U.S. District Judge John Gerrard's 16-page ruling creditably wrestled with trying to distinguish the plaintiff's expressed beliefs from those espoused by those of mainstream faiths. "This case is difficult because FSM-ism, as a parody, is designed to look very much like a religion," he wrote. But "it is evident to the court that FSM-ism is not a belief system addressing deep and imponderable matters. ... The only position it takes is that others' religious beliefs should not be presented as science."