New Zealand for example has attracted attention for permitting adherents to officiate as marriage celebrants. Some jurisdictions have permitted adherents to wear a colander as a head covering when photographed for driver licence photo identity cards. The Netherlands has adopted a different stance.
The Guardian reports that the council of state, that nation's highest court, has ruled that Pastafarianism is not a religion and accordingly dened law student Mienke de Wilde the right to wear a colander on her head in her passport and driving licence photo. Off to the European court of human rights?
Driver photo IDs featuring the colander indicia are found in Victoria, New South Wales, Austria and other jurisdictions. (Australia does not permit the colander on the biometric photos in passports and, as noted in a post on Emanuel and Anor v State of Queensland [2011] QCAT 731, requires people to provide a facial image as a condition for licensed driving of motor vehicles, with the photo ID driver licence card serving as the default national identity document for most Australian adults.)
The court appears to have concluded that Pastfarianism was parodic of conventional religions, noting its foundation in 2005 as a response to Christian fundamentalists advocating the teaching of creationism in US schools. Critics demanded 'equal time' in science classrooms for 'Flying Spaghetti Monsterism', with adherents claiming to worship an invisible and undetectable god called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, wear colanders on their heads in homage to that deity, eat pasta, "be nice to all sentient beings" and recognise pirates as the original Pastafarians.
De Wilde is reported as stating that although the church was humorous that did not mean it was not “very serious in what it stands for”.
I can imagine that it all looks very odd if you don’t believe. 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.Consistent with Australian jurisprudence, the court considered the obligations of adherents. It is reported to have commented
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. 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.“It is important to be able to criticise religious dogma freely through satire but that does not make such criticism a serious religion.”
