Marcus Bowring, a man in Victoria, Australia, was able to take a picture for his driver’s license with a colander on his head.
Why might he want this done? The short answer: religious reasons.
Bowring is a part of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a church that has gained notoriety in recent years for it’s strange beliefs. That, and for being a satire on more recognized religions.
The church itself rejects that sentiment, stating on their website that, “anything that comes across as humor or satire is purely coincidental.”
A few years ago, another man requested to have his license picture taken with his religious attire — a colander — and his request was denied.
So is the Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster becoming more legitimate? And what does that mean for more established religions like Christianity, Judaism and Islam?
On the church’s website, they explain that they “are not anti-religion,” but that they “are anti-crazy nonsense done in the name of religion. There is a difference.”
There is an undeniably valid criticism in that.
The fact that people who “believe” in a literal Flying Spaghetti Monster have valid complaints with major religions is probably the reason that Christians love to hate the Pastafarians.
Larry Mendte, a Christian religious leader, said that “It has become cool in this country to mock religions, especially Christianity.”
He goes on to say that this has become a huge problem for Christians. However, I believe that mockery and criticisms are vastly different.
I also believe that it’s hard to look in the mirror and say to yourself, as a Christian, that people that wear colanders on their heads have a pretty good point about your religious practices.
However, there are completely ludicrous limitations and expectations in religions around the world, not just in Christianity.
I believe the majority of Christians would agree with me on that, because some of the limitations include not eating shellfish (Lev.11.10-12) and not wearing clothes of mixed fibers (Lev.19.19).
Most Christians find these stipulations to be inconvenient or undoable so they ignore them completely.
It doesn’t matter how widely ignored it is. It is still a part of the religion.
Just because everyone else ignores it too doesn’t excuse your “sinful” behavior — at least according to the Bible. So, ignoring that they say the satire is a coincidence — which is hard to believe — there is a lot for Christians to take away from the Pastafarians.
Their criticism is completely justified.
Though I may not agree with their religious views, I can accept their criticisms, purposeful or otherwise. I can even agree with some of them, but I’m not offended by them.