The Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster- Not A Real Religion?
On July 13, 2011, Niko Alm made a lot of buzz after his three-year battle for his right to religious freedom was granted. The Austrian is donning a pasta strainer on his head, considered as a religious headgear, in his driver's license mug shot. Alm belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was founded by Bobby Henderson in 2005. In the said year, Henderson expressed in a letter to the Kansas State Board of Education that intelligent design be permitted as an option to evolution. In his letter, he conceptualized a satirical supreme being, the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) in conjunction to the theory of intelligent design that opposes the belief of natural selection. Intelligent design believes that a preexisting intelligence creates certain features of living things and the universe, and not by natural selection. This view is elicited by inferring from observational evidences found in nature. Henderson conveyed that the subject be incorporated in science classes for public schools. When he got no response from the regulating body, Henderson posted the letter in this website. It immediately took off and became an instant internet sensation.
The followers of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are aptly called Pastafarians. They believe that an intangible and invisible omnipotent being, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, created the universe. They say that the Flying Spaghetti Monster was intoxicated in the course of the creation, explaining the flaws of the Earth.
The satirical religion revered Pirates, the first Pastafarians, as prophets. According to their belief, pirates are really peace-loving Pastafarians, and it is the misinformation spread by Christians that tarnished the buccaneer’s image with the criminal and outcast association it has today. They link global warming and the emergence of calamities with the decline in the number of pirates in the world. The unexplained phenomenon of lost planes and vessels along the Bermuda Triangle is due to the acts of ghost pirates.
The believers of FSM conceptualize heaven as a place of joy and merry-making with the inclusion of a stripper bar and a beer volcano, while hell is roughly the same except that it has sexually-transmitted-disease-inflicted steppers and stale beers.
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn’t impose certain dogmas to its followers, as their primary guideline in the first place is the rejection of any dogma. With thus, they celebrate their holidays, which they call Holiday, in any way they please. Fridays are considered a religious Holiday. Their holidays are not confined to a specific date and there's no requirement on how to celebrate if.
Anyone can join Rastafarianism. Even those who belong to other religious affiliations are welcome. Majority of the current population of the parodist religion are agnostics, freethinkers, and atheists.
Rastafarianism rejects formalism. There are no rules, regulations, and doctrines except for the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster authored by Henderson, and the Loose Canon.
On February 13, 2007, the Kansas State Board of Education voted 6-4 in favor of allowing the integration of intelligent design in the state's teaching standard.
Pastafarianism gives affiliation to those who feel that the teachings of mainstream religions are disputable. The parodist religion accepts new members without indoctrinating them. Although it has numerous critical responses including that from the intelligent design community, the increasing number of followers is proof enough that Pastarianism is here to stay.
