Do you believe in god? Are you a firm believer in christ/God/Xenu etc? Regardless, the following ridiculous story should be found amusing by anyone.

 This story starts with a challenge to the teaching of creationism in Kansas public schools and ends with a proposal that the Kansas board of education should teach that an invisible and undetectable flying spaghetti monster created the universe while under the influence of alcohol. The letter written by Bobby Henderson in January 2005, is about a serious topic but is taken on in a light-hearted way.

This letter was written because the Kansas board of education made the decision to teach creationism and intelligent design in their public schools. The definition of intelligent design is according to ACLU.org(The American Civil Liberty Union’s website) is as follows: “Intelligent design (ID) is a pseudoscientific set of beliefs based on the notion that life on earth is so complex that it cannot be explained by the scientific theory of evolution and therefore must have been designed by a supernatural entity.” The Kansas City board of education used this to justify their teaching of creationism as a theory of intelligent design which is a belief that God created the universe and evolution was not how the world was created.

Because of this decision by the Kansas board of education, Henderson wrote an open letter to the Kansas school board arguing that Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (alternately known as Pastafarianism or the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) should be taught in addition to creationism. Bobby Henderson claims that Pastafarianism should be taught in Kansas public schools because it is also a theory of intelligent design. According to Henderson, a flying spaghetti monster created the universe, and that there was ample evidence of this. Henderson also argues that The Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe to look as if it was older than it actually was while the almighty spaghetti monster was drunk. He also states that these beliefs should be taught to children while wearing a full pirate outfit because the flying spaghetti monster will get mad when people don’t dress as pirates. Furthermore, he states evidence that global temperatures have increased as the number of pirates has decreased since the 1800s. The flying spaghetti monster is punishing us for not dressing up as pirates by increasing global temperatures.

Pastafarianism has been taken much further by Henderson than ever believed in the open letter he wrote in 2005. The church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is pushing its beliefs and is searching for legal recognition as a non-profit organization according to Henderson’s website. The church was recently denied legal recognition in Australia as the movement was clearly started as a joke. Thus, the religion has trouble finding legal recognition. 

The Pastafarian movement may sound ridiculous but it does deal with a heavy topic. Should evolution be taught in public schools or should intelligent design be? There are arguments as to which is correct. Also, if intelligent design should be taught, is Pastafarianism a legitimate theory of intelligent design? Regardless of the correct answer, this set of beliefs and the open letter is certainly really funny, as it was intended to be.