Bulgaria Denies Registration to Church of Flying Spaghetti Monster

Stefan Kiryazov, founder of the rejected Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Screen capture

A Bulgarian court on Tuesday turned down the registration of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, local media reported.

The Sofia City Court ruled that Pastafarianism's history is one of deliberate antagonism to other religions, with the movement potentially endangering inter-faith tolerance if its application was granted.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster's symbols and its ideology, which calls for a rational explanation of the world (as opposed to creationist ones) and has adopted the "monster" as a mock of other theories, opposes other religions.

Citizens cannot infringe on other people's rights, which would happen if the church were registered, potentially targeting other confessions, according to the court.

As many as 27 people have signed the petition submitted by the church founder in Bulgaria, Stefan Kiryazov, who earlier this summer married using Pastafarian rites - including by putting the obligatory strainer on his hand.

On Thursday, he told NOVA TV the church was not seeking to impose their values on anybody.

"Our Creator with an endless number of limbs wants us to explore the Universe - from the smallest particles to the gret Cosmos," he said.

He made it clear the church, which in his estimates has nearly 3000 supporters in Bulgaria, will appeal the ruling.

Founded in 2005 by physicist Bobby Henderson, the church was inspired by a movement against the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public school science classes.

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