The lawsuit was brought by Stephen Cavanaugh, who is serving a four- to eight-year term on assault and weapons charges at the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
Cavanaugh sued the Department of Correctional Services and penitentiary officials in 2014 seeking $5 million and a court order mandating that inmates who practice Pastafarianism be allowed to receive the same rights and privileges as inmates who practice other religions, reports CTV News Canada.
Ars Technica reported that in dismissing the lawsuit on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge John Gerrard ruled that “FSMism is not a ‘religion’ within the meaning of the relevant federal statutes and constitutional jurisprudence. It is, rather, a parody, intended to advance an argument about science, the evolution of life, and the place of religion in public education.”
Judge Gerrard went on to say that while FSMism cites some serious arguments, it does not mean the satirical trappings used to make its arguments are entitled to protection under federal law. The full text of the ruling in PDF form can be read here.
The inmate claimed he had “several tattoos proclaiming his faith” and demanded that prison officials afford his “faith” the “ability to order and wear religious clothing and pendants (a pirate costume, and a colander, sieve, or appropriate kitchen strainer to wear on his head, actually), and attend weekly church worship services and meetings and also be given the right to receive communion.”
Nebraska, in seeking to have the case dismissed, told the judge that there was no constitutional violation. “The essence of this action,” the state wrote, “is that prison officials believe the Plaintiff is not sincere in his religious beliefs about a flying lump of spaghetti that first created ‘a mountain, trees, and a midget.'”
According to a 2014 story in Digital Journal, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism was first mentioned in 2005, in a satirical letter written by Bobby Henderson to the Kansas School Board of Education. He used the FSM to protest the public teaching of intelligent design in place of evolution.
Henderson satirized creationism by saying when a scientist carbon dates something, it means there is nothing more than some sort of supernatural being that resembles spaghetti and meatballs, “changing the results with His Noodly Appendage.” Henderson actually took the time to write the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in 2006.
The FSM gospel declares that the invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster, who is considered a prophet, created the universe. Pirates are revered as the original Pastafarians, and because of a decrease in the number of pirates in the world today, that is why we have global warming.
Pastafarianism/FSMism is recognized as a religion in Poland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, where Pastafarian representatives have been authorized to celebrate weddings.
