What is the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

A Pastafarian pastor recently gave a prayer before a government meeting in Alaska on behalf of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Here's what you need to know about the religion and social movement. 🍝

Pastafarian Pastor Leads Prayer


In Alaska, a pastor from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster opened a local government meeting with a prayer. Wearing a colander on his head offered the opening prayer on behalf of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to open a local government meeting in Alaska, the latest blessing from a nontraditional church since a court ruling. Barrett Fletcher, the Pastafarian pastor, noted the duties performed by the members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in his message, adding a few of them "seem to feel they can’t do the work without being overseen by a higher authority, " Kenai radio station KSRM reported.


Fontana was among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit litigated by the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska against the borough after it approved a 2016 policy saying that people who wanted to give the invocations at the government body's meetings had to belong to official organizations with an established presence on the Kenai Peninsula. Other plaintiffs who had been denied permission to give the invocations included an atheist and a Jewish woman. The Alaska Supreme Court October the previous year ruled that the borough policy was unconstitutional, and the borough government changed it in November to allow anyone to offer solicitations regardless of religion.


Church followers believe an invisible and undetectable monster made of spaghetti and meatballs created the universe after drinking heavily, and that his “noodly appendages” hold great power. Many label the movement as satire, but it is recognized as an official religion in some countries, the News reported. Barrett, who started his chapter in Homer, on the lower Kenai Peninsula, concluded his opening prayer as asking the Flying Spaghetti Monster to provide each assembly member "satisfaction in the perception of accomplishment and allow them true relaxation and an ample supply of their favorite beverage at the end of this evening's work." He then ended the prayer with: “Ramen.”


Brut.


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Brut.