A pastor in Homer delivered the invocation at the start of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting on Tuesday invoking the blessings of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Pastor Barrett Fletcher: “We are gathered here to do the business of our Kenai Peninsula Borough. We make the rules of behavior and property, levy taxes and determine how to disperse them wisely, fund education, waste management, law enforcement, transportation, and health. All in an attempt to settle disputes. A few of the assembly members seem to feel that they can’t do this work without being overseen by a higher authority.”

“So, I’m called to invoke the power of the true creator of the universe, the drunken tollerator of all lesser and more recent gods, and maintainer of gravity here on earth. May the great Flying Spaghetti Monster rouse himself from his stupor and let his noodly appendages ground each assembly member in their seats.”

Pastor Fletcher started the local congregation of Pastafarians on the lower peninsula. The church is referred to as FSM for short. FSM was formed in 2005 as a response to the Kansas State Board of Education’s hearings on evolution in schools. Its founder sent a letter about FSM as a way to argue against teaching creationism in biology classes.

Fletcher: “May he help them to easily acquit each of these tasks, avoiding any pettiness and irrelevant disagreement. May he provide each of them satisfaction in the perception of accomplishment and an ample supply of their favorite beverage at the end of this meeting. Ramen.”

Fletcher created the local congregation, in Homer, to make a point and effect change when it comes to the borough’s invocation policy. The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska sued the borough in 2016 on behalf of residents who were denied the right to deliver invocations under the borough’s previous policy.