"Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?"
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, also know as Pastafarianism, is a tongue in cheek religion supposedly founded by beer-loving pirates. The "FSM," this alternative religion's lone deity, can be found on bumper stickers and humorous websites across the country. Read on to learn the fundamentals of America's most carbohydrate-laden religion.
Origins of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was founded in May 2005 when its founder, Bobby Henderson, disseminated an open letter to the Kansas State Department of Education regarding a hearing they held about whether or not to teach the theory of Intelligent Design alongside the theory of Evolution in Kansas public schools. The stated purpose of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is to not impose religious dogma on its followers. Every follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is free from mandatory rituals, prayers, and other religious ceremonies. Instead, every adherent is encouraged to form their interpretation of the FSM to their own purposes.
The first Pastafarians, according to Henderson, were pirates who were wrongly bedeviled by Christians for their alternative religious beliefs. Because of the CotFSM's piratical heritage, today's Pastafarians closely affiliate themselves with pirate culture. Perhaps the most noticeable manifestation of this is the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's outright support of beer consumption.
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's Beliefs
According to the tenets of Pastafarianism, the belief system underlying the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Spaghetti Monster created today's world though it is still unknown as to why the Flying Spaghetti Monster has made it appear that the earth is actually billions of years old and not thousands of years old. Pastafarianism also cannot explain why life is behaves according to Darwin's evolutionary theory instead of along the lines of the theory of Intelligent Design which conventional religions embrace.
While the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster does not enforce a set of religious beliefs, orthodox pastafarianism considers Fridays are considered by to be a religious holiday.
Regardless of Henderson insistence that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is not a joke, the Church of the FSM is mostly a tongue-in-cheek religion that has struck a cord, generally a humor cord, with many. The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which lays out the fundamental beliefs of Pastafarianism and the church itself, can be considered an elaborate satire on Intelligent Design. The Gospel was nominated for a Quill award in the humor category in 2006.
