Pastafarianism
To lampoon the supernatural theory called "intelligent design," a physics graduate named Bobby Henderson in June 2005 invented a god called the "Flying Spaghetti Monster" and formally asked the Kansas School Board of Education to teach "FSMism" in their schools.
While his stunt spawned many self-styled "pastafarians," Henderson's plea fell on deaf ears with the school board. "Intelligent design" will soon be taught to children in Kansas, although it is every bit as absurd as the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Christianity has a long history of embracing bad science. In the 17th Century, the Catholic Church attacked Galileo for teaching, correctly, that the Earth revolved around the sun. Galileo was brought to trial in Rome forced to recant his heliocentric claims. He died under house arrest.
This clip from the beginning of the documentary The God Who Wasn't There uses Christianity's great scientific blunder to introduce another idea: Is the religion stubbornly engaging in a historical blunder of equal scale?
The DVD of this groundbreaking documentary includes a special audio track with Richard Dawkins and is available now.
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