Polish adherents of the satirical Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are trying to have their creed registered as an official faith.

Touched by his Noodly Appendage: Niklas Jansson - wikipedia

An application has been submitted to the Ministry of Administration and Digitization, and the resulting decision is due by the end of January.

“Just as the Orange Alternative fought with communism, so pastafarians are fighting with the vast influence of the [Roman Catholic] clergy,” said Armand Ryfinski, MP for liberal party Palikot's Movement, as quoted by the Gazeta Polska Codziennie daily.

Ryfinski is one of the administrators of the Polish Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's web site.

The anti-clerical Palikot's Movement is currently the third largest party in Poland's parliament.

Pastafarians state that the world was created by Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM). Prayers end with the word r'amen, in an allusion to the Japanese noodle dish ramen, and the amen of Christian worship.

Pastafarianism emerged in America in 2005, after physics student Bobby Henderson protested against the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to permit the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to creationism in science classes.

In Poland, conservative politicians are branding the bid to register the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as an anti-Catholic provocation.

“We are going to monitor these events, as there are already far too many of them,” said Andrzej Jaworski, MP for conservative opposition party Law and Justice. (nh)