The debate over Intelligent Design and Evolution continues to rage in the media and in the classroom.

According to the Public Broadcasting System Web site, "Biological evolution refers to the cumulative changes that occur in a population over time."

While many maintain that evolution is just a theory, theories are never "proven right," according to the PBS Web site.

"The Darwinian theory of evolution has withstood the test of time and thousands of scientific experiments; nothing has disproved it since Darwin first proposed it more than 150 years ago," said the site.

Another common misconception is that organisms evolve.

"Individual organisms don't evolve. Populations evolve," said the site.

While evolution remains the standard creation theory accepted by most scientists and therefore the only one taught in public schools, many people, including some scientists, propose that there is evidence of ID in life. They argue that life is far too complex to have randomly evolved into the complexity that it is today.

According to the Intelligent Design Network Web site, "The theory of ID holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause rather than an undirected process such as natural selection."

Supporters of ID propose that evidence of Intelligent Design consists of "semantic, meaningful or functional nature of biological information," said the ID Network site. \r\nOne man has yet another alternative which he proposes is just as valid as both theories and should therefore be taught alongside them.

Bobby Henderson, a self-proclaimed concerned citizen from Oregon, wrote a letter to the Kansas School Board and several other school boards including the Shelby County School Board in Tennessee. In his letter, Henderson demands that his beliefs of creation be taught alongside other creation theories as, he believes, his theories are equally valid.

"I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster … We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him."

"FSMism" or "Pastafarianism," as it is sometimes called, is a religion built around the idea that God is in fact a flying spaghetti monster, heaven has a beer volcano and stripper factories, and the religion or theories of it can only be taught while wearing full pirate regalia.

"I cannot stress the importance of this enough (wearing pirate regalia), and unfortunately cannot describe in detail why this must be done as I fear this letter is already becoming too long. The concise explanation is that He becomes angry if we don't," said Henderson in the letter.

Pirates apparently play an integral part in the beliefs of "Pastafarians." According to a graph Henderson's Web site, www.venganza.org, there is a "statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature."

"Global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s," Henderson said in his letter. The graph, which is graphically accurate, shows an inverse relationship, though obviously a coincidence.

While many people think of Henderson's letter as silly, uninformed and even disrespectful, it has brought even more attention to an already hot-button issue. Henderson's Web site was even featured on CNN. Still, many people, especially college students have taken to the idea and some have even donned the full pirate regalia required to teach the beliefs and tried to "take the word to the people," by preaching in their quads and protesting right along side the commonly seen Christian protestors.

Several members of the Kansas School Board responded to Henderson's letter.

"The new version (standards of what should be taught in Kansas schools) changes the very definition of science from 'seeking natural explanations' to 'seeking logical explanations'. That is why I think 'FSMism' is able to be included. It is as 'logical' as any other theory," said Carol Rupe of the 8th District.

While there are numerous supporters of Henderson's attempt to protest the teaching of Intelligent Design, others are not so supportive. Kathy Martin, of District 6, responded to Henderson, "It is a serious offense to mock God."