Hagrid is in the House!

Score one for the Pastafarians!

According to the Tampa Tribune, a few weeks ago, five of the seven members of the Polk County (Florida, USA) school board "declared a personal belief in the concept of Intelligent Design (ID), the religiously based explanation of the development of life believed in by many Christians." This sparked an uproar in Florida, fueled by fears that religious conservatives were making moves to push for teaching ID in science classrooms, alongside the teaching of evolution by natural selection.

Enter the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Followers of the Spaghedeity -- the one true deity creator of the Universe -- deluged the school board with letters, phone calls, and emails, demanding that Pastafarianism be taught alongside evolution and ID. Pastafarians "believe" that the Universe was created by the touch of His Noodly Appendage (after a night of heavy drinking).

A media firestorm followed, and this week the school board members backed down. Margaret Lofton, one of the school board members supporting intelligent design, was quoted as saying "They've made us the laughingstock of the world".

And deservedly so, Ms. Lofton.

Anyone who believes that the accounting of creation in the Christian Bible is true, but denies the true account of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's creation, deserves to be laughed out of town.

RAmen.