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The Flying Spaghetti Monster (also known as the Spaghedeity) is the deity of a parody religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its system of beliefs, "Pastafarianism". The religion was founded in 2005 by Oregon State University physics graduate Bobby Henderson to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution.

In an open letter sent to the education board, Henderson professes belief in a supernatural creator called the Flying Spaghetti Monster which resembles spaghetti and meatballs. He furthermore calls for the "Pastafarian" theory of creation to be taught in science classrooms.

Due to its recent popularity and media exposure, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is used by atheists, agnostics (known by Pastafarians as "spagnostics"), and others as a modern version of Russell's teapot.

History and developments

The first public exposure of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (CoFSM) and its eponymous deity can be dated to January 2005, when Bobby Henderson sent an open letter regarding the FSM to the Kansas Board of Education. The letter was sent prior to the Kansas evolution hearings as an argument against the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes. Henderson stated that both his theory and intelligent design had equal validity; saying

"I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence."

Henderson explained, "I don't have a problem with religion. What I have a problem with is religion posing as science. If there is a god and he's intelligent, then I would guess he has a sense of humor."

The Board only responded after Henderson posted the letter on his website, gaining significant public interest. Henderson subsequently published the responses he received from board members. On February 13, 2007, the Board voted 6 to 4 to reject the amended science standards enacted in 2005.

As word of Henderson's challenge to the board spread, the website and Henderson's cause gathered more attention and support. The satiric nature of Henderson's argument made the Flying Spaghetti Monster popular with bloggers as well as humor and internet culture websites. The site was featured on websites such as Boing Boing, Something Awful, Uncyclopedia and Fark.com. The mainstream media quickly picked up on the phenomenon as the Flying Spaghetti Monster became a symbol for the case against intelligent design theory in public education. Henderson himself is surprised by its success, stating that he "wrote the letter for own amusement as much as anything."

In August 2005, in response to a challenge from a reader, BoingBoing.net announced a $250,000 challenge, later raised to $1,000,000, of "Intelligently Designed currency" by other bloggers, payable to any individual who could produce empirical evidence proving that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, though Jesus is not a part of Pastafarianism. The challenge is modelled after a similar challenge issued by young-Earth creationist Kent Hovind (an award of $250,000 to anyone who can prove evolution "is the only possible way" that the Universe and life arose).

In November 2007, three talks involving the Flying Spaghetti Monster are scheduled to be delivered at the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting in San Diego. The talks include titles such as, "Holy Pasta and Authentic Sauce: The Flying Spaghetti Monster's Messy Implications for Theorizing Religion". Academics say while its inclusion in the program may get laughs it is a serious debate on the essence of religion exploring questions such as "does religion require a genuine theological belief or simply a set of rituals and a community joining together as a way of signaling their cultural alliances to others?" or in short, "is an anti-religion like Flying Spaghetti Monsterism actually a religion?"

In December 2007, the Flying Spaghetti Monster again made an appearance when Polk County, Florida considered teaching of intelligent design.

Beliefs

Henderson proposed many of the beliefs in reaction to common arguments by proponents of intelligent design.

The canonical beliefs of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism are set forth by Henderson in the Open Letter, the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and on Henderson's web site, where he is described as a prophet.

The central belief is that there is an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster, which created the entire universe "after drinking heavily." All evidence for evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, in an effort to test Pastafarians' faith; a form of the Omphalos hypothesis. When scientific measurements, such as radiocarbon dating, are made, the Flying Spaghetti Monster "is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage."

The Pastafarian belief of heaven stresses that it contains beer volcanoes and a stripper factory. Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale, and the strippers have VD.

The religious text of the Pastafarian religion is called the Loose Canon. In place of the Ten Commandments, it contains the Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts.

The official conclusion to prayers is "RAmen", contained in certain sections of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and so on. It is a portmanteau of the Semitic term "Amen" (used in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and Ramen, a noodle. While it is typically spelled with both a capital "R" and "A", it is also acceptable to spell it with only a capital R.

