Do You Believe In the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

One of Richard Dawkins’ favorite arguments is to say that there is as much proof for God as there is for the Flying Spaghetti Monster (or FSM), a deity that is purportedly invisible, omniscient, omnipotent and composed of spaghetti and meatballs. This caricature of faith in God and natural theology didn’t start with Dawkins, it actually began in 2005 when Bobby Henderson wrote a letter to the Kansas State Board of Education invoking the ridiculous name of the FSM to argue that only natural selection should be taught in schools. He wrote, “I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; One third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence.” Is it really true that there is the as much proof for the FSM as there is for God. The problem with this parody comes down the FSM’s boiled noodles and meatballs.

According to the Cosmological arguments for God (which I have written about here and here) the universe and all material in the universe came into being by a necessary agent which we call God. We all know that material objects like smart phones don’t just materialize out of thin air; they are contingent objects which are caused to come into being by people. Prior to the big bang space, time and matter didn’t exist so the best explanation for what sparked the big bang is an immaterial, omnipotent, eternal being. Pastafarians claim that the FSM created the universe, but there is a problem with their belief because the FSM is made of matter (I might add matter which would be visible). The FSM is composed of wheat and ground beef which is impossible because these are materials are contingent objects which need a cause. If there is no matter in the universe then there is no FSM.

I’m sorry to break it to the Richard Dawkins and the Pastafarians, but this parody simply doesn’t hold up. There is reason to believe in God and no reason to believe in the FSM.