If Scientology can legally stretch the concept of what is a religion into being classified as one, you should be able to make any belief, real or made up, into a religion, right?
An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as “religious headgear”.
Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons. Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.
He uses the strainer when he hands out the kool-aid to catch any leftover cyanide pulp.
……and DOGMA still applies……
Had a girl friend once who was surprised I used a pasta strainer to separate the water from my boiled potatoes. Using it for anything but pasta had never occurred to her. Yes, I thought that was adorable.
NobodySpecial said “So this is a made-up religion, not a real one?”
Yup, it’s a made up one. Like Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
#20 Give a about a thousand years of continued silliness. Then it becomes a religion.
“Slack”
religion sell sell sell… at least at the end of the day those Pastafarians will have something to eat
“Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.”
No, it isn’t.
I sense an ugly schism brewing.
I have been Touched by his Noodly Appendage!
Hey Phydeau, as have I. Our dogma is we have no dogma. It’s such a beautiful religion.
Ramen.
I don’t think this guy’s so smart. I’m pretty sure that Austria requires you to pay a fee to register as belonging to a religion.
Well, the church you belong to can ask you to pay a fee. But I doubt anybody is collecting from Pastafarians…
Sorry to spoil the fun, but this is a hoax story.
http://derstandard.at/1310511140592/Fuehrerschein-Nudelsieb-doch-nicht-aus-religioesen-Gruenden-genehmigt
since I’m not in the mood to translate the whole article, I give you a short summary:
There are in fact no religous exceptions for the pictures in driver licenses. The only criteria is that the face must be visible in full.
The exception rule for religous headgear only applies for EU-passports.
This rule says that headgear on the picture is only allowed if it has to be worn because of religous or medical reasons.
Mr Alms statement that the administration granted him the right to use the picture because of religous freedoms is not true.
Also it is not true that he “fought” 3 Years for his license. It was available for pick up at the license-office since 2009. Mr.Alm simply didn’t pick it up.
Cute story anyway.