Pirates and global warming

According to the Pastafarian belief system, pirates are "absolute divine beings" and the original Pastafarians. Their image as "thieves and outcasts" is misinformation spread by Christian theologians in the Middle Ages and Hare Krishnas. Pastafarianism says that they were in fact "peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will" who distributed candy to small children, and adds that modern pirates are in no way similar to "the fun-loving buccaneers from history." Pastafarians celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day on the September 19.

The inclusion of pirates in Pastafarianism was part of Henderson's original letter to the Kansas School Board. It illustrated that Correlation does not imply causation. Henderson put forth the argument that "global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of pirates since the 1800s." A chart accompanying the letter shows that as the number of pirates decreased, global temperatures increased; the absurdity of this demonstrates how statistically significant correlations do not imply a causal relationship (see confounding).

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

In December 2005, Bobby Henderson received a reported USD $80,000 advance to pen The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Henderson said he plans to use the proceeds from the sale of the book to build a pirate ship, with which he may travel the world in order to convert heathens to the Pastafarian religion. The book was released on March 28, 2006 (ISBN 0-8129-7656-8).

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the Pastafarian equivalent of the Bible. It parodies biblical figures with characters such as Captain Mosey, a pirate and the FSM equivalent of Moses. The Gospel contains the aforementioned Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts." It also provides information on how to convert non-"Pastafarians" and explains many of the religion's beliefs (for example, that lack of pirates causes global warming).

The Flying Spaghetti Monster in the news and popular culture

This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles.

• In August, 2005, the Swedish concept designer Niklas Jansson created, "pretty much free to use for press and such as far as I'm concerned", a subverted adaptation of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam (superimposing the Flying Spaghetti Monster over God) which became and remains today the FSM's de facto brand image.
• The band New York Dolls added the FSM to their music video "Dance like a Monkey".
• A section of the open letter to the Kansas School Board appeared in the January 2006 edition of Playboy.
• The popular sprite comic Bob and George featured the Flying Spaghetti Monster during a brief series of gags explaining why there were no new comics in the current storyline. The comic also refers to the Invisible Pink Unicorn.
• Ctrl+Alt+Del is another webcomic where the Flying Spaghetti Monster is referred to as a savior for one of the protagonist's problems.
• Bryan Killian, a high school student in Buncombe County in North Carolina, was suspended for wearing "pirate regalia", which he said was part of his faith. Killian protested the suspension, saying it violated his right to religious freedom.
• The Flying Spaghetti Monster has been used by Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion, to demonstrate ideas from that book. It has also been featured in several other media outlets, including The Colbert Report, The IT Crowd and Science Friday. Dawkins' animated counterpart in the South Park episode "Go God Go" referred to the Monster in an argument against religion.
• The Hunger Artists Theatre Company produced a comedy called The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant in December of 2006, detailing the history of Pastafarianism. The production has spawned a sequel, to be performed in December of 2008.
• The Flying Spaghetti Monster was featured in the Dec/Jan issue of the science magazine Seed in a section dedicated to the year in review 2005.
• Pastafarianism was featured in a November 2007 issue of the science magazine New Scientist.
• On August 3, 2007 in the Netherlands, a demonstration was set up by Pastafarians to protest against the Evangelische Omroep (EO), a public broadcaster with a strong evangelical background, after the EO edited a BBC documentary to remove parts about evolution.

