So I don't fully understand all the circuits and courts, but apparently today the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of allowing same-sex marriage. In 2008 California Prop 8 re-banned same-sex marriage in California, which was then contested as being unconstitutional. It's been tied up in the legal system ever since. It's going to be tied up for a while longer, too. This will get pushed on to the Supreme Court next.
My hope is that the Supreme Court makes a ruling in favor of allowing same-sex marriage that applies to all 50 states and every U.S. territory. That being said, I hope the churches will be excluded from the ruling. There's no sense in "forcing" the churches to perform a same-sex marriage that is clearly against their doctrine.
I've been trying to understand how someone else's same-sex marriage can somehow invalidate or diminish an opposite-sex marriage. Especially when celebrity marriages exist. Best I can figure it's a perceived notion that legalizing same-sex marriage will validate them "under God", and to that I say we have separation of church and state. Clearly it's not a family or parenting issue. Canada hasn't fallen apart and same-sex marriage is legal there.
So if the Catholic church (and various sects of Christianity, or others) don't want to perform same-sex marriages don't force them to. They've already established themselves as discriminatory organizations, and no-one seems to mind. So I don't see why discrimination laws should apply here and force them to perform same-sex marriage. Separation of church and state is a 2-way street. There's other ways to get married. Other religions that will. State officials such as Judges for example.
In preparation for the Supreme Court ruling maybe I should brush up on marriage ceremonies. There will be a high demand for marriage officiants and if the main-stream churches turn them down I feel it is my duty as a minister to answer the call. My church fully endorses same-sex marriages.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
«Same-Sex Upheld, The Battle Continues»
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
«The Reverend Marf»
This is what I believe to be the most epic thing I've done since starting this blog. It's all sorts of silly, epic, and to some I'd imagine offensive. I have officially renounced my atheism. If that sentence can even make sense. One can't really renounce a non-religion, can they?
I am now an officially ordained minister of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I'm now The Reverend Cody Durkin. I've seen the noodly light of Pastafarianism. Note the raised gold seal. This is a legitimate document.
I can legally use Reverend in front of my name now. Seriously. I can also officiate wedding ceremonies. Laws do vary between states (even counties) in the US, and I haven't researched international laws. Weddings are such a business in Nevada (go Las Vegas!) that they have some unique requirements. However, in most other states including my resident state of Idaho, one only needs to be a judge, governor, mayor or an ordained minister of any denomination. [Idaho Code Section 32-303]
Any. Denomination.
They'd have one hell of a First Amendment case on their hands if they tried to deny it.FSM is a real, legitimate religion, as much as any other. The fact that many see this is as a satirical religion doesn’t change the fact that by any standard one can come up with, our religion is as legitimate as any other. And *that* is the point.
What's that sound? Yeah, I didn't hear it either. I expected to hear the sound of the sanctity of marriage draining away, but I guess celebrities already drained that. The "we must protect the sanctity of marriage" people need to wake up to reality. Same-sex marriage is the least of their worries. I can now legally perform marriage ceremonies, that are recognized by the government, in the name of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Some religions oppose same-sex marriage. My religion supports it. The government has no right to deny my people their Noodle-given right to marry someone of the same sex any more than it can deny a man and a woman to get married under the Christian God. And *that* is my point.
See the rest of “The Reverend Marf”»
Friday, July 23, 2010
«FSM iPhone 4 Skin»
After being in the US mail limbo for 22 days after it shipped, I finally got my Zagg Invisible Shield for my iPhone 4. There's also a green bumper from Apple on the phone.
It's a custom design, I made it in photoshop. I took a picture of the Flying Spaghetti Monster from Venganza.org. The background came from NASA, it's a photo of the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) as seen from the International Space Space Station.
Here's the original pic I sent to Zagg to make the skin.
Friday, May 14, 2010
«Pirate Fish Leash»
This is by far the best graffiti I have ever seen in this town by a long-shot.
There was also another sign that has the symbol of the IPU (Invisible Pink Unicorn).
