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Pastafarianism: A Satirical Religious Movement On The Rise
https://www.theodysseyonline.com/pastafarianism-satirical-religious-movement-on-the-rise
"It’s all this nonsense, but they do it as though they are just another intelligent design story, against evolution. And that’s what makes it so funny."
Pastafarianism: A Satirical Religious Movement On The Rise
Pastafarianism, or The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is a religious movement that has been increasingly exposed to mainstream media in the last few years. Developed originally by Bobby Henderson, a Physics graduate from Ohio State University, in 2005, this movement has been considered a "mockery of religion.”
After the Kansas Board of Education considered implementing both evolutionism and creationism into their science curriculum, they were met with an alarming amount of opposition, including a letter from Henderson who discussed a satirical notion that the Earth is created by a spaghetti and meatball deity known as the Flying Spaghetti Monster. He stated that because faith enables Pastafarians to believe in "His Noodly Goodness" and that the beliefs are scientifically valid, this interpretation of creationism deserves to be taught in Kansas public schools as well.
This letter received an extremely positive response from the public and even went viral, which then led Henderson to write his Gospel. According to the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster:"The Spaghetti Monster thought about making things. On the first day, He separated the water from the heavens. However, the Flying Spaghetti Monster soon became tired of flying and treading waters, so on the second day, He created land. He made patches of land that divided the waters, and from it sprung beer volcanoes. He spent the next three days creating the Heaven, the stripper factory in heaven, the Earth, the midget called man, and the rest of the universe- for it was so large- the He got so tired and made Friday a holiday."
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster
The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism. Pastafarianism (a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarianism) is a social movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools. According to adherents, Pastafarianism is a "real, legitimate religion, as much as any other". It is legally recognized as a religion in the Netherlands and New Zealand – where Pastafarian representatives are authorized to officiate weddings. However, in the United States, a federal judge has ruled that the "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" is not a real religion.
The "Flying Spaghetti Monster" was first described in a satirical open letter written by Bobby Henderson in 2005 to protest the Kansas State Board of Education decision to permit teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public school science classes. In the letter, Henderson demanded equal time in science classrooms for "Flying Spaghetti Monsterism", alongside intelligent design and evolution. After Henderson published the letter on his website, the Flying Spaghetti Monster rapidly became an Internet phenomenon and a symbol of opposition to the teaching of intelligent design in public schools.
Pastafarian tenets (generally satires of creationism) are presented both on Henderson's Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster website, where he is described as "prophet", and in The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, written by Henderson in 2006. The central belief is that an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. Pirates are revered as the original Pastafarians. Henderson asserts that a decline in the number of pirates over the years is the cause of global warming. The FSM community congregates at Henderson's website to share ideas about the Flying Spaghetti Monster and crafts representing images of it.
Because of its popularity and exposure, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is often used as a contemporary version of Russell's teapot—an argument that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon those who make unfalsifiable claims, not on those who reject them. Pastafarianism has received praise from the scientific community and criticism from proponents of intelligent design. Pastafarians have engaged in disputes with creationists, including in Polk County, Florida, where they played a role in dissuading the local school board from adopting new rules on teaching evolution.
