Wiktionary defines Pastafarian as a noun meaning, A claimed follower of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (a parody religion). This definition while taking a literal interpretation of Pastafarian, does not quite qualify as a true definition of Pastafarian.
Pastafarians are not so much followers of a religion then they are believers in a school of thought. This school of thought originated with a student named Bobby Henderson. According to Wikipedia, Henderson originally created The Flying Spaghetti Monster as a protest against teaching intelligent design in Kansas schools. His arguments hinge on the fact that if a being created the universe, that being could be anything, and his interpretation of this being is a Flying Spaghetti Monster.
After Henderson’s letter to the school board, Pastafarianism was widely accepted by the scientific community as a valid argument against the Intelligent Design movement. Because of this many people who have ever even heard of the Pastafarians can still consider themselves one. Why is that? Well the simple answer to that is the fact that Pastafarianism, while extremely humorous, also has a solid foundation as an argument. Anyone that takes an open stance against the fallacies of Intelligent Design could consider themselves Pastafarian.
To be quite honest, embracing what started as a well thought out humor ridden argument could actually lead to better education for our kids. While Intelligent Design may be the belief of a community of people worldwide, Pastafarians prove time and time again that it is not founded in any scientific fact. Now if we are to accept that Intelligent Design is not founded in science, but Religion, then we should also admit that it is not a valid alternative to the theory of evolution in the public school system’s science classes.
Darwin’s theory of evolution may have its flaws, but it is based in solely in observations and hypotheses made by Darwin and the scientists that followed him. That is science, (which isn’t without its own flaws) it is based on experimentation and years of careful study. Intelligent Design is not science and should not be taught as science under any circumstances at all.
So what does it mean to be Pastafarian? Well you could take the Wiktionary definition, which matches the mainstream interpretation, or you could dig deeper and accept a more true definition. A Pastafarian is one who does not believe in Intelligent Design, but believes in a humorous yet logical argument it against it. They believe Intelligent Design is not science and should not be taught as such. So for the sake of the future generations, know the Pastafarian movement, it may very well be useful in keeping religious debates out of our school systems.
Sources:
Wiktionary Definition
Flying Spaghetti Monster website
More info on The Flying Spaghetti Monster
