Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: 'It's all about tolerance'

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has called for tolerance of different religious beliefs in a rally it held this afternoon in Msida.

The rally – the first large-scale gathering of its kind in Malta – comes at a time of feverish socio-religious debate in Malta and wider Europe.

CFSM adherents – also referred to as Pastafarians – some wearing colanders on their heads and eating freshly-prepared pasta dishes, gathered in Msida this afternoon, demanding that Malta provide them with a place of worship and grant them the right to “pray and eat spaghetti in public.”

Spokesman Franco Farrugia told reporters that he had decided to organise the rally because he felt concerned by the religious intolerance he had seen in the last few weeks.

The organisation was expected to request that the government amend the Constitution to reflect an acceptance of the group's peaceful beliefs, the addition of Talk Like a Pirate Day – an important feast to the CFSM – as a public holiday, together with subsidies for Pastafarians on pasta, mince, tomatoes and garlic purchases and for the government provide “kitchens and dinner tables were we can celebrate The Boiling as a congregation.” These requests, however, were not made this afternoon.

Pastafarianism began as a social movement promoting a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism. The movement traces its roots to a January 2005 open letter written by Bobby Henderson, then a 24-year-old Oregon State University physics graduate to the Kansas State Board of Education, who were considering teaching intelligent design as part of biology lessons.

Henderson had argued that intelligent design and his belief "the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster" were equally valid.

Pegida-style protests against Muslim community

Today's gathering was held in the same place where last week members of the Muslim community had gathered to hold public prayers in protest against a decision by a local council to block a permit allowing a large garage in Santa Venera from being used as a place for Muslim gatherings - a move which had been interpreted by some as a statement of assertive intent by local Muslims.

As a result of that gathering, the government agreed to grant the temporary use of the Ospizio in Floriana for the local Islamic community's Friday prayers.

The following Sunday, a group calling itself the Ghaqda Patriotti Maltin had also held a copycat protest at Msida, handing out pork sandwiches to passers-by and warning that the “Maltese race” was being placed in jeopardy by the high birth rate amongst Muslim women.

The group expressed surprise that “progressives were defending a Muslim culture that is stuck in the Middle Ages,” arguing that “this is a Catholic country, and they should leave if a bit of ham or a small crucifix offends them.”

Today's rally takes place at a time of heightened socio-religious debate in Malta as a Pegida-style movement stokes fears about those who proclaim the Islamic faith on the island, which they fear will "erode Malta's Christian identity."

That debate must also be seen in the wider context of growing concerns surrounding the cultural integration of the massive influx of North African refugees into Europe, which is still reeling from the mass sexual assault of 883 women in Cologne, Germany on New Year's Eve by groups of North African men. The number of alleged crimes stands at 766, including three rapes.

Earlier this week, a court heard MEPA representatives defend a 2009 decision to shut down a house used by the Maltese muslim community to host Friday prayers, in an ongoing constitutional case filed by six Muslim men who are demanding damages from the Commissioner of Police and the chairman of MEPA for “a breach of their rights under the European Convention.”

Just before Christmas last year, the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) had shut down an Msida house which local Muslims had been using to host their religious services. That closure had taken place in spite of MEPA reassurances to the contrary, the Malta Muslim Council claims.