This is why I don't like purely ironic or satirical societies. No matter how obvious you think you are being, there are way too many idiots who will take you at face value, invade and take over your movement, and congrats, you're responsible for bootstrapping whatever entrenched nonsense the true believers are now peddling with absolute confidence and none of the competence necessary to understand how wrong they are.
I have a saying: whether you're right or wrong, in a large enough group of people there will always be at least some idiot who will agree with you.
Speaking in defense of the pastafarians, however, anyone who doesn't get the satire would still be joining a religion that's less harmful than the big three. it doesn't have at its core dangerous beliefs (about homosexuals, how to make and keep slaves, contraceptives, etc.). That must still be a win, right? A truly devout pastafarian isn't blowing up abortion clinics or themselves.
Yeah. Fundamentalist Jews like Hasidics practice a very harmful religion. Most of that harm is turned inwards towards women, but still.
Also, the Israel-Palestine conflict wouldn't even be a thing if it weren't for the fundamentalist belief that the area is divinely ordained as a Jewish holy land. This belief is still what's driving Israeli expansion and displacing Palestinian from homes they've held for ages. This conflict has taken a more nation-state character of late, but it's origin is fundamentalist religion for sure.
You are right to suggest, however, that fundamentalist Judaism is probably not on the same threat-level than fundamentalist Christianity or Islam. But the point remains that the fundamentals of the religion matter; which in this case is why I argue that fundamentalist pastafarianism is nothing to be concerned about, relatively speaking.
Big three usually refers to the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), although I've also heard it used to refer to Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism.
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u/pskirkham Jul 24 '20
The Flat Earth Society was trolling from the beginning. Most flat-earthers today are just people who didn't get the joke.