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
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. He further called for his "Pastafarian" theory of creation
to be allotted equal time in science classrooms alongside
intelligent design and evolution.
After Henderson published the letter on his website, it rapidly
became an internet phenomenon and a symbol for opponents against
teaching intelligent design in public schools. His website features
pictures of crafts "devoted" to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and
Pastafarians dressed as pirates "preaching" on the sidewalk.
Pastafarian beliefs—such as reverence of pirates—are presented both
on Henderson's website, where he is described as a "prophet," and
in the
Gospel
of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, published by Villiard
Press in 2006. Due to its popularity and exposure, the Flying
Spaghetti Monster is often used as a modern version of
Russell's teapot.
Origins
The Church
of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was first publicly exposed in
January 2005 when Bobby Henderson, then a 25-year-old Oregon State
University
physics graduate, sent an open letter regarding the
Flying Spaghetti Monster to the Kansas State 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, describing himself as a "concerned citizen" representing
ten million others, stated that both his theory and intelligent
design had equal validity. In his letter, he noted,
According to Henderson, since the intelligent design movement uses
ambiguous references to a designer, any conceivable entity may
fulfill that role, including a Flying Spaghetti Monster. 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."
In May, having received no reply from the Kansas State Board of
Education, Henderson posted the letter on his website, gaining
significant public interest. Within days of posting the letter,
Pastafarianism became an internet phenomenon. Henderson published
the responses he then received from Board members. Three board
members, all of whom opposed the curriculum amendments, responded
positively; a fourth board member responded with the comment "It is
a serious offense to mock God." Henderson has also published the
significant amount of hate mail, including death threats, that he
has received. In one year, his site garnered more than 350 million
hits and used about 700 gigabytes of bandwidth per month.
As word of Henderson's challenge to the Board spread, his website
and cause received 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 Flying Spaghetti Monster was featured on
websites such as
Boing Boing,
Something Awful,
Uncyclopedia, and
Fark.com. Moreover, the International Society for
Flying Spaghetti Monster Awareness emerged to "spread the word of
The Flying Spaghetti Monster and his prophet, Bobby Henderson
(pesto be upon him)." As public awareness grew, the mainstream
media picked up on the phenomenon. The Flying Spaghetti Monster
became a symbol for the case against intelligent design in public
education. The open letter was printed in many large newspapers,
including the
New York
Times,
Washington
Post, and
Chicago Sun
Times. Henderson himself was surprised by its success,
stating that he "wrote the letter for [his] own amusement as much
as anything."
Later developments
In August 2005, in response to a challenge from a reader,
BoingBoing.net announced a $250,000 prize—later
raised to $1,000,000—of "Intelligently Designed currency" payable
to any individual who could produce
empirical evidence proving that
Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
It was modeled after a similar challenge issued by
young-Earth creationist Kent Hovind, who promised $250,000 to anyone who
can prove evolution "is the only possible way" that the Universe
and life arose. The challenge sparked further interest and
popularity in the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Newspaper articles on the Flying Spaghetti Monster attracted the
attention of book publishers; at one point, there were six
publishers interested in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. In November
2005, Henderson received an advance from
Villard to write
The Gospel of The
Flying Spaghetti Monster with the subheading "Jackpot for
unemployed slot-machine engineer and heretic."
In November 2005, the Kansas State Board of Education voted to
allow criticisms of evolution, including language about intelligent
design, as part of testing standards. On February 13, 2007, the
Board voted 6 to 4 to reject the amended science standards enacted
in 2005. This was the fifth time in eight years that the Board had
rewritten the standards on evolution.
Beliefs
Pastafarianism exists at two levels. The first is a genuine belief
that intelligent design is harmful to science and society. The
second is a collection of faux-religious convictions, such as the
existence of a
heaven with a beer factory.
These two levels are the ends and the means of Pastafarianism,
respectively. Henderson proposed many Pastafarian tenets—the
means—in reaction to common arguments by proponents of
intelligent design. These "
canonical beliefs" are presented by Henderson in
his letter to the Kansas State Board of Education,
the Gospel
of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and on Henderson's web site,
where he is described as a prophet. They tend to satirize
creationism.
The central belief is that an invisible and undetectable Flying
Spaghetti Monster created the
universe
"after drinking heavily." According to these beliefs, the Monster's
intoxication was the cause for a flawed
Earth.
Furthermore, according to Pastafarianism, all "evidence" for
evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster in an effort
to test Pastafarians' faith. This belief is similar in manner to
that of the
Omphalos hypothesis.
