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Pastafarianism - Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
This atheist loves pasta - And is a member of the pastafarianism religion! "an invisible flying spaghetti monster created the universe" - Hey if you ask me it sounds just as logical as saying that the Jesus guy did it! The Weirdest Driver’s License Ever? By Adriana Diaz | Trending Now Austrian Niko Alm fought for three years before he was able to take his driver's license photo. Austrian authorities had issues with Alm's preferred headgear: a pasta strainer. Trending Now But this week he finally was able to take the picture how he wanted, thanks to Austria's religious freedom laws. Alm is a self-described member of "the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster," which is spiking off the charts in Yahoo! Search. The satirical religion, also known as "pastafarianism," rejects creationism and says that an invisible flying spaghetti monster created the universe. The spaghetti church, which is headed by a "pastafarian primavera," was founded in 2005 when Kansas schools were under pressure to teach the theory of intelligent design rather than evolution. On his blog, Alm wrote, "Today I was able to get my new driving license, and in it you can clearly see that I'm wearing a colander on my head to demonstrate my allegiance to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster." It took three years for Alm to be able to take the photo, because he had to prove that he was psychologically fit to drive. ‘Pastafarian’ religious headgear gives new meaning to ‘cookware’ Published: 6:40 PM 07/14/2011 | Updated: 12:00 AM 07/15/2011 By Ameena Schelling An undated photo provided by Niko Alm on Thursday, July 14, 2011, showing his driving license photo. It has to be strangest piece of identification in Austria - if not the world. Alm's new drivers license shows him wearing a pasta strainer as headgear. A tongue-in cheek atheist, Alm submitted the photo as part of applying for a new license to test an Austrian law stipulating that head coverings were allowed in official documents only for religious reasons. Alm said he was a "pastafarian," and the headpiece was required for his religion. Alm said that it took three years to have the licensee issued. Police officials say religion was never an issue. They say the photo fulfills the criterion of leaving Alm's face fully recognizable. Freedom of religion has gone to a new extreme, as Austrian authorities have decided wearing a pasta strainer on one’s head in a driver’s license photo is a state-protected form of religious expression, according to the BBC. Austrian Niko Alm told reporters that he recently won a three-year battle to wear a strainer-hat in his license photo as a type of religious headgear. A self-described “pastafarian” and member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Alm decided a sieve would be the best sign of his religious devotion, and submitted a picture of him wearing the kitchen equipment along with his application for a license in 2008. Initially, the application only earned Alm a mandatory appointment with a doctor to confirm that he was mentally fit to drive. But after a three-year wait, authorities sent Alm his card in the mail. He now says the processed license signifies Austrian recognition of the colander’s religious importance. But Vienna police spokesman Mafred Reinthaler explained that the decision was less significant, according to the BBC. “The photo was not approved on religious grounds,” Reinthaler said. “The only criterion for photos in driving licence applications is that the whole face must be visible.” An atheist, Alm first thought of the stunt after hearing that Austrian officials were permitting confessional headgear in photos, according to the BBC. He is currently working on having “pastafarianism” officially recognized as a faith. The U.S.-based Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was founded in 2005 when its founder sent a letter to the Kansas School Board requesting that the state require students to be instructed in pastafarian intelligent design. This followed pressure from Christian groups to teach intelligent design over natural selection in schools. The letter quickly went viral. The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the parody religion the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Pastafarianism (a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarian). The "Flying Spaghetti Monster" first appeared in a satirical open letter by Bobby Henderson in 2005, written in protest against the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to permit the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public schools. In the letter, Henderson parodied the concept of intelligent design by professing belief in a supernatural creator that closely resembles spaghetti and meatballs. Henderson further called for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism to be allotted equal time in science classrooms alongside intelligent design and evolution. SNIP
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