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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523
13 July 2011 Last updated at 10:42 ET Share this pageEmail Print Share this page
87,093ShareFacebookTwitter.Austrian driver's religious headgear strains credulity
Having received his driving licence, Niko Alm now wants to get pastafarianism officially recognised Continue reading the main story
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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.
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.
Excellent
Win!
I wonder if I can do something similar here in Brazil. I mean, I'd love to take a picture with my favourite hat for my driving licence:
It's harder to pull an excuse for this one, though 
did you straighten your hair? you look different in this picture..
I should stop hanging around too many Asian girls... You know what they say, "you are what you meet" 
I didn't have a picture with the hat, so I just posted the first thing I found on Google Images. Here's my hat in all its glory:
what a beard. whoah. it's been growing - as in, the amount of chin taken up by beard seems to have increased greatly
Indeed, I should've trimmed it days weeks ago
Re: FAO: lira
| quote: |
| Originally posted by wienerschnitzel |
Marcus, you look like a cartoon character with your beard and that hat
I like Marcus' beard.
I'd probably have sex with him too, but only if he wore the hat 
I don't believe you would !
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Lira I should stop hanging around too many Asian girls... You know what they say, "you are what you meet" I didn't have a picture with the hat, so I just posted the first thing I found on Google Images. Here's my hat in all its glory: |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Lira |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by stren Marcus, you look like a cartoon character with your beard and that hat |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by FuzzQi AWESOME And you look like a mario mushroom |
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