CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I have an online friend who is an atheist and she has mentioned this Flying Spaghetti Monster many times in our conversations.

From what I understand, it was created as a spoof of religion several years back. But I don't understand completely what the purpose of it is or why several people that I know ascribe to Pastafarianism.

Does anyone have any experience with this? What is a good way to open discussion with someone who follows this trend?

Sorry! I didn't mean to submit this twice. The computer was being slow and I thought that it hadn't gone through.

Mods, please delete this duplicate thread. Thanks!