In New Jersey, a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was denied the right to wear his sacred religious head covering, a pasta strainer, for his driver’s license photo.
Aaron Williams is a “Pastafarian,” and like many other Pastafarians, Aaron recognizes the pasta strainer to be a sacred religious head covering worn to bring honor upon his deity, the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
In an interview released Feb. 20, Williams spoke about his faith in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and his fight for religious liberty with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission:
"As a Pastafarian, I believe the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. The strainer is a showing of my devoutness to the religion."
Williams argues that being asked to remove the pasta strainer was in contrast to the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission policy on religious garb, which states that applicants who obtain photo driver's licenses are not required to remove religious or ethnic head coverings. Williams said:
"Had it been a turban or a head scarf, or something from a mainstream religion, then it would've been fine... I guess since they hadn't heard of the religion, that's why they opposed it. But that's not really acceptable to me. They're not in a position to discriminate against religions that are mainstream, or not mainstream, just because they may not have heard about it."
Williams was denied the right to wear his religious head covering for his driver's license photo earlier this month.
Pastafarians believe that the universe was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and that pirates were the first Pastafarians. They also recognize every Friday to be a holiday, and are fond of beer. According to the church website, the only dogma allowed in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the rejection of dogma.
What do you think? Aaron Williams and other Pastafarians claim it is their religious right as Pastafarians to wear the sacred religious head covering for driver's license photos. Do you agree? Leave a comment - express yourself.
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