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The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a deity of a parody religion founded by Bobby Henderson in 2005 to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design creationism as an alternative to biological evolution. In an open letter on his website, Henderson professes belief in a supernatural Creator entity that resembles spaghetti and meatballs called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and calls for Pastafarianism to be taught in science classrooms, essentially invoking a reductio ad absurdum argument against the teaching of Intelligent Design.
The followers of The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) call themselves Pastafarians, a play on Rastafarians.
Beliefs
Many of the beliefs proposed by Henderson were intentionally chosen to parody arguments commonly set forth by proponents of Intelligent Design. These are the canonical beliefs set forth by Henderson:
- An invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe, starting with a mountain, trees and a midgit [sic].
- All evidence pointing toward evolution was intentionally planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The FSM tests Pastafarians' faith by making things look older than they really are. "For example, a scientist may perform a carbon-dating process on an artifact. He finds that approximately 75% of the Carbon-14 has decayed by electron emission to Nitrogen-14, and infers that this artifact is approximately 10,000 years old, as the half-life of Carbon-14 appears to be 5,730 years. But what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage. We have numerous texts that describe in detail how this can be possible and the reasons why He does this. He is of course invisible and can pass through normal matter with ease."
- "Ramen" is the official conclusion to prayers, certain sections of the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, etc., and is a combination of the Hebrew term "Amen" (as used in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) and Ramen, a type of noodles. 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 all misinformation spread by Christian theologians of the Middle Ages. In reality, Pastafarianism says that they were "peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will" who would distribute candy to children.
The inclusion of pirates into Flying Spaghetti Monsterism was part of Henderson's original letter to the Kansas School Board, as a way of illustrating that correlation does not equal causation. In it, Henderson puts 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, bringing attention to the fact that things with statistically significant correlations are nevertheless not necessarily related.
Henderson has stated that all proceeds from The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster sales will go towards the purchase of a pirate ship . "The plan, for some time now, has been to form a non-profit organization, and then purchase a pirate ship, for missionary work - tax free." . Claimed as a task given to him directly by the FSM , Henderson contends that such a ship would help spread Pastafarianism to those without Internet access, as well as contributing to a decrease of global warming .
The Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts"
The Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts" are the Pastafarian equivalent of the Ten Commandments. They originate from the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. According to Pastafarianism, they were given to Pirate Mosey, the FSM equivalent of Moses, by the Flying Spaghetti Monster himself. There were originally ten, but two were dropped "on the way down the mountain". The lack of the two last I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts supposedly partly accounts for Pastafarians' self-proclaimed flimsy moral standards.
History and developments
The site was featured on Sensible Erection on June 17, 2005. References on blogs and Internet humor sites such as Boing Boing, Something Awful and Fark.com, and the mainstream media soon followed.
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, or worshipped in, Pastafarianism. The challenge is modeled after a similar challenge issued by 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) that has been criticized by scientists as being logically flawed in design. There has also been a recent movement by Pastafarians in Australia to use the Census in Australia of 2006 to raise public awareness of Pastafarianism in a campaign similar to the Jedi census phenomenon, by asking Australians to record their religion as "Pastafarian" in the August 2006 Australian Census.
The band New York Dolls has added the FSM to their Music Video "Dance like a Monkey".
The Gospel
In December 2005, Bobby Henderson received a reported USD $80,000 advance to pen The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. According to the author, 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 0812976568).
The Myspace Worm
In July 2006 a flash worm appeared on www.myspace.com that replaced a user's "books" section to a link to the Gospel's website. A large, black banner promoting Pastafarianism also consumed the top portion of any affected Myspace. An estimated 40,000-100,000 users were affected.
See also
- Creation and evolution in public education
- Creation-evolution controversy
- Frisbeetarianism
- Intelligent Design
- Invisible Pink Unicorn
- Russell's teapot
- Intelligent falling
- Last Thursdayism
- Open source religion
- Parody religion
- Parody science
- Project Steve
- Church of the SubGenius
References and notes
Footnotes
- "Verbatim: Noodle This, Kansas". Washington Post. August 28, 2005.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Thierman, Jessica (September 18, 2005). "Touched by His Noodly Appendage". Gelf Magazine.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) Cite error: The named reference "gelf" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ Henderson, Bobby (2005). "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" (HTML). Retrieved 2006-06-11.
- "Intelligent Design and Pirate Global Warming". Sensible Erection. 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - "The Flying Spaghetti Monster". New Scientist. August 6, 2005.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Rothschild, Scott (August 24, 2005). "Evolution debate creates monster". Lawrence Journal-World.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Boxer, Sarah (August 29, 2005). "But Is There Intelligent Spaghetti Out There?". New York Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - "Flying Spaghetti Monster - The Game". Venganza.org. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
- "Boing Boing's $250,000 Intelligent Design challenge". BoingBoing.net. 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - "CA:341: Hovanid's Challenge". Index to Creationist Claims. TalkOrigins.org. Retrieved 2006-06-11.
- "FSM - You know it makes Census". noodlynation.blogspot. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-27.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Craig, Katleen (December 22, 2005). "Passion of the Spaghetti Monster". Wired News.
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General references
- Henderson, Bobby (2006). The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Villard Books. ISBN 0-81-297656-8.
Other media coverage
- 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.
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External links
- Originating Website, including Henderson's open letter sent to the Kansas Board of Education
- Official website's hate mail archive
- SPAM, an FSM-inspired "schism" site
- Uncyclopedia - Flying Spaghetti Monster More information about the paradoxically true and false nature of the flying spaghetti monster.
- Glutenheim.org - The world's first museum dedicated to the art of pasta, pirates, and the deities that inspire them.
- alt.religion.pastafarianism - Usenet Newsgroup discussing FSM
- Henderson news article
- Purported video of FSM as seen in Hamburg, Germany
- Sampling of Evidence in Support of the FSM - from the Science Creative Quarterly
- Australian Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster