The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can now marry couples in New Zealand
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has won the right to marry couples in New Zealand.
The satirical church, created in 2005 to protest the teaching of creationism was granted the licence to perform marriages in New Zealand.
The announcement was made in the Gazette, from the office of the Registrar-General of New Zealand.
Followers of the church are called ‘pastafarians’, and often wear colanders on their heads, particularly in driving licence photos.
As well as wearing the kitchenware, they also speak like pirates.
The religion’s website reads that it is “not a joke. Elements of our religion are sometimes described as satire and there are many members who do not literally believe our scripture, but this isn’t unusual in religion.
“A lot of Christians don’t believe the Bible is literally true — but that doesn’t mean they aren’t True Christians. If you say Pastafarians must believe in a literal Flying Spaghetti Monster to be True Believers, then you can make a similar argument for Christians. There is a lot of outlandish stuff in the Bible that rational Christians choose to ignore.”
The church posted on Facebook after the announcement: “Ahoy Pastafarians! The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was Gazetted on 10 December 2015 – you can search for NZ Gazette and the keyword Spaghetti and see fer yerself! We Be Official! R’Amen!”
New Zealand in 2013 became the 13th country to legalise same-sex marriage.
It is unknown when the first same-sex Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster wedding will take place.
