The Glade 4.0

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523

Austrian driver's religious headgear strains credulity



Driving licence of Niko Alm Having received his driving licence, Niko Alm now wants to get pastafarianism officially recognised

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.
Passport photos of Niko Alm with a colander on his head 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.

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How can they call him an atheist when he is obviously a devout pastafarian?

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Do not question the will of It with the noodly appendages.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
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Legalism (even mock legalism) sucks. However, If they allow other groups to wear their headgear then Pastor Boyardee should get to wear his too.

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

What a retard.

Anyone that goes through that much trouble to mock people's beliefs is a waste of space.

So, is he an atheist, or is he a worshipper of the flying spaghetti monster? It seems he's really not all that sincere.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I was thinking the same thing. I have no problem with people that have faith and I have no problem with people that don't have it(I am one my self). But the people that go out of their way to mock faith are pieces of ****.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

If you make a special exception for one religion, you have to make the same special exception for others.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Sure. I can't impugn his free expression just because it strikes me as pointless and absurd. I'm sure many things I do with my free expression people find pointless and absurd (I've even been told as much )

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Oh, no doubt. But since he's an athiest, all he's doing is going through a lot of effort just for shits and giggles, and to make fun of other religions. So he should get his exception, if he follows the process, but that doesn't mitigate the fact that he's a jackass.

He's actually making fun of the law. It's just a happy coincidence that he gets to make fun of (other) religions.

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I wonder whose job it is to decide which religious beliefs are valid and which are just too silly to accommodate?

Oooh! Oooh! Pick me! Pick me!

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Apparently, it's still the government's. I still have faith that one day my lawn gnome based religion will get the respect it deserves.

People who have faith are delusional or uneducated. They should be helped, not mocked.

Presumably the legislature, or a body confirmed by them, within the bounds of the Austrain Constitution or whatever they have. I'm sure it's available on the internet, but the website might be in German.

As long as the people involved have a reasonable grasp of world history and culture and understand they are not there to push anyone's agenda, there won't be a problem.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Sorry, your eagerness and enthusiasm for the position is an automatic disqualifier

I am loving this thread, and not for the obvious reason

Care to enlighten us?

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I prefer to think of them as "Fighting evil in another dimension"

Attention seeking failure taking place