Austrians are still breaking new ground and messing with authorities.
Pasta strainers are now considered suitable religious headgear in Austria ... at least as far as the transport authorities are concerned, reports Raw Story.
Three years after applying for a new driver's licence, an Austrian man has finally received the laminated card. And the picture shows him sporting an upturned pasta strainer on his head.
Niko Alm, an atheist, says he belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose members call themselves Pastafarians and whose "only dogma ... is the rejection of dogma," according to its website.
Alm sent his application for a new driver's license in 2008 along with a picture of himself with a colander on his head.
This got him an invitation to the doctor's to check if he was mentally fit to drive, but after three years, Alm's efforts have paid off. Austrian authorities haved ruled the pasta strainer was a suitable religious accessory for a Pastafarian...
Alm now wants to apply for Pastafarianism to become an officially recognised faith in Austria.
Lame: caring about whether or not your religion is "officially recognized" by the local violence monopoly.
ReplyDeleteCool: poking fun at the arbitrary legitimacy of all other religions.
this is hilarious!
ReplyDeleteI have a very exaggerated sad/scared face in my license photo. I tell people that it's the face I make when the police harass me.
ReplyDeleteMy brother got his photo taken with a fake mustache.
@ Taylor,
ReplyDeleteI don't know the situation in Austria specifically, but in a number of Western European countries, being religious actually gives you more leniency with the law than if you were atheist or agnostic. Europe does not have a first amendment like America, and religious people are actually allowed to say more than non-religious people are.
This is the result of most of Western Europe being far more leftist than America. European countries have anti-discrimination laws that can have a man in court for certain types of so-called "discriminatory" speech, while religious people are protected by freedom of religion.
If you understand how things are going in Europe right now, you could understand how some people are trying to show this hypocrisy by saying "intolerant" things while claiming to be part of a religion themselves so they would be protected by law.
For the same reason some people have actually tried to establish a "church of smokers", so that under 'freedom of religion' they would be allowed to smoke in bars, workplaces and such as it would be an expression of religious beliefs. (Western Europe is also persecuting smokers more and more)
Can anyone prove the Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist?
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to try this in France.
ReplyDelete