If Scientology can legally stretch the concept of what is a religion into being classified as one, you should be able to make any belief, real or made up, into a religion, right?
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.
Sorry to spoil the fun, but this is a hoax story.
http://derstandard.at/1310511140592/Fuehrerschein-Nudelsieb-doch-nicht-aus-religioesen-Gruenden-genehmigt
since I’m not in the mood to translate the whole article, I give you a short summary:
There are in fact no religous exceptions for the pictures in driver licenses. The only criteria is that the face must be visible in full.
The exception rule for religous headgear only applies for EU-passports.
This rule says that headgear on the picture is only allowed if it has to be worn because of religous or medical reasons.
Mr Alms statement that the administration granted him the right to use the picture because of religous freedoms is not true.
Also it is not true that he “fought” 3 Years for his license. It was available for pick up at the license-office since 2009. Mr.Alm simply didn’t pick it up.
Cute story anyway.