Flying Spaghetti Deity Parody Region

Known as the Spaghedeity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of a parody religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its system of beliefs, Pastafarianism. The deity resembles spaghetti and meatballs. Due to its recent popularity and media exposure, it is used by atheists, agnostics (spagnostics, as called by the Pastafarians) and others as a modern version of Russell's teapot.

In 2005, Bobby Henderson, a physics graduate of Oregon State University, founded the religion, The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, to protest the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to present the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. Henderson sent an open letter prior to the Kansas evolution hearings as an argument against the teaching of intelligent design in biology classes. He argued that both his theory and intelligent design had equal validity.

Further, Henderson called for the Pastafarian theory of creation to be taught in science classrooms – one-third time for Intelligent Design, one-third time for logical conjecture and one-third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism. It was only after he posted the letter, which gained significant public interest, on his website and that the Board responded. On February 13, 2007, the Board rejected the amended science standards enacted in 2005, after voting 6 to 4.

The satirical nature of Henderson's argument made the Flying Spaghetti Monster popular with bloggers as well as humor and internet culture websites like, Boing Boing, Something Awful, Uncyclopedia and Fark.com. The media was quick to pick up on the phenomenon as FSM became a symbol for the case against intelligent design theory in public education.

In reaction to common arguments by proponents of intelligent design, Henderson proposed many beliefs. The central belief is that there is an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster, which created the entire universe after drinking heavily. All evidence for evolution was planted by the FSM in an effort to test Pastafarians' faith. When scientific measurements such as radiocarbon dating are made, the FSM is present and changes the results with His Noodly Appendage.

According to the Pastafarian belief, heaven contains beer volcanoes and a stripper factory. While hell is similar, its beer is stale and the strippers have VD (venereal disease). The religious text of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is called the Loose Canon and in place of the Ten Commandments, it contains the Eight I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts. The official conclusion to prayers is RAmen, a noodle.

Further, Henderson states that pirates are absolute divine beings and the original Pastafarians. They were, in fact, peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will, who distributed candy to small children. The Pastafarians celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19. He also states that due to the shrinking number of pirates since the 1800s, global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters are on the rise. The Flying Spaghetti Monster's logo is a parody of the Ichthys or Jesus Fish.

What started as fun and amusement for Henderson became so popular that he himself was surprised by its success. In December 2005, Henderson received $80,000 advance to write The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The book was released on March 28, 2006. The Gospel is the Pastafarian equivalent of the Bible and Henderson is described as a prophet on his web site. Wikipedia