See the rest of “Pirate Fish Leash”»
Thursday, May 6, 2010
«Everything is Going to Kill Everybody»
So a couple of weeks ago I happened across an article on Cracked.com that was a sample chapter in a book called Everything is Going to Kill Everybody. I don't remember how I came across it, I don't follow Cracked.com.
After reading that, I determined it was worth getting. I have a morbid interest in doomsday, so the book fell in line with my sense of humor. For the entire 2 years and 105 days I've been doing my blog, I've only read 21 books. Yeah, I'm that bad... I do my reading online.
A few of the disasters covered in the book are a bit unrealistic, like the hypercane or verneshot. The part about robots pointed out a bunch of new technologies that are more-or-less harmless by themselves, but when combined you get an overemotional flesh-eating monstrosity. Why would such technologies be combined? Well why would accelerometers, cameras, and clocks be combined? They are such different technologies, yet they are useful when combined. Just look at the iPhone.
So it will be with other technologies like the EATR (Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot). It can eat bio-matter (like plants or meat) to power itself. How cool would it be to have a lawnmower that feeds itself on the very grass it cuts? Of course, meat is the most efficient fuel for the EATR, so it might rather eat you than your lawn...
The book also covered other more mundane doomsdays, like the asteroid Apophis that will buzz past Earth closer than our geosynchronous satellites in 2029. Depending upon the small gravitational effect those satellites have on it, it has a very good chance of colliding with Earth on its next pass in 2036. It'd be like the dinosaurs all over again. But perhaps by then the supervolcano we call Yellowstone National Park would have already killed us.
It really was a hilarious book, in a frightening non-fiction sort of way.
I finally delved into the Amazon Associates program, so the link to the book here is a referral link. Amazon.com handles all the transactions, so it's not like you have to trust me with your credit card number. I figured since I have to declare my blog as a business on my taxes, I may as well act like it is one!
1: The two books I read are Everything is Going to Kill Everybody (duh), and The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
«SimCity 4: Thaylambar»
Out in the farmlands of the city of Thaylambar, a strange shape appeared in the crops... Is it the work of aliens, or divine pasta?
I figured out I could use avenue roundabouts as the meatballs and road roundabouts for the eyes of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The city of Thaylambar has been touched.
Thaylambar is another of my cities I've been working on. It has a population of 99,000; yet the majority of the land is used as farmland.
I'm keeping the population poor and dumb. The reason is I'm working on a large industrial wasteland in a neighboring city, and I needed the demand for dirty industrial. As it turns out, only the poor and stupid are willing to work in a heavily polluted wasteland where you have to wear a gas mask to get to work. Who knew?
As a result, I cleaned up the industry in Ishau. I moved all the dirty industry to my wasteland city. Now there is only clean high-tech industry in Ishau. Also, the people in Ishau have proper schools are are fairly well off.
See the rest of “SimCity 4: Thaylambar”»
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
«I Got My Sea-Monkey Card»
My Sea-Monkey debit card just arrived in the mail. Like I said before, I would have preferred the FSM card design. (That's a popular post of mine, at 2,173 views so far.)
If you're planning on submitting a custom card design with Wells Fargo, I suggest you increase the contrast before submitting it. The picture included in this post is the preview, not the actual card. The actual card seems to be a little washed-out and is a bit more yellow than the picture I submitted. Even seems a little blurry. But, I'm still happy with it. Like I keep saying, it's better than the default stagecoach picture.
As a side-note, I just noticed I've been blessed by the Prophet Bobby Henderson himself. He edited the FSM Bank Card post over at the Official FSM Church website to include the comment I made there. I feel so special now...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
«Still Better Than Stagecoaches»
Well, my Flying Spaghetti Monster design was denied, but my second submission was accepted. While such a card would be, to say the least, a thing of beauty, it's kind of good it was rejected, if it was rejected for the reason you suppose. In that case, this is just more public acceptance of pastafarianism as a religion.
Presenting the Sea-Monkey Wells Fargo card1:
You may recognize the picture from my recent post about my Sea-Monkey food order. I would of course have preferred the FSM, but at least this way I have something unique. I get to carry around a picture of my sea-monkeys. And like the title says, it's better than the default stagecoaches.