When scientific measurements such as
radiocarbon dating are taken, the Flying
Spaghetti Monster "is there changing the results with His Noodly
Appendage." The Pastafarian belief of
Heaven
contains a
beer volcano and a
stripper factory. The Pastafarian
Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale and the
strippers have
sexually transmitted
diseases.
Pastafarians' beliefs extend into religious ceremony. Pastafarians
celebrate every Friday as a holy day. Prayers are concluded with a
final declaration of affirmation, "R'amen;" the term is a parodic
portmanteau of the
Semitic term "
Amen" and the
Japanese noodle dish,
ramen.
Pirates and global warming
A chart, included in the open letter,
illustrating the relationship between pirates and global
temperature.
According to Pastafarian beliefs,
pirates
are "absolute divine beings" and the original Pastafarians.
Furthermore, Pastafarians believe that pirates' image as "thieves
and outcasts" is misinformation spread by Christian theologians in
the
Middle Ages and by
Hare
Krishnas. Pastafarians, instead, believe that they were
"peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will" who distributed
candy to small children, adding that modern
pirates are in no way similar to "the fun-loving buccaneers from
history."
In addition, Pastafarians believe that ghost
pirates are to be responsible for all of the mysterious lost ships
and planes of the Bermuda Triangle
. Pastafarians celebrate
International Talk Like a
Pirate Day on September 19.
The inclusion of
pirates in Pastafarianism
was part of Henderson's original letter to the Kansas State Board
of Education, in an effort to illustrate that
correlation does not imply
causation. Henderson presented 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 (with numbers humorously disordered on the
x-axis)
shows that as the number of pirates decreased, global temperatures
increased. This parodies the suggestion from some religious groups
that the high numbers of disasters, famines and wars in the world
is due to the lack of respect and worship towards their
deity.
In 2008, Henderson interpreted the growing
pirate activities at the Gulf of Aden
as additional support, pointing out that Somalia
has "the
highest number of Pirates AND the lowest Carbon emissions of any
country."
Holiday
Around the time of
Christmas,
Hanukkah, and
Kwanzaa,
Pastafarians celebrate a vaguely-defined
holiday named "Holiday." Holiday does not
take place on "a specific date so much as it is the Holiday season,
itself." Because Pastafarians "reject dogma and formalism," there
are no specific requirements for Holiday. Pastafarians are
instructed to celebrate Holiday however they please.
Pastafarians interpret the increasing usage of "Happy Holidays,"
rather than more traditional greetings (such as "Merry Christmas"),
as support for Pastafarianism. In December 2005,
George W. Bush's White House Christmas greeting cards
wished people a happy "holiday season," leading Henderson to write
the President a note of thanks, including a "fish" emblem depicting
the Flying Spaghetti Monster for his limo or plane. Henderson also
thanked Wal-mart for its use of the phrase.
The Gospel of the Flying
Spaghetti Monster
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
In December 2005 Bobby Henderson received a reported
USD $80,000 advance from Villard to
write
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Henderson said he planned to use proceeds from the book to build a
pirate ship, with which he would spread the Pastafarian religion.
The book was released on March 28, 2006, and elaborates on
Pastafarian beliefs established in the open letter. Henderson
employs irony to present perceived flaws with evolutionary biology
and discusses history and lifestyle from a Pastafarian perspective.
A guide to spreading the faith, with a section on craft making—a
primary means of expressing devotion—is also included.
Scientific American described
the Gospel as "neither too elaborate nor too spoofy to succeed in
nailing the fallacies of ID" but "very funny." In 2006, it was
nominated for the
Quill Award in Humor
but was not selected as the winner. Brenner Wayne of the
Austin Chronicle characterized the book as
"a necessary bit of comic relief in the overly serious battle
between science and superstition." Simon Singh of the
Daily Telegraph wrote that the Gospel "might
be slightly repetitive... but overall it is a brilliant,
provocative, witty and important gem of a book." Meanwhile,
Casey Luskin of the
Discovery Institute, the hub of the
Intelligent Design movement, labeled the Gospel "a mockery of the
Christian
New Testament."
Significance
As a cultural phenomena
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster now consists of
thousands of "followers," primarily concentrated on college
campuses and in Europe. According to the
Associated Press, Henderson's website has
become "a kind of cyber-watercooler for opponents of intelligent
design," tracking meetings of pirate-clad Pastafarians, selling
trinkets and bumper stickers, and sampling photos that show
"visions" of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It also features
pictures of assorted crafts, including drawings, costumes, and
sculptures "devoted" to the Flying Spaghetti Monster as well as
photos of "missionaries" in pirate attire preaching on sidewalks
and in parades.
