[Sandwich]

Mass. woman wins fight to wear colander in driver’s license by citing ‘pastafarian’ religion

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/13/woman-wins-fight-wear-colander-drivers-license/


I can't even. EDIT: Also,

[Grizzly]

I can't even.

Why not? This is hilarious!

[Black Wolf]

When it comes to freedom of religion, you've got to be in for a penny, in for a pound. You either go down the french road and start banning public religious displays, or you open yourself up to joke religions mocking established religions. More power to them I say.

Incidentally, this is a pretty well established thing now, thousands of people have done it. Not really newsworthy.

[Phantom Hoover]

I can't even.

Why not? This is hilarious!

sandwich is a devout reformed pastafarian and believes the wearing of the colander to be a heresy perpetuated by raviolian schismatics

[Dragon]

Well, religious freedom and respect for other faiths means you also have to respect all of them (even Scientologists, if you ever found one of them who wasn't unworthy of respect anyway). She's not the first one to pull off such stunt (though the other case I heard about was a passport photo, IIRC). I think it makes more sense than the French approach, TBH.

[AtomicClucker]

Eh, she still looks stupid. Some people can pull it off, she just looks like she came straight out of an asylum or a Wal-Mart. At least a beer cap provides alcohol, a colander best stays with the spaghetti.

[IronBeer]

When it comes to freedom of religion, you've got to be in for a penny, in for a pound. You either go down the french road and start banning public religious displays, or you open yourself up to joke religions mocking established religions. More power to them I say.

Especially in the US, the latter (open to jokes) interpretation is the only sensible one. Freedoms of religion and expression are impressively easy to swallow when people only agree with you or believe the same things as you.

[headdie]

Is a colander an upgrade or a downgrade from a foil hat?  While the colander is made of thicker metal with a better finish than a foil hat, it is also considerably more holy than a well made foil hat

[Phantom Hoover]

the holes don't make a difference for the purpose of being a faraday cage but you can get better coverage with tinfoil

[Mikes]

She ain't the first, she won't be the last ;-)

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pastafarian-man-niko-alm-wins-right-to-wear-colander-on-his-head-in-driving-license-photo-9610859.html hehe

[NGTM-1R]

I can't even.

 

Are you attempting to dictate what is and is not a sincerely held belief? Because that's an exceptionally bad idea.

[Sandwich]

I can't even.

 

Are you attempting to dictate what is and is not a sincerely held belief? Because that's an exceptionally bad idea.

Heh, no, not at all... I think my post gave people the wrong impression since I didn't have a at the end...

[Veers]

A bloke in South Australia did it last year, but with his firearms licence.

AdelaideNow.com.au

Personally I find it amusing, it's not like they are wearing something that is obscuring their face or hiding their identity. But naturally the authorities will probably take a different, if not consistent view.

[Dragon]

I wonder what the court said in his case. If they told a Sikh he has to go to a psychologist because he wants to be photographed in his turban (or, heaven forbid, a Muslim woman in a hijab...), the world would be up in arms. His case is exactly the same, only with a different head covering.

[Klaustrophobia]

Not that I believe there's reason to restrict what you can wear in photos (beyond the 'duh' level anyway), I DO believe there's absolutely a difference between an established religion and a 'religion' invented for the sole purpose of antagonizing religion as a concept.  Hey I just created a religion that says it's totally okay to murder people.  In fact, I'm required to kill at least one person per week.  I should be tolerated, damnit!  You can't persecute my religious beliefs!

[Bobboau]

The belief cannot be legislated against, but the acts can, you are perfectly fine (legally speaking) believing that you are required to kill at least one person per week so long as you don't.
Pastafarians clearly take their doctrines quite seriously, irrespective of the reasoning behind them. they might not actually believe that global warming is caused by lack of piracy, but they DO believe that putting on that act is important.

[Phantom Hoover]

Not that I believe there's reason to restrict what you can wear in photos (beyond the 'duh' level anyway), I DO believe there's absolutely a difference between an established religion and a 'religion' invented for the sole purpose of antagonizing religion as a concept.  Hey I just created a religion that says it's totally okay to murder people.  In fact, I'm required to kill at least one person per week.  I should be tolerated, damnit!  You can't persecute my religious beliefs!

"Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose."

[StarSlayer]

I think I would require them to wear it during traffic stops for positive identification.

[NGTM-1R]

Not that I believe there's reason to restrict what you can wear in photos (beyond the 'duh' level anyway), I DO believe there's absolutely a difference between an established religion and a 'religion' invented for the sole purpose of antagonizing religion as a concept.

Hey, guess what.

You don't get to decide what's a sincere belief and what's not because that way lies oppression.

[Aesaar]

Not that I believe there's reason to restrict what you can wear in photos (beyond the 'duh' level anyway), I DO believe there's absolutely a difference between an established religion and a 'religion' invented for the sole purpose of antagonizing religion as a concept.  Hey I just created a religion that says it's totally okay to murder people.  In fact, I'm required to kill at least one person per week.  I should be tolerated, damnit!  You can't persecute my religious beliefs!

Right, because no established religions mandate the death penalty for certain offenses.

But yeah, what NGTM-1R said.  You don't get to decide what is or isn't a sincerely held religious belief.