I, Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story is a documentary about the world’s snarkiest religion: The Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster.
The Genesis of the FSM was physics student Bobby Henderson’s Open Letter to the Kansas School Board in 2005. He wrote his missive in response to the school board’s decision to teach evolution alongside “intelligent design” as equivalent scientific theories in science classes statewide.
Intelligent design, the creationists reasoned, answered their need for a powerful creator deity, without name-checking the Judeo-Christian one specifically. This was a way to work-around prohibitions of teaching religion in schools, as intelligent design could be presented in pseudo-scientific, secular terms. The usual observation of creationists is that the marvelous complexity of a universe finely tuned for human life couldn’t possibly be an accident. Some intelligence must have set this place up just for us.
“We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us were around to see it…”
This perspective is called the “anthropic principle,” holding that if the laws of physics (gravitational constant, the exact electric charge on a proton, the mass of electrons and neutrons, etc.) were different by even the tiniest fraction of a percent, human life would be impossible. Proponents conclude, therefore, that the universe was intentionally fine-tuned for human life. This notion defies all logic. Exactly the opposite is true…it is we who are fine-tuned…we exist because we are what can exist in this place and time. We are the organisms that survived the conditions, evolving to be “just right” for our environment, because everything else died off (or never lived in the first place).
Henderson’s rebuttal to intelligent design phrased as an improv style “yes, and…” is a masterpiece of reductio ad absurdum debate. He described his understanding of the intelligent designer: a Flying Spaghetti Monster who created the universe a few thousand years ago. His ideas have as much evidence and logic as any religious dogma. Given that, he argued for equal time in class for teaching the FSM as the universal intelligent designer.
"…Pastafarianism is a real, legitimate religion, as much as any other"
