# The Flying Spaghetti Monster

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a satirical deity invented in May 2005 by Oregon State physics graduate Bobby Henderson to protest the Kansas Board of Education's push to teach intelligent design alongside evolution. His open letter demanding Pastafarian beliefs get equal classroom time went viral through BoingBoing and The New York Times, launching one of the internet's first large-scale parody religions and a lasting secular icon.

## Origin
In January 2005, the Kansas State Board of Education was weighing science-standards changes that would require teachers to describe evolution as 'a theory, not a fact' and allow intelligent design to be taught as an alternative[2]. Bobby Henderson, then a 25-year-old Oregon State physics graduate, noticed that the proposed language only referenced an unspecified 'Intelligent Designer' rather than naming any particular deity, which opened the door to his parody[5].

In May 2005, Henderson posted an open letter to the board on his site spaghettimonster.org arguing that if ID counted as science, so did his belief that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe, and demanding equal classroom time or 'legal action'[1]. The letter also claimed the deity had deliberately rigged the evidence to make Earth look older than it is, a direct jab at young-earth creationism, and asserted 'over 10 million' adherents, parroting the inflated membership claims the parody was mocking[1].

- **Platform:** Personal website (spaghettimonster.org) / BoingBoing (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Bobby Henderson
- **Date:** 2005

## Overview
Pastafarians depict their deity as a floating knot of cylindrical pasta with two stalked eyes and a meatball on each flank, carrying out creation through what believers call 'His Noodly Appendage'[5]. The core joke runs on parallel structure, taking the exact reasoning used to justify teaching intelligent design in science class and applying it to an obviously absurd designer, which Henderson argues deserves equal classroom time if ID does[1]. Followers lift religious vocabulary wholesale, with scripture (the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster), an afterlife featuring a Beer Volcano and Stripper Factory, and ritual headwear in the form of a kitchen colander[8].

The format spawned a steady output of imagery and iconography: hand-drawn tangles of spaghetti hovering above Adam, Michelangelo-style ceiling pastiches with the FSM in place of a bearded god, and photoshops dropping the deity into historical paintings and news photos[5]. The visual grammar is deliberately low-effort, which is part of the point, since any passable sketch of pasta with eyestalks reads instantly as the character. Online, 'R'Amen' closes posts, pirate costumes are presented as sacred attire, and global warming is blamed, in a running gag, on the shrinking number of pirates[1].

## How It Spread
BoingBoing picked up Henderson's letter on June 22, 2005, in a post titled 'Dear Kansas: Why stop at Intelligent Design? What About Spaghetti Monsters?' which excerpted the letter and pushed it from a hobby site into the wider blogosphere[3]. Angry replies from ID supporters quickly rolled in, and BoingBoing escalated by issuing a satirical bounty on August 19, 2005, offering $250,000 to anyone who could 'produce empirical evidence which proves that Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster' as a direct mockery of creationist Kent Hovind's parallel $250,000 offer for evidence of evolution[4].

Ten days later the story crossed into legacy press when The New York Times ran 'But Is There Intelligent Spaghetti Out There?' on August 29, 2005, giving Pastafarianism mainstream coverage and national name recognition[2]. By September 2005, Plasmic Studios had released a Flash game starring the deity, one of the first fan-made FSM artifacts outside Henderson's own site[6]. From there the character turned up anywhere school-board creationism fights flared, with Henderson's site collecting signatures from self-identified believers and becoming the central hub for Pastafarian imagery[5].

The parody later jumped jurisdictions. In September 2012, Greek police arrested a 27-year-old man for running a Facebook page lampooning an Orthodox monk under the pasta-pun name 'Geron Pastitsios,' and he was charged under Greece's anti-blasphemy laws[7]. A Change.org petition backed by the Humanist Union of Greece pushed to drop the charges and repeal articles 198 and 199 of the Greek penal code, turning the FSM into a reference point in European free-speech debates[7].