This communal activity attracted the
attention of three University of Florida
religious scholars, who assembled a panel at the
2007 American Academy of
Religion meeting to discuss the Flying Spaghetti
Monster.
In
November 2007, three talks involving the Flying Spaghetti Monster
were delivered at the American Academy of Religion's
annual meeting in San
Diego
. The talks, with titles like "Holy Pasta and
Authentic Sauce: The Flying Spaghetti Monster's Messy Implications
for Theorizing Religion," examined the elements necessary for a
group to constitute a religion. Speakers inquired whether "an
anti-religion like Flying Spaghetti Monsterism [is] actually a
religion."{{cite
news|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21837499//|title=Pasta monster
gets academic
attention|last=Pope|first=Justin|date=2007-11-16|work=[[Associated
Press]]|publisher=[[MSNBC]]|accessdate=2009-10-25}} ===Critical
reception=== Due to its popularity and media exposure, the Flying
Spaghetti Monster is used by [[atheism|atheists]],
[[agnosticism|agnostics]], and others as a modern version of
[[Russell's teapot]].{{cite news | title=The Church of the
Non-Believers | first=Gary | last=Wolf | date=November 14, 2006 |
publisher=[[Wired News]] |
url=http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/atheism.html}}{{cite
web|url=http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0807/0807.3670.pdf|title=Is
Faith the Enemy of
Science?|last=MacKenzie|first=Richard|date=2007|work=Université de
Montréal|publisher=Cornell University Library|pages=4|accessdate=26
November 2009}} {{quote|There's an infinite number of things that
we can't disprove. You might say that because science can explain
just about everything but not quite, it's wrong to say therefore we
don't need God. It is also, I suppose, wrong to say we don't need
the Flying Spaghetti Monster, unicorns, Thor, Wotan, Jupiter, or
fairies at the bottom of the garden. There's an infinite number of
things that some people at one time or another have believed in,
and an infinite number of things that nobody has believed in. If
there's not the slightest reason to believe in any of those things,
why bother? The onus is on somebody who says, I want to believe in
God, Flying Spaghetti Monster, fairies, or whatever it is. It is
not up to us to disprove it.|[[Richard Dawkins]]|''The Church of
Non-Believers''}} Dawkins also mentions the Flying Spaghetti
Monster in his book, ''[[The God Delusion]]'', stating, {{quote|I
have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an
atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an atheist when
considering Zeus, Apollo, Amon Ra, Mithras, Baal, Thor, Wotan, the
Golden Calf and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I just go one god
further.{{cite book|last=Dawkins|first=Richard|title=The God
delusion|publisher=Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt|date=2006|pages=53|chapter=The God
Hypothesis|isbn=9780618680009|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=yq1xDpicghkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false|accessdate=2009-11-24}}|[[Richard
Dawkins]]|''[[The God Delusion]]''}} On the other hand, Phil
Fermandes refers to the Flying Spaghetti Monster in his book, ''The
Atheist Delusion'', stating, {{quote|the new atheists have made
their choice—apparently, no amount of evidence for God will change
their minds. They claim that the existence of God is as ridiculous
as the existence of a flying spaghetti monster.{{cite
book|last=Fernandes|first=Phil|title=The Atheist
Delusion|publisher=Xulon Press|date=2009|pages=18|chapter=The New,
Militant
Atheism|isbn=9781607915829|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Jz8NgPuMBLIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false|accessdate=2009-11-24}}|Phil
Fermandes|''The Atheist Delusion''}} Furthermore, according to
Justin Pope of the [[Associated Press]], {{quote|between the lines,
the point of the letter was this: There's no more scientific basis
for intelligent design than there is for the idea an omniscient
creature made of pasta created the universe. If intelligent design
supporters could demand equal time in a science class, why not
anyone else? The only reasonable solution is to put nothing into
sciences classes but the best available science.|Justin Pope|The
Associated Press}} [[Casey Luskin]] of the [[Discovery Institute]],
which promotes Intelligent Design, contested this, saying, "the
problem for their logic is that ID is not an arbitrary explanation,
because we have much experience with intelligent agents producing
the type of informational complexity we see in nature." Columnist
[[Jeff Jacoby]] wrote in the [[Boston Globe]] that "[Intelligent
Design] isn't primitivism or Bible-thumping or flying spaghetti.
