A Pastafarian Pope

[Zac Reaves]

With all the news about the Catholic Church getting a new pope. I was thinking maybe there should be a Pastafarian Pope. Now don't judge right away, the pope would be a means to unite Pastafarians. It would be a means to corrupt our church, he would be a normal Pastafarian. He or She would be meant to lead Pastafarians in a prayer to the Holy FSM. He would interrupt the texts. Now how this pope is elected is not up to me. He would choose a pirate name as his name (ex. Pope Blackbeard) The pope could also organize met ups, he or she could even up raise money to help organizations like St.Jude or the Humane Society, etc.
Now Bobby Henderson is not the "Pope" he is the prophet. The difference between a Pope and Prophet is that a Prophet tells the word of the FSM. A pope would interrupt and spread it. So go and ponder this idea.

[Dechujoh64]

I have something on this issue and read everything from within this issue.---> Hierarchy in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and come with your own opinion.

May the Pasta be With You
RAmen

[mathsisfun]

If we're copying the catholics church system, new bishops are chosen from the pool of priests.
They have a council of bishops, who decide when a new bishop is needed and which of the priests to elevate. A priest can't just apply or pay a fee, so if they wanted to be elevated they would have to do things like charity work to draw attention to themseelves. The council can decide who to elevate when another bishop is needed, but the pope can veto any decision.
This system would be hard to start up though. I'd suggest having 50 or so very active priests made bishops, and they can choose a pope. Then they can raise enough priests to be bishops to get a large enough pool of bishops to support a heirarchy above it. In the case of the catholic church, there is about 1 bishop for every 40 priests, but I think about 1 in 15 would work best. Next, the pope can choose an even more select group to be cardinals. The catholic church has 1 for every 10 bishops. This group of cardinals would elect the pope and elevate priests to bishops, and the elected pope would elevate bishops to cardinals.

[Roy Hunter]

Why should we copy the Roman Catholic Church? We have ordained ministers, and you can study for a Doctorate in Pastafarian Theology, but there the similarities end. The RC Pope is infallible: even our god is a drunken dumbass. The RC Church has enormous wealth and real estate holdings: we haven't even got a pirate ship. The RC church has rigid and inflexible doctrines: we have a bunch of guidance, you can take it, you can leave it, we don't really mind one way or the other.

Why should we emulate an organisation that is so different to us? I don't think we stand to gain anything by doing so.

A much-missed former poster on this board, who now drinks deeply at the beer volcano and admires the outputs of the stripper factory, used to carry a card proclaiming himself to be a Pope, and requiring to be afforded all the privileges entailed by his rank. Perhaps you could get one of those?

[Dechujoh64]

Why should we copy the Roman Catholic Church? We have ordained ministers, and you can study for a Doctorate in Pastafarian Theology, but there the similarities end. The RC Pope is infallible: even our god is a drunken dumbass. The RC Church has enormous wealth and real estate holdings: we haven't even got a pirate ship. The RC church has rigid and inflexible doctrines: we have a bunch of guidance, you can take it, you can leave it, we don't really mind one way or the other.

Why should we emulate an organisation that is so different to us? I don't think we stand to gain anything by doing so.

A much-missed former poster on this board, who now drinks deeply at the beer volcano and admires the outputs of the stripper factory, used to carry a card proclaiming himself to be a Pope, and requiring to be afforded all the privileges entailed by his rank. Perhaps you could get one of those?

Well, Almighty Dalek Head Named Roy Hunter and Mathisfun, I have already seen that photo. In my own topic: Hierarchy in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Also, I think I might have pissed off Rev. Brian with my response OR not.)

In which the topic morphed from having a Pastafarian Pope to having an Admiral of the Navy. Thanks to a post from Rev. R. Redbeard.

Maybe if you want to; you can give your two cents about it.

Besides this topic was months old with only my response until you and mathisfun answered earlier today.

I hope this is an okay answer.