## How to Use
The format works by swapping the Flying Spaghetti Monster into any argument that leans on an unnamed designer or divine authority. Posts typically substitute 'God' with 'His Noodliness,' credit miracles to a 'noodly appendage,' or photoshop a pasta cloud into a classical painting or Bible-illustration scene. Pastafarian participation usually includes a pirate costume, a colander worn on the head, or signing off with 'R'Amen,' each of which signals that the user is lampooning creationist talking points rather than making a sincere theological claim[1][8].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is The Flying Spaghetti Monster?
A satirical deity worshipped by 'Pastafarians,' the followers of a parody religion depicting its god as a floating mass of pasta with meatballs and eyestalks[5].

### Where did The Flying Spaghetti Monster come from?
Oregon State physics graduate Bobby Henderson invented it in a May 2005 open letter protesting the Kansas Board of Education's push to teach intelligent design alongside evolution[1].

### What does The Flying Spaghetti Monster mean?
It's a reductio ad absurdum: if an unnamed 'intelligent designer' qualifies as science, so does an equally unprovable noodly one, so Pastafarianism should get the same classroom time[1].

### How do you use The Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Swap 'God' for 'His Noodliness,' invoke a 'noodly appendage,' sign off with 'R'Amen,' or photoshop pasta into creationist imagery and historical paintings[5].

### Is The Flying Spaghetti Monster still popular?
It's a classic reference rather than a trending format, still invoked in secularist and anti-creationist arguments and in free-speech cases like the 2012 Greek 'Geron Pastitsios' arrest[7].

### Who is Bobby Henderson?
A then-25-year-old Oregon State physics graduate who wrote the open letter that founded the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in 2005[5].

### What was BoingBoing's $250,000 FSM challenge?
A satirical bounty offered on August 19, 2005, promising $250,000 to anyone who could prove Jesus is not the son of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, mocking Kent Hovind's offer for evidence against evolution[4].

### Why do Pastafarians wear colanders?
The colander is the parody religion's ritual headwear, used in protests and in lawsuits over the right to wear it in official ID photos; Urban Dictionary catalogued the imagery as part of core FSM doctrine[8].

### What happened in the Greek 'Geron Pastitsios' case?
In 2012, Greek police arrested a 27-year-old for a Facebook page that mashed up an Orthodox monk with the FSM; he was charged under Greece's anti-blasphemy laws, prompting a Change.org petition for the charges to be dropped[7].

### Did mainstream media cover the Flying Spaghetti Monster?
Yes, The New York Times ran a dedicated piece titled 'But Is There Intelligent Spaghetti Out There?' on August 29, 2005[2].

### What are the 'Beer Volcano' and 'Stripper Factory'?
They're the parody religion's version of paradise, part of the deliberately absurd afterlife lore described in Pastafarian doctrine and catalogued on Urban Dictionary[8].

## References
1. [https://www.spaghettimonster.org/about/open-letter/](<https://www.spaghettimonster.org/about/open-letter/>)
2. [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/arts/design/but-is-there-intelligent-spaghetti-out-there.html](<https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/arts/design/but-is-there-intelligent-spaghetti-out-there.html>)
3. [https://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/22/dear_kansas_why_stop.html](<https://www.boingboing.net/2005/06/22/dear_kansas_why_stop.html>)
4. [https://boingboing.net/2005/08/19/boing-boings-250000.html](<https://boingboing.net/2005/08/19/boing-boings-250000.html>)
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-flying-spaghetti-monster](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-flying-spaghetti-monster>)
6. [http://plasmicstudio.com/plasmic2010/flash/fsm/index.html](<http://plasmicstudio.com/plasmic2010/flash/fsm/index.html>)
7. [https://www.change.org/p/greek-parliament-free-geron-pastitsios-and-abolish-greek-anti-blasphemy-laws](<https://www.change.org/p/greek-parliament-free-geron-pastitsios-and-abolish-greek-anti-blasphemy-laws>)
8. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20Flying%20Spaghetti%20Monster](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The%20Flying%20Spaghetti%20Monster>)

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