It's science."{{cite
news|url=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/10/02/the_timeless_truth_of_creation/|title=The
timeless truth of
creation|last=Jacoby|first=Jeff|date=2005-10-02|work=The Boston
Globe|publisher=Globe Newspaper Company|accessdate=26 November
2009}} This view of science, however, was rejected by the [[United
States National Academy of Sciences]].{{cite web
|publisher=National Academy of Sciences |year=1999
|url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309064066&page=25
|title=Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of
Sciences |edition=Second Edition }} In a [[blog]] post for the
Discovery Institute, Luskin mocked the "Darwinists who actually
think that by mentioning the 'Flying Spaghetti Monster,' they have
made an argument," branding the Flying Spaghetti Monster a
"non-argument." He said that an episode of [[South Park]], "[[Go
God Go]]," revealed that "[The] Flying Spaghetti Monster is just a
silly cartoon character and it does not imply that 'evolution
explains everything' nor does it imply there is no God. In fact,
FSM really says nothing about the scientific debate over
intelligent design and evolution."{{cite
web|url=http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/08/the_proper_rebuttal_to_the_fly.html|title=The
Proper Rebuttal to the Flying Spaghetti Monster: Cartoon Satire on
South Park|last=Luskin|first=Casey|date=2008-08-13|work=Evolution
News & Views|publisher=Discovery Institute|accessdate=26
November 2009}} In another post, Luskin stated that the Flying
Spaghetti Monster was "funny, but clearly the FSM concept aims to
mock those who seriously believe in Judeo-Christian religious
views." ===Use in other religious disputes=== In December 2007, the
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was credited with
spearheading successful efforts in [[Polk County, Florida]] to
dissuade the Polk County School Board from adopting new science
standards on evolution. The issue was raised after five of the
seven board members declared a personal belief in intelligent
design. Opponents describing themselves as Pastafarians sent
e-mails to members of the Polk County School Board demanding equal
instruction time for the Flying Spaghetti Monster.{{cite news
|author=John Chambliss |title= Satirical Monsters More Competition
for
Darwin|url=http://www.theledger.com/article/20071211/NEWS/712110392/0/FRONTPAGE
|publisher=The Ledger |date=2007-12-11 |accessdate=2007-12-13 }}
Board member Margaret Lofton, who supported intelligent design,
dismissed the e-mail as ridiculous and insulting, stating, "they've
made us the laughing stock of the world." Lofton later stated that
she had no interest in engaging with the Pastafarians or anyone
else seeking to discredit intelligent design. As the controversy
developed, scientists expressed their opposition to the claims of
intelligent design. Hopes for a new campus focused on applied
science at the [[University of South Florida]] in northeast
Lakeland were reportedly in question, but University Vice President
Marshall Goodman expressed surprise, stating, "[intelligent design
is] not science. You can't even call it pseudo-science." While
unhappy with the outcome, Lofton chose not to resign over the
issue. She and the other board members expressed a desire to return
to the day-to-day work of running the school district.
In March
2007, 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.
In March 2008, Pastafarians in Crossville,
Tennessee
successfully won city approval to place a Flying
Spaghetti Monster statue next to the Courthouse, and proceeded to do so. The
statue was later removed from the premises, along with all other
long-term statues, due to an effort sparked mainly by controversy
over the statue.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster in media
- In August 2005, the Swedish concept designer Niklas Jansson
created an adaptation of Michelangelo's The Creation of
Adam, superimposing the Flying Spaghetti Monster over God. This became and remains the Flying Spaghetti
Monster's de facto brand
image.
- The Hunger Artists
Theatre Company produced a comedy called The Flying
Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant in December 2006,
detailing the history of Pastafarianism. The production has spawned
a sequel called Flying Spaghetti Monster Holy Mug of Grog,
performed in December 2008.
- The Flying Spaghetti Monster was discussed by Richard Dawkins in his book The God Delusion. It has also been
featured in several other media outlets, including The Colbert Report and Science Friday. Dawkins's reference is
satirized in the popular show, South
Park, in the episode "Go God Go."
- The Flying Spaghetti Monster was mentioned by Dimitris
Xygalatas in his introduction to the Greek translation of Daniel Dennett's book Breaking
the Spell. Xygalatas argued that the absurdity of
Intelligent Design is equal to that of the Flying Spaghetti
Monster. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is also featured on the cover
of the book.
See also
Notes
- The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, p.83
- The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, p.124
- The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, p.125
References
- News articles
External links
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