See also

• Creation-evolution controversy
• Criticism of Religion
• Church of the SubGenius
• Discordianism
• Invisible Pink Unicorn
• Last Thursdayism
• Open source religion
• Religion and the Internet
• Russell's teapot
• Sentient puddle
• International Talk Like a Pirate Day

References

1. ^ "But Is There Intelligent Spaghetti Out There?". New York Times Arts article. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
2. ^ "'Spaghetti Monster' is noodling around with faith". USA Today Science & Space article. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
3. "The dangers of creationism in education". Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly. Retrieved 2007-10-22. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
4. ^ Henderson, Bobby (2005). "Open Letter To Kansas School Board" (HTML). Retrieved 2007-01-09.
5. "Verbatim: Noodle This, Kansas". Washington Post. August 28, 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. Wolf, Gary (November 14, 2006). "The Church of the Non-Believers". Wired News. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
7. "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster". James Randi Educational Foundation article September 16 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-05.
8. "Discussion of the Open Letter". Henderson, Bobby. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
9. "Kansas School Board Responses to the Open Letter". Henderson, Bobby. 2005. Retrieved 2006-01-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
10. "A Tangled Tale of a Pasta-based Prophet". Der Spiegel. 2005-08-24. Retrieved 2007-09-08. has certainly caught the imagination of the online community Henderson receives over 150 emails from supporters every day. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
11. "The Flying Spaghetti Monster". New Scientist. August 6, 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. Rothschild, Scott (August 24, 2005). "Evolution debate creates monster". Lawrence Journal-World. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
13. Boxer, Sarah (August 29, 2005). "But Is There Intelligent Spaghetti Out There?". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
14. "Boing Boing's $250,000 Intelligent Design challenge". BoingBoing.net. 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-11. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
15. "Religious scholars mull Flying Spaghetti Monster". AP. 2007-11-16. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
16. Pasta Monster Gets Academic Attention AP November 17 2007
17. John Chambliss (2007-12-11). "Satirical Monsters More Competition for Darwin". The Ledger. Retrieved 2007-12-13.
18. Thierman, Jessica (September 18 2005). "Touched by his Noodly Appendage". Gelf Magazine. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
19. Henderson, Bobby (2005). "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" (HTML). Retrieved 2006-06-11.
20. DuBay, Tim (2005). "Guide to Pastafarianism" (Shockwave Flash). Retrieved 2006-08-26.
21. The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, p.83
22. Craig, Katleen (December 22, 2005). "Passion of the Spaghetti Monster". Wired News. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/
24. "New York Dolls—Dance Like a Monkey".
25. "Bob and George Comic from April 3, 2006".
26. "CTRL ALT DEL Well technically... from August 27, 2005".
27. "Citizen Times article on Bryan Killian's suspension".
28. "Richard Dawkins / Salmon Farming". Science Friday. NPR. October 6, 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
29. "The Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant". Hunger Artists Theatre Company. 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
30. "Hunger Artists Theatre Company's 2008 Season". Hunger Artists Theatre Company. 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
31. "Year in Science". Seed. 2005-12-27. Retrieved 2007-08-10. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
32. "Bekeren kan je leren" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. 2007-08-03. Retrieved 2007-08-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Originating Website, including Henderson's open letter sent to the Kansas Board of Education
• Flying Spaghetti Monster Flying Spaghetti Monster entry at the Uncyclopedia
• Henderson news article
• Sampling of Evidence in Support of the FSM—from the Science Creative Quarterly
• The Creators of International Talk Like A Pirate Day give their support to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, HoboTrashcan.com interview

News articles

• Henderson, Bobby (2006). The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Villard Books. ISBN 0-8129-7656-8.
• Schofield, Jack (August 20, 2005). ""Intelligent Design" and Pastafarianism". Guardian Unlimited. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Evolution Debate Spawns a Saucy Monster". Wichita Eagle. August 28, 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "In the beginning there was the Flying Spaghetti Monster". Daily Telegraph. September 11, 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• "Flying Spaghetti Monster gains following". Associated Press. September 24, 2005. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Wolff, Eric (November 16, 2005). "The $80,000 Pasta Bible Jackpot for unemployed slot-machine engineer and heretic". New York Magazine. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

• Fictional deities
• Intelligent design parodies
• Internet memes
• Joke religions
• Parodies
• Arguments against the existence of God