An attempt by atheists to mock anyone that disagrees with them. The basic concept is a response to the logical statement: "it is impossible to prove the non-existence of a deity or deities." Essentially, supporters of the FSM concept state that it's also impossible to prove the non-existence of something completely arbitrary and ridiculous, such as a flying spaghetti monster, and thus there's no reason to believe in the FSM just for that reason alone.
Obviously the argument is extremely weak and doesn't really hold
water. But what's disturbing is the utter contempt, disrespect, and intolerance (and in some cases, hatred) these
people have for anyone that disagrees with them. They refuse to go by the principles of live-and-let-live and do-unto-others. They will counter this assertion by arguing that religious
people never live-and-let-live and are always forcing religion onto
people. This is of course false, and only applies to a very small minority of religious
people (such as the nutjobs at the WBC) and thus is a prime example of smearing
people with a vastly over-generalized statement.
Most won't admit it, but they resent the fact that most modern nations allow freedom of religion for all. Ultimately, they would like to see this
right taken away someday.
The flying spaghetti monster concept is just one of very many examples of the hateful mockery that some (but certainly not all) atheists direct at religious
people, which has become rampant in our
society in recent decades. This frightening level of contempt, intolerance, and hatred is eerily similar to the attitudes in Germany towards Jews in the decades leading up to the Holocaust. Of course, your average
German citizen would never have believed you if you told them what was eventually going to happen.
