Flying Spaghetti Monster in the Sky

And now for something completely different as the narrator used to say on Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

I read a lot of comments on the Cif (comment is free) Belief section of the British Newspaper online – Guardian UK. The most successful writer there would appear to be Andrew Brown, editor of Cif Belief. His interests are all over the religious universe but a lot of times it is basically religion touching the realms of science and evolution.

Well anyway, the comments are sometimes more enlightening to me that the article itself. But there was a phrase I kept hearing between the writer and some of the regular commenters and that was “Flying Spaghetti Monster”.

I am no dummy but these days I get tired of looking up all these texting abbreviations – IMHO – etc., so I just assumed or even imagined that FSM was a character on Sesame Street or the like. Fool is me.

I am behind on the curve on this one folks? You already had heard of this new deity and religion? Perhaps the Minister of Silly Walks told you before me.

But lo and behold, Flying Spaghetti Monster is a real deity and the basis of a new religion that challenges Creative Design for equal time in American redneck States' education curriculum.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the parody religion the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism. Created in 2005 by Bobby Henderson, it was originally intended as a satirical protest against the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public schools.

In an open letter sent to the Kansas State Board of Education, Henderson parodied the concept of intelligent design by professing belief in a supernatural creator which closely resembles spaghetti and meatballs. Henderson further called for his "Pastafarian" theory of creation to be allotted equal time in science classrooms alongside intelligent design and evolution. He explained that since the intelligent design movement uses ambiguous references to an unspecified "Intelligent Designer", any conceivable entity may fulfill that role, even a Flying Spaghetti Monster.

After Henderson published the letter on his website, it rapidly became an internet phenomenon and a symbol for the case against intelligent design in public schools.

Whatever. Join up if you wish. These days everybody’s got their own religion or obsesssion with pasta and ramen noodles. In all fairness, I did start this out on a quote from Monty Python etc.