“I, Pastafari” or What If God Were Made Out of Macaroni?

When Sophia Loren insisted, “Everything you see I owe to spaghetti,” she knew of what she spoke, possibly more than she might have imagined. You’ll understand after seeing Pastafari: A Flying Spaghetti Monster Story, one of the more delicious, amusing, and relevant documentaries of the year.

First, before we go on, we must ask, “What is religion?”

According to the Supreme Court, religion is “a sincere and meaningful belief that occupies in the life of its possessor a place parallel to the place held by God in the lives of other persons.” Hmmm. The First Amendment adds that Congress “shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Now let’s jump to 2005 right after the Kansas Board of Education voted that the creationist theory of intelligent design must be taught side by side with evolution. You know that theory arguing a supernatural force had a hand in creating all life. Well, what if you had a divine revelation right then like Bobby Henderson, a young scientist, did? At 24, he…