The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can now apply to become an official religion in Poland. They were earlier barred from doing so after a regional administrative court disallowed the Church a two-month extension to submit outstanding documents. Judge Wlodzimierz Kowalczyk at Warsaw court rejected the previous ruling on April 8. In the meanwhile, a group of Pastafarians who had met outside the court to shout “pasta” during the hearing reveled at the new ruling.
After the initial ban, Pastafarians decided to carry out protests but Member of Parliament Armand Ryfinski said, “Just as the Orange Alternative fought Communism, so Pastafarians fight the vast influence of the Roman Catholic clergy… If our faith is good enough for one of the other member states, surely it must be good enough for the rest.”
In January 2013, Christopher Schaeffer, a Pastafarian minister, wore a colander on his head, which was representative of his unique religious beliefs, while being sworn into the Pomfret New York Town Council. Similarly in 2011, one adherent of the religion in Austria wore a sieve on his head while taking a photograph for his driving license. Despite its growing popularity, the Church has managed to outrage Catholic leaders by demanding equal status.
Pastafarianism was started by Bobby Henderson in the United States in 2005. It is a movement that parodies orthodox religion and contests the teaching of intelligent design and creationism. For instance, Pastafarians end their prayers with the word “ramen” instead of the usual “amen”. According the Church’s website, the organization existed secretly until 2005 but it came out in public after the publication of a letter, accompanied with a sketch of the spaghetti monster, was sent to a school board in Kansas. Members of the organization claim Pastafarianism is a real religion and it was initially practiced by pirates, who happened to be peaceful explorers before Christian misinformation tainted their image and made them seem like outcast criminals.
Photo Credits: The Independent
