A win for Pastafarian's everywhere

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Ns1

Ns1

No Lifer
Jun 17, 2001
55,420
1,600
126
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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.
Passport photos of Niko Alm with a colander on his head A medical interview established the self-styled 'pastafarian' was mentally fit to drive

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.
Straining credulity

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.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523


He should've gotten a giant ass strainer that covered his face too.



searched sieve, pastafarian, FSM. No reposts found.
 
T

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,954
577
126
Right, because sarcasm and mocking is a good foundation for all principled positions.
 
BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,720
15,120
146
tcsenter said:
Which proves....?
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tcsenter said:
Right, because sarcasm and mocking is a good foundation for all principled positions.
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You deride the guy for "sarcasm and mocking," yet he at least doesn't drive without a license. He may be "making light" of the whole "religious headgear" issue...which is fine as long as it's legal...and it apparently is in Austria.
 
T

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,954
577
126
BoomerD said:
You deride the guy for "sarcasm and mocking," yet he at least doesn't drive without a license.
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Which is relevant or tangential........how? I'm not criticizing the guy for occasionally violating the rules of the road, driving without insurance, tags and registration, or any other minor moving violation.
 
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BoomerD

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,720
15,120
146
tcsenter said:
Which is relevant or tangential........how? I'm not criticizing the guy for occasionally violating the rules of the road, driving without insurance, tags and registration, or any other minor moving violation.
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Instead, you criticize him for something even less important...his religious headgear.
That's like a "non-believer" criticizing Hindus, Sikhs, or Muslims for insisting on wearing their "religious headgear" in driver's license photos...One religion is no more valid than the other...to us non-believers.
 
T

tcsenter

Lifer
Sep 7, 2001
18,954
577
126
BoomerD said:
Instead, you criticize him for something even less important...his religious headgear. That's like a "non-believer" criticizing Hindus, Sikhs, or Muslims for insisting on wearing their "religious headgear" in driver's license photos...One religion is no more valid than the other...to us non-believers.
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Bullshit. Its not "religious" headgear. Pastafarianism is entirely based in mockery. I'm criticizing him for believing that cheap mockery is a fitting substitute for principled discourse and debate ala Christopher Hitchens (who mocks religion now and again, but its not his modus operandi).

I'm atheist. I view pompous atheist colleagues who prefer mockery over substantive discourse as a discredit to our beliefs, just as I loathe Michael Moore's similarly cheap parlor tricks. That's my point. Do you have a point? Or do you just get a kick out of dredging up and mocking my disability and struggle to live a normal life every chance you get?
 
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D

darkswordsman17

Lifer
Mar 11, 2004
23,444
5,852
146
tcsenter said:
Bullshit. Its not "religious" headgear. Pastafarianism is entirely based in mockery. I'm criticizing him for believing that cheap mockery is a fitting substitute for principled discourse and debate ala Christopher Hitchens (who mocks religion now and again, but its not his modus operandi).

I'm atheist. I view pompous atheist colleagues who prefer mockery over substantive discourse as a discredit to our beliefs, just as I loathe Michael Moore's similarly cheap parlor tricks. That's my point. Do you have a point? Or do you just get a kick out of dredging up and mocking my disability and struggle to live a normal life every chance you get?
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Are you really so naive that you can't understand that for many people "faith" isn't a solemn issue? You ever stop to think that maybe the fact that so many people take it so goddamn serious is the reason for this response?

BoomerD said:
At least he has a driver's license...:colbert:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2144763
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Lulz.
 
Whoozyerdaddy

Whoozyerdaddy

Lifer
Jun 27, 2005
19,216
1
61
So how does someone who doesn't believe in religion demand the right to display his non-religion in his DL picture? It's cute and all... but really if you reject all beliefs how is inserting your own a statement? At that point you're just creating a third party in the Christian/Muslim political debate.

It just seems like an oxymoron. How does an athiest demand to display a religious symbol?
 
slayer202

slayer202

Lifer
Nov 27, 2005
13,679
119
106
tcsenter said:
Bullshit. Its not "religious" headgear. Pastafarianism is entirely based in mockery. I'm criticizing him for believing that cheap mockery is a fitting substitute for principled discourse and debate ala Christopher Hitchens (who mocks religion now and again, but its not his modus operandi).

I'm atheist. I view pompous atheist colleagues who prefer mockery over substantive discourse as a discredit to our beliefs, just as I loathe Michael Moore's similarly cheap parlor tricks. That's my point. Do you have a point? Or do you just get a kick out of dredging up and mocking my disability and struggle to live a normal life every chance you get?
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You don't understand the difference between mocking for the sake of mocking, and mocking to make a point. It's a very simple concept, yet you failed. I'll spell it out for you. Religions should not get special treatment. So the pastafarians do us a favor by challenging the rules to show how silly those rules are.
 
Nebor

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
Whoozyerdaddy said:
So how does someone who doesn't believe in religion demand the right to display his non-religion in his DL picture? It's cute and all... but really if you reject all beliefs how is inserting your own a statement? At that point you're just creating a third party in the Christian/Muslim political debate.

It just seems like an oxymoron. How does an athiest demand to display a religious symbol?
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The idea is to break the system to such a degree that no religions are respected. If we place enough unreasonable demands on a system by acting as a "third party religion," eventually we can destroy the system's ability to recognize or favor any religion.

At least that's my view on it. I'm not a happy go lucky atheist, and I don't believe in freedom of religion.
 
Schadenfroh

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
The court should order him not to remove the "religious headgear" in public until the license expires.
 
Inspector Jihad

Inspector Jihad

Lifer
Apr 17, 2005
13,465
3
81
Schadenfroh said:
The court should order him not to remove the "religious headgear" in public until the license expires.
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He could just say that his denomination of pastafarianism believes in headgear only while taking official government photos. No more or less silly that other arbitrary rules set by religion.
 
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