The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster held the world's first legally recognised marriage in New Zealand recently, with the offbeat movement hailing it as a milestone toward acceptance as a real religion. Church adherents call themselves pastafarians, wear colanders on their heads, revere pirates and believe the world was created by a giant deity made of spaghetti.
But while they have a love of pasta-based puns and celebrate holidays such as "Talk Like a Pirate Day", followers insist their religion is no joke. New Zealand officials agree, giving Wellington-based pastafarian Karen Martyn the legal right to conduct marriages last month after ruling the church was based on genuine philosophical convictions. Martyn conducted her inaugural wedding as an ordained "ministeroni", when Toby Ricketts and Marianna Young became the first couple in the world to "tie the noodly knot" in a legally recognised ceremony.
The wedding took place on a charter vessel decorated as a pirate ship at the South Island town of Akaroa, with guests dressed in costume. Ricketts, a filmmaker who discovered pastafarianism while making a documentary about religion, said he knew some people may not take the marriage seriously.
Pastafarianism first appeared in a 2005 open letter written by Bobby Henderson to the Kansas Board of Education in protest over its decision to teach intelligent design in schools. Henderson, 36, a self-described "hammock enthusiast" and computer nerd from Oregon, is regarded as the prophet of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM). He argued that believing a pasta god made the universe was as no less valid than intelligent design, a form of creationism promoted by Christian fundamentalists, as both theories had no scientific merit.
Not all are happy with the decision, including professor Peter Lineham, a religious history specialist at New Zealand's Massey University. "I am not at all convinced there's a genuine statement of values (in the church)," he told Fairfax New Zealand when the original decision was handed down. Martyn disputed the view and said a strong belief system underpinned FSM.
