Tuesday, August 30, 2005

The Flying Spaghetti Monster

I've always been partial to linguini but it turns out I've been worshipping a false prophet. We must now give praise to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who came to Bobby Henderson in a divine vision. You can learn about the Church of FSM at venganza.org. Henderson has written an open letter to the Kansas State Board of Education arguing that if intelligent design is to be taught in schools then all forms of it including those involving the FSM must also be taught. He is threatening legal action if they don't comply. He has started a whole movement of followers including splinter groups. There was a humourous column about it in the New York Times yesterday. In that article the author wonders if anyone has every converted parody into a religion. Does the Church of Scientology qualify? Personally, I'm all for "teaching the controversy". After all, less than 50% of the population believes or even understands evolution anyway (see a previous post). It may even stir up some interest in science.

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