If we're copying the catholics church system, new bishops are chosen from the pool of priests.
They have a council of bishops, who decide when a new bishop is needed and which of the priests to elevate. A priest can't just apply or pay a fee, so if they wanted to be elevated they would have to do things like charity work to draw attention to themseelves. The council can decide who to elevate when another bishop is needed, but the pope can veto any decision.
This system would be hard to start up though. I'd suggest having 50 or so very active priests made bishops, and they can choose a pope. Then they can raise enough priests to be bishops to get a large enough pool of bishops to support a heirarchy above it. In the case of the catholic church, there is about 1 bishop for every 40 priests, but I think about 1 in 15 would work best. Next, the pope can choose an even more select group to be cardinals. The catholic church has 1 for every 10 bishops. This group of cardinals would elect the pope and elevate priests to bishops, and the elected pope would elevate bishops to cardinals.

[Cardinal Fang]

I think having a Pope might make people think we're just copying and therefore making fun of other religions, and hence aren't a real religion. That would be bad!

And if we need a person to represent us and be our public face and all-round spokesguy, we have our prophet Bobby Henderson (PBUH). I don't see the need for a single head of our church.

Besides, as most theological questions seem to be agreed by consensus (e.g. the loose cannon), this would seem to be the model for how the church operates - people swapping ideas and eventually a communal answer being formed.

CF

[ChowMein]

^ Yah . Thet seems loike wot goes on in here ... flimsy standarrds an' all ...arrrrrrr

[Dechujoh64]

I think having a Pope might make people think we're just copying and therefore making fun of other religions, and hence aren't a real religion. That would be bad!

And if we need a person to represent us and be our public face and all-round spokesguy, we have our prophet Bobby Henderson (PBUH). I don't see the need for a single head of our church.

Besides, as most theological questions seem to be agreed by consensus (e.g. the loose cannon), this would seem to be the model for how the church operates - people swapping ideas and eventually a communal answer being formed.

CF

Cardinal fang, you do not remember the strict not so strict talk we had on this issue: Hierarchy in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Go back and take a look and see the rest of that topic that has unfolded after your last post.
and may the pasta be with you, RAmen.

[Dechujoh64]

^ Yah . Thet seems loike wot goes on in here ... flimsy standarrds an' all ...arrrrrrr

Hey Chow, Visit this issue--->Hierarchy in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
and may the pasta be with you, RAmen.

[Cardinal Fang]

I do remember the aforementioned discussion and seem to remember there wasn't much enthusiasm for a set heirarchy either.

However I do remember you saying "that may be people out there who are Pastafarians (including me) who might want a higher title without really doing much of anything".

So do so - call yourself Pope <insert name> - just as I've adopted the name Cardinal Fang, with no expectation or wish for anything beyond that's my name (and because CF is my favourite Monty Python character).

I just don't think that by calling yourself "Pope", or "Cardinal" or "Captain" or any other title should automatically give you any further rights or responsibilities that other Pastafarians don't have - as I said in t'other post - all Pastafarians should be equal, irrespective of when they came to faith, whether they have ever visited Venganza.org etc.

CF

[pieces o'nine]

Well spoken, Cardinal Fang.

[Temp0ral]

A nice and simple hierarchy:

FSM
|
Prophet (Bobby Henderson - or perhaps just drop this down)
|
Pirate = Wench = Captain = Pope = Cardinal = Bishop = Knight = Rook = Minister = Priest = Pasta = Parrots = etc.

This way, there is structure for those who are looking for some, and those that don't care can continue not caring.

[pieces o'nine]

Ye left orf midgits, but otherwyse yer charrrght looks fyne, Temp0ral!

[Cardinal Fang]

Ye left orf midgits, but otherwyse yer charrrght looks fyne, Temp0ral!

Here's a philosophical/ theological question then.

We all know that His Noodliness the Flying Spaghetti Monster created midgets as the first people, and they therefore were extra special.

Are midgets and other foreshortened people still similarly blessed in today's world, or are they held us equal as we all are, under our Pasta-based Lord?

Other than that - Temp0ral - that's a great heirarchy, that seems to be spot on about how the CoFSM seems to work.

CF

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

They're still blessed of course, otherwise they wouldn't be so short.

That means the FSM loves them. That doesn't mean WE necessarily have to treat them extra-special. Most of them would probably be offended anyway, if my viewing of various little-people-based reality shows is any indication. THEY want to be treated as equals, so that's what we should do.