Spaghetti injunction: Pastafarianism is not a religion, Dutch court rules
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster follower denied right to wear colander in ID photos
Jon Henley
@jonhenley
Thu 16 Aug 2018 13.08 BST Last modified on Thu 16 Aug 2018 19.40 BST



Mienke de Wilde, pictured wearing a pasta strainer, is considering taking her case to the European court of human rights.
The Dutch council of state has ruled that Pastafarianism is not a religion, denying a follower of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster the right to wear a colander on her head in her passport and driving licence photo.

Mienke de Wilde is now considering taking her case to the European court of human rights.

The Netherlands’ highest court said de Wilde, a law student from Nijmegen, could not be exempted on religious grounds from a ban on headwear in official identity photographs, because Pastfarianism was essentially a satire and not a serious faith.



Pastafarian Andrei Filin became the first Russian to win the right to pose wearing a knitted pasta strainer in his driver’s licence photo. Photograph:
The church was founded in the US in 2005 by Bobby Henderson as a response to Christian fundamentalists advocating the teaching of creationism in schools. In an open letter, Henderson demanded equal time in science classrooms for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.


Believers worship an invisible and undetectable god called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, wear colanders on their heads in homage to their deity, revere pirates as the original Pastafarians and vow to reject “crazy nonsense”, be nice to all sentient beings and eat a lot of pasta.

Officially recognised by the New Zealand government, which approved it to conduct marriages in 2015, the church’s status is disputed in many other countries, although several have allowed followers to wear colanders or pirate outfits for ID photographs.

Among its tenets, laid down by Henderson in a 2006 parody of organised religion called The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, are eight “I’d Really Rather You Didn’ts” (according to the gospel, two of the original 10 got lost).

If followed, the pseudo-commandments allow Pastafarians, who conclude their prayers with “Ramen”, rather than “amen”, to ascend to heaven – which features a stripper factory and a beer volcano.

De Wilde said the church was humorous but that did not mean it was not “very serious in what it stands for”. She was disappointed by the decision, which backed Nijmegen authorities’ rejection of her ID photos.

“I can imagine that it all looks very odd if you don’t believe,” she told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. “But that’s the case with many faiths if you don’t believe in them – people who walk on water or divide themselves in two, for example. I find other religions unbelievable.”

Pastafarian followers protest for the right of minority religions to be recognised in the UK.

Pastafarian followers protest for the right of minority religions to be recognised in the UK. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
The Dutch council of state was not impressed, however. “It may be the case that the colander is considered a holy object for Pastafarians, worn in honour of the Flying Spaghetti Monster but there is no obligation to do so,” it said in its ruling.

“In fact, Pastafarianism has no obligations or restrictions. De Wilde has said she wears her colander because she sees it as duty but it is an individual choice.”

Dutch law permits the head to be partially covered for identity photos, but only for genuine religious reasons.

“It is important to be able to criticise religious dogma freely through satire but that does not make such criticism a serious religion,” the council said, adding that Pastafarianism lacked the “seriousness and coherence” required of a religion.

---------------------------------------------------------------

" I am outraged, other faiths wear all sorts of strange garb, Niquabs, Turbans, Curly side locks with flat caps, just to name a couple anyway what is a "serious" faith ?"

charlie

Hilarious.
The dutchies not getting the point it seems.
If you can't even wear spectacles in a passport photo why the 8-> should you be allowed to wear tribal headgear?
I feel the call to Pasta myself.

Perfect for driving. Would also make a great motorbike helmet.

So, his noodliness finally reaches out to CEO.
Beer volcanos and strippers in heaven!
Praise be to Quob and Gerald the intergalactic goat.

Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

.

Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

LOL. Go Pastafari.

Documentary follows Pastafarians as they strain for recognition

Film-maker has spent three years showing how the colander-wearing religion is more than a joke
Jon Henley

Some time next year, the European court of human rights will decide on the case of a Dutch woman who feels unfairly treated because her country’s highest court has told her she cannot wear a plastic colander on her head for her ID photo.

It may combine Mienke de Wilde’s plea with that of an Austrian former MP, Niko Alm, who proudly wears the offending kitchen utensil on his official documents but now insists his country recognise Pastafarianism – the faith both follow – as a religion.

Watching the pair closely is Mike Arthur, an independent American film-maker whose smart, funny but above all thought-provoking documentary, I, Pastafari, about the world’s fastest-growing faith premieres in the US in October.

All in all, it is shaping up to be quite a big few months for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose believers wear strainers on their heads in homage to their deity, strive to be nice to pretty much everyone, and conclude their prayers with “r’amen” rather than “amen”.

It sounds, of course, like a joke. On one level, it is. But for Arthur, who has spent three years working on his film, and for many Pastafarians who believe their faith embodies some profound – and profoundly important – principles, it is a lot more.

“We live,” says Arthur, sitting in an Amsterdam cafe, “in the age of unreason. We no longer value the best idea, but the loudest idea. From Brexit to Trump, we applaud blind faith and are sceptical about overwhelming observable evidence.

“The problem is that rationality is just no match for irrationality. That ship sailed in 2016. People now don’t change their minds, they double down on their irrationality, and using facts, science and reason to contest the unreasonable is simply driving us all further apart. Maybe it’s time to try a different approach.”

A different approach is, undeniably, what Flying Spaghetti Monsterism offers. The church was founded in 2005 by Bobby Henderson, at the time a 25-year-old US physics graduate, as a response to Christian fundamentalists demanding the teaching of creationism in Kansas school science classes. Its name is a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarianism.

In an open letter, Henderson argued that if intelligent design was to be taught alongside evolution, so should the belief that, with the aid of His Noodly Appendages, an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe, probably after drinking heavily (thus explaining its many flaws).

Like other religions, the church has a gospel and, rather than commandments, eight “I’d really rather you didn’ts” (two having been lost). These suggest ways to live your life happily without infringing on others’ rights to do the same – a morality based on harmonious co-existence, nonjudgmental conduct “and generally not being a dick”.

Henderson’s basic point, expertly if satirically made, was that since intelligent design was every bit as much of an evidence-based theory as the unshakable belief that the world was created by an omniscient flying monster made of spaghetti, nothing should be taught in science classes bar science.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/ ... ecognition

A clip from the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
demonstrating how life is just so perfectly al dente when you live a pure Pastafarianist life .

Friend just sent me this. Useful, stylish, and tempting at only $18 on Am*****.