I like what one of the comments said on the FSM card post:
If something as crazy as Scientology gets to be an official religion, then Pastafarianism should have no trouble. Seriously, I think I'd convert if Pastafarianism were an official religion (at least for the purpose of census polls.)
1: Sample version only. Not an actual card; not a valid card number or name.
Friday, February 27, 2009
«Would Have Been Better Than Stagecoaches»
Wells Fargo has a relatively new feature they call Card Design Studio. It allows you to choose and upload an image for your credit or debit card. So naturally, I uploaded an image of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Here is a sample version of the card1:
I couldn't sneak it past them. It was not accepted. Too bad, that would have been a sweet card. Clearly, they have not been touched by His Noodly Appendages...
They have a these rules pertaining to what is and isn't acceptable:
I've bolded the one that I think it killed it. I don't see what the harm of religions images on a personal card would be, but whatever. Anyone have any new ideas for what should be on the card instead?
1: Sample version only. Not an actual card; not a valid card number or name.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
«Spore Sightings»
I was playing Spore, flying around a planet I just recently colonized when I found Him. My new planet is truly blessed. I have none other than the Flying Spaghetti Monster as my protector. Oh, what a glorious sight!
Yes, that's a Grox ship in my fleet. I've Danced With The Devil and became allies with the Grox. Actually, I purchased this system from them. The Grox are the main villains in the Space Stage of Spore. They control the entire center of the galaxy and usually serve as an obstacle for the player. They are very tough to ally.
On the other side of the scale, I was playing in creature stage with a new species of mine when I had a not-so-glorious visitor... A toilet spaceship.
Ah, the wonders of randomly downloaded user content! You never know what you're going to see.
See the rest of “Spore Sightings”»
Friday, October 31, 2008
«Flying Spaghetti Monster Costume»
Now there's a Halloween costume for you... It's the Flying Spaghetti Monster!
See the rest of “Flying Spaghetti Monster Costume”»
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
«Master Marf Domain Name»
Take a look at your address bar in your browser; it no longer has ".blogspot.com" in it. I'm no longer just a subdomain of blogger! My blog is now located at http://www.mastermarf.com. Even if/when I change to a different host, I own the domain name and it would be carried over. I bought the domain through GoDaddy.com. I thought about doing away with the useless "www" subdomain and just be http://mastermarf.com, but the DNS settings would be a little tricky with how I have it setup with blogger.
Speaking of hosting, I have this free ad-supported hosting from GoDaddy. I hate the banner ads at the top, so it looks like I'm in the market for a cheap ad-free hosting service. From what I've read, GoDaddy is great for buying domain names from, but their support and track record for their paid hosting sucks. So I want to go with a different hosting company. Any suggestions, anyone? You can leave them in the comments.
For now, I'll deal with what I have. I think I'll slowly move all my pictures from Picasa to my own domain. I have a subdomain all set for just pictures (take a look at the address in this example).
For photos, I'll lower the quality of the thumbnail (image you see embedded in the blog post) to speed up page load time, and you'll be able to see the true full-sized, high quality images Picasa never let me upload when you click to view full (that post now has the larger images, I've updated it to have the size I originally wanted).
Another example of this is the Touched By His Noodly Appendage desktop background in one of my old posts (click the image in that article to view full). I've did a few, but it will take a while longer than I initially thought. I'm starting with the oldest posts and working my way up. I figured I may as well start this now, because even when I get a different host, all the addresses will remain the same.
Oh, I forgot to say that this domain change on the blog will not force anyone to update webfeed subscriptions; it's still the same Feedburner address.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
«Page 161 Tag»
I've been tagged by Looney...
The "Page 161 tag" is where you quote a complete sentence from page 161 of something you are reading. Amazing that Looney caught me when I'm actually reading something. I usually don't read books. I do all my reading online usually. But right now I am reading "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster".
