else that a religion typically has. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1010:B166:22FE:E00F:E01D:2B5C:C569 (talk) 20:18, 25 August 2017 (UTC)

What about Cult Of Kek?

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/cult-of-kek

What determines whether a parody religion can be added to this page?

Satanism?

When thinking of a parody religion, the one that immediately pops into most peoples heads would be Satanism. Of course, a Satanism section should be careful to point out that there are true practitioners of Satanism, who believe in a real theistic Satan deity. Nonetheless, atheistic Satanism is a staple of parody religions, used primarily against Christian fundamentalism in the US. Incidents include fighting for marriage equality, abortion and contraceptive rights, and various religious freedoms similar to Pastafarianism. 209.65.56.40 (talk) 03:42, 9 December 2017 (UTC)

Satanism is indeed a good example of a parody religion. Most original "Satanists" (for example, the Alastair Crowley crowd of the 1960s and 1970s) engaged in theatrical, self-entertaining ritualism not unlike that practiced by fraternal organisations. Their main aim was to flaunt their hedonism, enjoy a colourful fantasy game, and annoy religious types. (That they were completely successful on the third point can be seen in the ongoing obsession of some Christian churches with "Satanism".) Anyway, in my opinion, the article would be improved by a brief paragraph on this phenomenon. Laodah 04:01, 29 January 2018 (UTC)

Pastafarianism - not qualified of parody religion

Although many regard the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a parody religion, it is as valid as any other religions.

The many arguments in favour of the classification of Pastafarianism as a parody religion have been countermanded by equally good counterarguments.

Firstly, although the percentage of Pastafarians who actually believe the world was created by His Noodly Majesty is, at a guess, lower than that of Christians or Muslims who believe the world was created by their deity, it doesn't make it any less of a religion. Many members of other religions do not fully believe in all of their scripture, as some part of every holy book in history has been irrefutably proved to be nonsense, however they are still qualified of religions. As stated by Bobby Henderson himself: "Some claim that the church is purely a thought experiment or satire, illustrating that Intelligent Design is not science, just a pseudoscience manufactured by Christians to push Creationism into public schools. These people are mistaken — The Church of FSM is legit, and backed by hard science. Anything that comes across as humor or satire is purely concidential".

First-and-a-halfly, to complete the previous point, it is obvious that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster takes a more relaxed approach to life, unlike other religions, which are extremely strict, and follow carefully detailed rites, where everything has to be solemn, and none can relax. That does not make Pastafarianism a "fake" or "illegitimate" religion - that just makes it a cooler religion.

Secondly, although it seems at first glance that a belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster is ridiculous, once a good couple of steps back are taken, one may come to realize that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is not impossible, but very unlikely. After the taking of another good couple of steps back, one may come to further realize that the idea of an all-powerful god creating the world is equally very unlikely. The only difference is the length of time for which people have been known to believe in god, and the number of believers. Someone very clever whose name I can no longer remember said something along the lines of: "If we lived in a world of atheists, and there was only one person who believed in some sort of god, then that person would be locked up and put in a mental asylum. However, as there are many people who have been taught to believe in some sort of god from birth, belief in god is now an alternative to logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence. So does the fact that many people believe in it make it any more likely to be true?" To which the answer, of course, is no. I am not debating that people are wrong to be religious here - I myself am a Pastafarian - I am just stating that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is as likely to exist as god, and that the only difference between the two is that one has been believed in for a longer time, and by a greater number of people. If Christianity, Islam and Judaism are recognised as "legit" religions, then so should Pastafarianism be.

Thirdly, it is wrong for people outside of a group to be able to label the group. The vast majority of (actually, almost all) Pastafarians are in favour of labelling the Church as a religion, whereas most of the votes against that are by non-Pastafarians, who have nothing to do with the Church. Pastafarians are the ones who actually know how their organization works better, so why prefer other people's labels of the groups, rather than letting Pastafarians decide for themselves what they want to be labelled as? If non-Pastafarians gain the right to label us as a "parody religion", then that is an invasion of our rights.

Fourthly, even if the previous argument is wrong, and it is perfectly OK for members outside of a group to be able to decide what the group is, which it is most likely not, Pastafarianism has been legally recognised in two countries, whose opinions are as valid as that of other countries. It is a recognised religion in many parts of the world, so Wikipedia (which is not based in any part of the world), if not recognising Pastafarianism as a religion, should, every time Pastafarianism is referred to as a "pseudo-religion" or "parody", mention that it is a religion as much as it is a parody, depending on which part of the world you are in.

Please discuss.

Thanks, RomBRNS — Preceding unsigned comment added by RomBRNS (talk • contribs) 13:40, 1 August 2018 (UTC)) (UTC)

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The literature seems to disagree. Here's some relevant sources that classify pastafarianism as a parody religion:

Google	Scholar	Books
Pastafarianism "Parody religion"	25	39

- DVdm (talk) 13:58, 1 August 2018 (UTC)

... even if some countries might say that they recognise it as a religion (see user Guy Macon's undo of my undo on article Flying Spaghetti Monster). So here we have something that is a religion and a parody religion. Indeed, one does not exclude the other . - DVdm (talk) 14:19, 1 August 2018 (UTC)

Crabstianity

What is the threshold for notability? Crabstianity has been growing at a pretty good clip, with Jibbers being frequently referenced across the internet. See: https://theoatmeal.com/blog/jibbers_crabst