Man allowed to wear a pasta strainer in his DP photo

[Dizzy28]

13 July 2011 - 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.

The Austrian authorities required him to obtain a doctor's certificate that he was "psychologically fit" to drive.

The idea came into Mr Alm's noodle three years ago as a way of making a serious, if ironic, point.

A self-confessed atheist, Mr Alm says he belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a light-hearted faith whose members call themselves pastafarians.

The group's website states that "the only dogma allowed in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the rejection of dogma".

In response to pressure for American schools to teach the Christian theory known as intelligent design, as an alternative to natural selection, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote to the Kansas School Board asking for the pastafarian version of intelligent design to be taught to schoolchildren, as an alternative to the Christian theory.
Mental fitness check

In the same spirit, Mr Alm's pastafarian-style application for a driving licence was a response to the Austrian recognition of confessional headgear in official photographs.

The licence took three years to come through and, according to Mr Alm, he was asked to submit to a medical interview to check on his mental fitness to drive but - straining credulity - his efforts have finally paid off.

It is the police who issue driving licences in Austria, and they have duly issued a laminated card showing Mr Alm in his unorthodox item of religious headgear.

The next step, Mr Alm told the Austrian news agency APA, is to apply to the Austrian authorities for pastafarianism to become an officially recognised faith.

[crazybalhead]

Ramen!

[shogun]

ROFL! @ pastafarianism....well yes!
I think i belong to that "religion" btw

[Chimera]

!!! I`m a pastafarian!

*runs off to get nice new strainer for new dp and passport pic*

[Chimera]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

Henderson proposed many Pastafarian tenets in reaction to common arguments by proponents of intelligent design.[28] These "canonical beliefs" are presented by Henderson in his letter to the Kansas State Board of Education,[10] the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and on Henderson's web site, where he is described as a prophet.[29] They tend to satirize creationism.[2]

The central belief is that an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe "after drinking heavily". According to these beliefs, the Monster's intoxication was the cause for a flawed Earth. Furthermore, according to Pastafarianism, all evidence for evolution was planted by the Flying Spaghetti Monster in an effort to test Pastafarians' faith—parodying certain biblical literalists.[30] When scientific measurements such as radiocarbon dating are taken, the Flying Spaghetti Monster "is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage".[10] The Pastafarian belief of Heaven contains a beer volcano and a stripper factory.[29] The Pastafarian Hell is similar, except that the beer is stale and the strippers have sexually transmitted diseases.[31]

Pastafarians' beliefs extend into religious ceremony. Pastafarians celebrate every Friday as a holy day.[2] Prayers are concluded with a final declaration of affirmation, "R'amen"; the term is a parodic portmanteau of the Semitic term "Amen" and "ramen", referring to the instant noodles popular among college students.[4]

[Chimera]

this thing is KIX yes

loll

Ramendan

Ramendan is similar to the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. Instead of praying and fasting, participants spend a few days eating nothing but ramen instant noodles, remembering their days as college students, and giving thanks for how far they have come.[41]

[GTcruzer]

Our Spaghetti, who flyth as a monster, in tomato sauce lay thine name. Thy pasta come, thy food be done on a stove or in the oven. Give us this meal, our daily pie & forgive us for partaking in rice. As we eat the meatballs, of those ricers around us. And lead us not, into fries nation. And deliver us to Pastalon.

[~Vēġó~]

wayz!!! the heights of this is oxygen depleting!!!

[crazybalhead]

Yeah, but yuh eh hear bout the pirates yet vega..

[GTcruzer]

I wonder if his followers would refer to him as "Pasta" instead of "Pastor"

[Chimera]

LOL the pirates...we need more pirates to stop all this natural disasters!

[~Vēġó~]

Yeah, but yuh eh hear bout the pirates yet vega..

what? No.....tell me more.....

[Chimera]

Yeah, but yuh eh hear bout the pirates yet vega..

what? No.....tell me more.....

Pirates are revered as the original Pastafarians, and Pastafarians assert that a steady decline in the number of pirates over the years has resulted in a significant rise in global temperature. The FSM community currently congregates at Henderson's website to share ideas and crafts devoted to the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Pirates and global warming
A chart, included in the open letter, illustrating the relationship between pirates and global temperature

According to Pastafarian beliefs, pirates are "absolute divine beings" and the original Pastafarians.[10] Furthermore, Pastafarians believe that pirates' image as "thieves and outcasts" is misinformation spread by Christian theologians in the Middle Ages and by Hare Krishnas. Instead, Pastafarians believe that they were "peace-loving explorers and spreaders of good will" who distributed candy to small children, adding that modern pirates are in no way similar to "the fun-loving buccaneers from history". In addition, Pastafarians believe that ghost pirates are responsible for all of the mysterious lost ships and planes of the Bermuda Triangle. Pastafarians celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19.[32]

The inclusion of pirates in Pastafarianism was part of Henderson's original letter to the Kansas State Board of Education, in an effort to illustrate that correlation does not imply causation.[33] Henderson presented the argument that "global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of pirates since the 1800s."[10] A chart accompanying the letter (with numbers humorously disordered on the x-axis) shows that as the number of pirates decreased, global temperatures increased. This parodies the suggestion from some religious groups that the high numbers of disasters, famines and wars in the world is due to the lack of respect and worship towards their deity. In 2008, Henderson interpreted the growing pirate activities at the Gulf of Aden as additional support, pointing out that Somalia has "the highest number of pirates and the lowest carbon emissions of any country."[34]
Holidays

[Chimera]

I am the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Thou shalt have no other monsters before Me. (Afterwards is OK; just use protection.) The only Monster who deserves capitalization is Me! Other monsters are false monsters, undeserving of capitalization.

[crazybalhead]

Natural disasters are inversely proportional to the decrease in pirates of yor. That is why us pastafarians dress as pirates to help reduce natural disasters.

[~Vēġó~]

WDFORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know a mason who is a rasta..... he could start he own following called plastafarianism....get it-->plaster-farianism......

*crickets*

[TRAE]

pastafarianism--- nigg@ what

[S_2NR]

hahhaha..he rel bad!

[Dizzy28]

Natural disasters are inversely proportional to the decrease in pirates of yor. That is why us pastafarians dress as pirates to help reduce natural disasters.

[VexXx Dogg]

full of teh epics.

[foss]

[rmlmv]

No less wierd than any other religion, and what they want to wear.

[K74T]

:shock: WDFORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know a mason who is a rasta..... he could start he own following called plastafarianism....get it-->plaster-farianism......

*crickets*

indeed

[foss]

he related to Travis Pastrana by chance?

[sharkman121]

I wonder if his followers would refer to him as "Pasta" instead of "Pastor"

[DrunkenMaster16]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, sad thing is im also a follower of the spaghetti.

FSM, bless us all with your almighty meat balls!

[Chimera]

vega yuh laughing at men beliving in flying spaghetti monster and that pirates will save the world....but wha bout men who believe in immaculate conception, a zombie God, monkey Gods, men lifting mountains over their heads etc

[foss]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, sad thing is im also a follower of the spaghetti.

FSM, bless us all with your almighty meat balls!

gay

[foss]

I wonder if his followers would refer to him as "Pasta" instead of "Pastor"

[DrunkenMaster16]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, sad thing is im also a follower of the spaghetti.

FSM, bless us all with your almighty meat balls!

gay

You sir are insulting my religion with your heterosexual / homosexual comments. We believers in the spaghetti do not class people by sexual orientation. Only by their love for the spaghetti!

Please do not insult my religion as i refrain from pointing out the flaws in your's.

May the spaghetti be extra saucy for you.