Now for Something a Little Different

Have you heard of “the Flying Spaghetti Monster”?

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (or Pastafarianism) was founded in 2005 by a guy named Bobby Henderson in protest of the decision of the Kansas State Board of Education requiring the teaching of Intelligent Design (ID) along with the theory of evolution. Henderson sent an open letter to the State Board of Education claiming a belief in a supernatural creator known as the Flying Spaghetti Monster and calling for teaching of the so called Pastafarian theory of creation to be taught along with ID and the theory of evolution. Henderson has said that he has nothing against religion except when it poses as science. The Flying Spaghetti Monster gained popularity on the internet as a source of parody of religion, and particularly in relation to ID. miscellaneous

How very clever, no?

Recently you may have seen the Flying Spaghetti Monster in the news again because Pastafarianism is actually to be discussed at the national meeting of the American Academy of Religion this month.

Because of this recent discussion I was treated to an editorial segment today during, of all things, a sports talk show on the radio...between segments about Barry Bonds and the NFL. The host said he “loved” the whole Flying Spaghetti Monster business because “religion has no business masquerading as science” and “schools should stick to teaching proven science like evolution!” He said that he believed that everything is understandable through science and the scientific method. The host theorized that if people from a thousand years ago saw cell phones at work they would think it was miraculous too but that would only be because they did not understand it. “Science and the scientific method can explain everything eventually!” he claimed. How very clever, no?

I find the host’s thoughts on the subject quite funny in a way I am sure he did not intend.

First of all, what if people from a thousand years ago saw something they did not understand, like a cell phone, at work? Perhaps some of them would believe that the cell phone magically came together and began working through chance and random variation. And perhaps others would believe that there was some intelligence behind the design of the cell phone. Hmm……

Secondly, the idea that evolution (not variation in genes within a species, but the formation of all life through chance) has been or even could be proven by the scientific method demonstrates a lack of critical thought and understanding of basic science. The scientific method begins by observing a phenomenon, theorizing an explanation of what you observe (a hypothesis), predicting what you think may happen based on your hypothesis, and then testing your hypothesis in an experiment. Observing a phenomenon such as the different species on earth or the fossil record and then theorizing an explanation of those phenomena (such as in the theory of evolution) would indeed be part of the scientific method. So would someone looking at all the different species and the fossil record and theorizing that there must have been some sort of intelligence behind all of it. However there is no way to test the hypothesis that all life came into being through genetic mutation and chance or that life sprang into existence through the design of a creator. The fact is that there is no more proven “real science” in evolution as the basis of life on earth than there is in intelligent design.