Spaghetti injunction: Pastafarianism is not a religion, Dutch court rules
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster follower
denied right to wear colander in ID photos
Jon Henley – The Guardian - Thu 16 Aug 2018
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/1
6/pastafarianism-is-not-a-religion-dutch-court-
rules
Mienke de Wilde, pictured wearing a pasta strainer,
is considering taking her case to the European court
of human rights. Photograph: Piroschka van de
Wouw/EPA
The Dutch council of state has ruled that
Pastafarianism is not a religion, denying a follower
of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster the
right to wear a colander on her head in her passport
and driving licence photo.
Mienke de Wilde is now considering taking her case
to the European court of human rights.
The Netherlands’ highest court said de Wilde, a law
student from Nijmegen, could not be exempted on
religious grounds from a ban on headwear in official
identity photographs, because Pastfarianism was
essentially a satire and not a serious faith.
Pastafarian Andrei Filin became the first Russian to
win the right to pose wearing a knitted pasta
strainer in his driver’s licence photo. Photograph:
Alamy Stock Photo
The church was founded in the US in 2005 by Bobby
Henderson as a response to Christian
fundamentalists advocating the teaching of
creationism in schools. In an open letter, Henderson
demanded equal time in science classrooms for
Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.
Believers worship an invisible and undetectable god
called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, wear colanders
on their heads in homage to their deity, revere
pirates as the original Pastafarians and vow to
reject “crazy nonsense”, be nice to all sentient
beings and eat a lot of pasta.
Officially recognised by the New Zealand
government, which approved it to conduct
marriages in 2015, the church’s status is disputed in
many other countries, although several have
allowed followers to wear colanders or pirate
outfits for ID photographs.
Among its tenets, laid down by Henderson in a 2006
parody of organised religion called The Gospel of
the Flying Spaghetti Monster, are eight “I’d Really
Rather You Didn’ts” (according to the gospel, two of
the original 10 got lost).
If followed, the pseudo-commandments allow
Pastafarians, who conclude their prayers with
“Ramen”, rather than “amen”, to ascend to heaven –
which features a stripper factory and a beer
volcano.
Spaghetti injunction: Pastafarianism is not a religion, Dutch court rules
De Wilde said the church was humorous but that
did not mean it was not “very serious in what it
stands for”. She was disappointed by the decision,
which backed Nijmegen authorities’ rejection of her
ID photos.
“I can imagine that it all looks very odd if you don’t
believe,” she told the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper.
“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.”
==========
Assignment – Writing – Not Assessed:
The Dutch government is reconsidering its position
and seeks public comments to establish society’s
view of the legitimacy of Pastafarianism.
Please write around 450 - 500 words / 1 page
offering your view on this “religion” and how the
government should treat people claiming to adhere
to it. Your paper should have 11 point font, 1.5 line
spacing, and use a serif font such as Times New
Roman / Cambria / Garamond or similar. Please
include your name and student number in the
document header together with a word count.

In your response (in English) please consider and

use the most appropriate tone and language for a
submission to an official governmental body.

If you refer to any sources other than this article

please include a brief reference (in a footnote) such

Pastafarian followers protest for the right of that I can locate and retrieve it.

minority religions to be recognised in the UK.

Due Date: please bring your printed response to the
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
tutorial class on Friday 7th September.

The Dutch council of state was not impressed,

however. “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,” it said in its ruling.

“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.”

Dutch law permits the head to be partially covered

for identity photos, but only for genuine religious
reasons.

“It is important to be able to criticise religious

dogma freely through satire but that does not make
such criticism a serious religion,” the council
said, adding that Pastafarianism lacked the
“seriousness and coherence” required of a religion.