Henderson states, “We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it.”
Pastafarian doctrine is more morally casual than dogmatic, as it tends to shift with the changes in culture. Flexible moral guidelines are highlighted in their version of the Ten Commandments, called the Eight “I’d Really Rather You Did n’ts.” To followers, “Pastafarianism is a real, legitimate religion, as much as any other.” The key to that assertion is the back half of that phrase.
This sets the stage for a religious freedom challenge in Dutch courts, where director Michael Arthur begins his documentary. In 2016 a government entity in The Netherlands recognized the Kerk van het Vliegend Spaghettimonster as a religion. This opens the door for Pastafarian Mienke De Wilde to ask to wear his religious headgear (a colander) in his driver’s license photo (a right that Dutch law allows for other recognized religions). Arthur follows several Pastafarians in their legal quest for religious equality.
“…short as docs go, running a little less than an hour, but it will be your best hour spent that day.”
Viewers are welcomed to Pastafarian services in The Netherlands and Germany, where seemingly earnest practitioners intone their devotions to the FSM. It’s hard to tell how serious they are, given the satirical nature of their religion, but Arthur clarifies in this documentary that the underlying mission is serious: to point out the absurdity and social damage wreaked throughout history by organized religion, and perhaps to show that no religion should be respected particularly, that a better way to see structure in the universe is through kindness and compassion toward our fellow travelers on the journey. Rarely have humans invented a god that behaves any better than they do, but the Flying Spaghetti Monster speaks to the better (if not sillier) angels of our nature.
I, Pastafari is short as docs go, running a little less than an hour, but it will be your best hour spent that day.
"…Pastafarianism is a real, legitimate religion, as much as any other"