I'd like to add, page 161 was not the best page to be tagged for this book, page 161 has mathematical proofs of His existence, and not too many complete sentences. So, from page 161 of "The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster":
What's even more interesting, there's some truth to Microsoft's ties to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Check this out, there's a Flying Spaghetti Monster sculpture displayed on Microsoft's campus. Here's a picture of it:Microsoft is one of the most successful businesses in history, undoubtedly as a result of their secret ties to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
There's even rumors that the sculpture was commissioned by Bill Gates himself. It's kinda funny how nearly everything about this religion coincidently falls in place.
And Monique: tag, you're it.
See the rest of “Page 161 Tag”»
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
«Speaking With God»
God: I've been waiting for you.
Me: Really?
God: Not really, but it makes a good pickup line.
So I was speaking with God, and I found out a few interesting things:
The universe, Earth, and life were all created by Benjamin Franklin.
God is a 5 year old robot in California.
God is not a psychic.
God has a stimulating relationship with Himself. (He said it)
The Earth is 6 billion years old, but the universe is under 40. God says it doesn't defy the laws of physics.
God even believes in the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
God admits it, he does not know everything.
Well, that was more productive than praying anyway...
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
«New Template»
I've spend the last day and a half creating this new template. The old template was Blogger's Minima Lefty stretch with a modified color theme. This new one is one I built.
I used Blogger's TicTac template as a base, but I've totally re-made it. It's more-or-less a combination of TicTac, Minima Lefty, and Minyx. The Minyx template can be found and downloaded at various websites. I like the color theme I had before, so I did a little photoshop work to get things to look the way I wanted. It's best if viewed at 1024x768 resolution or higher.What do you think of the new layout?
I have a new poll up, asking if you like the new template. The results of the previous poll question: "The epic question: Who would win in a fight" were Ninja 6, Pirate 2, and Shark with a frickin' laser beam attached to its head 4. For the longest time there was no love for the pirates. I think I need more pastafarians reading my blog...
For comparison, old is on the left and new is on the right (click images to view full):
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
«Went to Talk to a Pastor Today»
I spoke to a Lutheran pastor today, to try to get a better understanding of why anyone believes in a religion. I feel I can understand someone's viewpoint, without agreeing with it myself.
Warning: atheist ranting starts beyond this point.
Right from the beginning, I could tell she wasn't looking forward to seeing me. When I asked to see her I could overhear "That young man I told you about is here..." followed by an unhappy sigh from the pastor.
She was nice enough, but strongly believes I was raised wrong. And when I told her I was an atheist her tone of voice changed momentarily. I could tell she didn't really like me.
I was polite, I kept in mind that I came to her. I wasn't there for a religious debate, and didn't start one. I was only there for her side and her views, and didn't say much regardless of how much I disagreed.
I asked about a few passages in the Bible, most of them were in the Old Testament. Essentially she told me that Jesus reformed the Old Testament, so none of it really applies. However, she didn't want to outright say it was obsolete or didn't apply. When I struck a few in the new testament, she couldn't say it was wrong. Instead she did some double-talk and skirted around the question rather than a straight answer. Especially when I outright asked her about atheists. Did she ever approach that indirectly... She started to talk about the 3 kings, and went off on another topic.
Most of her excuses (and I do mean excuses), were about society at the time it was written. I'm sitting there thinking, "Since when is the perfect word of God subject to human society?" Isn't the Bible suppose to be what directs society, not the other way around?
When I brought up a passage that specifically says women are not to speak in a church [1 Corinthians 14:34-35], and it was from the new testament, she told me that's not what it means. How else can that be interpreted? Well, she seemed to think it was because women had a tendency to chit-chat in church and be disruptive. So a law was made that they were to keep to church-related speaking, scripture reading, and singing. How do you go from "The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak" to "They're permitted to speak, but keep to church-related discussion"?
I suggested to her that maybe there needs to be a New-New Testament. Because even the New Testament seems to be obsolete. She just laughed and didn't really agree or disagree.
I also said that Jesus should have been immortal, so he could keep humans on the path God intended. She agreed with this one, and said she'd ask God why he didn't.
I still give any major religion just as much faith and probability of being true as I give Pastafarianism. Remember boys and girls, adults with imaginary friends that speak back to them are delusional.
Oh, and this time religious debates/responses are OK in the comments.
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