How is belief in God any different from Flying Spaghetti Monsterism?

Answer

Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (also known as Pastafarianism) is a “religion” created by a man named Bobby Henderson. Mr. Henderson created this satire in protest of the Kansas State Board of Education’s decision to teach intelligent design as an alternative to the theory of evolution. Essentially, he was questioning why other absurd religious ideas couldn’t be presented in high school biology classes if Intelligent Design was being included. Therefore, in protest, he invented a whimsical set of religious beliefs and insisted on their inclusion in biology classes alongside the theories of evolution and Intelligent Design. His argument appears to be that teaching Intelligent Design in schools is as unreasonable as proposing that the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world and misled scientists into accepting evolution. (Note: Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is essentially a fresh and more amusing take on Russell’s teapot and the Invisible Pink Unicorn.)

The rationale behind Flying Spaghetti Monsterism appears to be as follows:

1. There is no evidence for the existence of the Judeo-Christian God.

2. There is no evidence for the existence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

3. Consequently, belief in the Judeo-Christian God and belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster are considered to be on equal epistemic grounds.

There are more issues with this line of thought than can be addressed in this article. Nonetheless, some responses should be provided.

Premise 1 is incorrect. It is not accurate to state that “there is no evidence for the existence of the Judeo-Christian God.” While Mr. Henderson may not acknowledge the evidence supporting the existence of the Judeo-Christian God, he does not offer

Not much is done to demonstrate that the classical and contemporary arguments for God’s existence are false. Even if he adequately refuted several arguments given by theists for the belief in God, he would still not be justified in saying that “there is NO evidence for the existence of God.” In fact, this comment smacks of an a priori rejection (a rejection of the evidence before the evidence is even given) of the notion that evidence may be given for the existence of God.

Many arguments have been presented for the existence of God. For instance, there are cosmological arguments (arguments for a first cause), teleological arguments (arguments for a Grand Designer), moral arguments (arguments for a Moral Lawgiver), and others. Anyone serious about the question of God must address these arguments thoughtfully and thoroughly before outrightly rejecting belief in God. To ignorantly dismiss the existence of God “because I can’t think of any good reasons to believe in God” is not in line with the most influential thinkers in Western civilization. Nearly all major philosophers and thinkers have grappled with the existence of God, and most of them embraced some form of belief in a God. A significant number of philosophers have advocated for their belief in the existence of God. It is a small minority of thinkers who have refuted the existence of God.

NOTE: This is not advocating the “appeal to the people” fallacy (argumentum ad populum). The argument is not that belief in God is true BECAUSE so many people believe that God exists. Rather, it is simply an irrefutable fact that many brilliant minds have pondered the God question and come to the conclusion that He does, in fact, exist. This fact, while it doesn’t prove that God exists, should prompt us to address the question of God’s existence with seriousness and intellectual honesty.

In contrast with the serious issue of God’s existence, Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is known to be fabricated. Several distinctions exist between belief in God and belief in the Flying

Spaghetti Monster are listed below:

Belief in God

(1) Prevalent among all peoples of all times. Atheism is very rare; even atheists admit this.

(2) There are many sophisticated philosophical arguments for God’s existence.

(3) The Christian God is a coherent explanation of why something exists rather than nothing, why logic is prescriptive and universal, why morality is objective, and why religion is ubiquitous.

(4) Belief in God is rationally satisfying.

Belief in Flying Spaghetti Monsterism

(1) Believed by no one. Even the so-called advocates of the FSM do not really believe that it exists.

(2) There are no technical philosophical arguments for the FSM. Actually, there are no technical arguments of any kind for the FSM.

(3) Even those who sarcastically espouse that the FSM exists don’t really believe that the FSM exists, nor do they think that the FSM is a coherent explanation for finite contingent being, logic, morality, beauty, etc.

(4) No one really believes in the FSM, but even if they did, it would not be rationally satisfying.

While there are some atheists who take theistic arguments seriously, many atheists do not take the time to seriously consider these arguments. This fact may be clearly seen in popular atheist texts (e.g., The Atheist Debater’s Handbook and The God Delusion). These texts refute weak and incomplete arguments for theism and suppose that they have refuted the actual, fully reasoned arguments that Christian philosophers and theologians give. This is an intellectually dishonest practice.

In short, the difference between belief in God and belief in Flying Spaghetti Monsterism is this:

Belief in God is rational and supported by good reasons, and belief in the Flying Spaghetti Monster is irrational and not supported by any good reasons. Bobby Henderson simply begs the question (commits a logical fallacy) when he says that there are no good reasons for belief in God. Despite his claim to thOn the contrary, Christianity is a rationally defensible religion. There are challenging questions that we must ask ourselves as Christians, but the presence of such questions does not justify dismissing Christianity. As believers, our quest for answers to our profound spiritual inquiries immerses us deeper into the intellectual depth of the Christian faith.