• Man in Austria wins right to wear pasta strainer on head for driver ID photo on religious grounds
    47 replies, posted
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523 [/URL][quote][B]An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as "religious headgear".[/B] [B]Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons.[/B] [B]Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.[/B] 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 [URL="http://www.venganza.org/"]the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster[/URL], a light-hearted faith whose members call themselves pastafarians. 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.The group's website states that "the only dogma allowed in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the rejection of dogma". Straining credulity [B]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.[/B] 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. [B]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.[/B][/quote] I win for Pastafarians and FSM allies the world over. I think. [img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54049000/jpg/_54049868_hl_fuehrerschein_110712.jpg[/img]
Requesting schools to teach pastafarianism in the classroom - good point. Requesting department of transportation to allow you to wear fake headgear for a photograph - proves nothing, really.
The Law should not be giving in to Religion.
It's called a fucking colander god damnit.
he was doing it to protest women being allowed to wear non-face-concealing headscarves in their driver's license photos ie he's protesting a completely reasonable exception in the law for whatever petty reason he has to do such a thing
[QUOTE=SigmaLambda;31103954]he was doing it to protest women being allowed to wear non-face-concealing headscarves in their driver's license photos ie he's protesting a completely reasonable exception in the law for whatever petty reason he has to do such a thing[/QUOTE] I think he's just doing it because he's a silly person
The joke is he is an atheist and he managed to get them to let him wear it on religious terms despite being an atheist.
the next step is to try to get pulled over so you can see the cops face
hurr i dont believe in god hurrr lok a t how speshal i am hrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrr
[QUOTE=Chickens!;31103897]The Law should not be giving in to Religion.[/QUOTE] what the fuck are you talking about? All people have the full right to practice their religion, and the law should, and does respect that. I don't see how allowing people to wear religious headgear that isn't obscuring their face in a photo tears the line between church and state.
May we all be touched by his noodly appendage.
[QUOTE=Detective P;31103782] [IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54049000/jpg/_54049868_hl_fuehrerschein_110712.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] Hey Niko my cousin, You want to go bowling?
[QUOTE=truebluesniper;31104132]hurr i complain about athiests getting attention hurrr lok a t how different from that i am hrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrr[/QUOTE]
[quote]Straining credulity[/quote] I see what they did there.
[QUOTE=lil_n00blett;31103860]Requesting department of transportation to allow you to wear fake headgear for a photograph - proves nothing, really.[/QUOTE] 1st for the fun of it and 2nd to show that the law should not give in to religion. [QUOTE=truebluesniper;31104132]hurr i dont believe in god hurrr lok a t how speshal i am hrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrr[/QUOTE] An atheist makes a joke and protests, he must be an angsty jerk.
I think people should have the right to wear headgear if they like.
[QUOTE=Leaf Runner;31104153] I don't see how allowing people to wear religious headgear that isn't obscuring their face in a photo tears the line between church and state.[/QUOTE] Yes but it shouldn't be just for religion. If it doesn't obscure the face then everyone should be able to wear headgear.
I don't see "separation of church and state" as meaning stupid crap like that. That's not a big deal. I think that if Benjamin Franklin heard that people are allowed to wear headgear in IDs, but only for religious reasons, he wouldn't think too much of it. He'd probably have more of a problem with an ID in the first place but It's [i]hardly[/i] an establishment of religion.
[QUOTE=Karmah;31104104]The joke is he is an atheist and he managed to get them to let him wear it on religious terms despite being an atheist.[/QUOTE] do atheistic religions not exist anymore or...
Sanius really, the way people actually USE the words, "atheist" is much more strong a word than "non-religious". By strict definition, however, it is the opposite. Why do we insist on making such a big deal about it?
How can he be an atheist if he belongs to a church?
[QUOTE=Zet;31105189]How can he be an atheist if he belongs to a church?[/QUOTE] It's a joke religion
argh I can feel the english language shriveling up and dying
I know that feel bro. But seriously. In today's English and society, you might say: "Oh he says he's not religious, but he'd [i]never[/i] go so far as to say he's an atheist." However, you would NEVER say: "Oh he says he's an atheist, but he'd [i]never[/i] go so far as to say he's not religious."
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54052000/jpg/_54052148_fsm_strahlenhaube-1.jpg[/img] Why not? Looks nice.
Might I ask, Sanius, if you support non-face-concealing headgear to be allowed to be worn by religious people?
I really want to do this now. If anyone gives me grief I'll just show them this.
[QUOTE=Zet;31105189]How can he be an atheist if he belongs to a church?[/QUOTE] I don't know go ask some LaVeyan Satanists or Buddhists
[QUOTE=Leaf Runner;31104153]what the fuck are you talking about? All people have the full right to practice their religion, and the law should, and does respect that. I don't see how allowing people to wear religious headgear that isn't obscuring their face in a photo tears the line between church and state.[/QUOTE] See that's the point he has proven. If the law starts making exceptions for religious reasons, anyone can make up reasons.
Religion & law arguments aside, this is pretty damn funny.
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