Alm expected his request to be denied, thus dramatizing his claim that the exemption discriminates against non-religious citizens. The police, who are responsible for issuing the IDs, have insisted that his headgear was accommodated not because of its declared religious significance but because it left his face clearly visible. This only clouded the issue. The Department of Transportation website states that head coverings are permitted only for “religious reasons” (religiösen Gründen), and that in such cases, the face must be visible from the lower chin to the forehead.
No Pasta-Based Religious Freedom?
Satire is a dish best served al dente. The Austrian authorities issued a driver’s license to a “Pastafarian” with a picture of him wearing the approved headgear of the satirical religion: a plastic IKEA colander. The story was fed into the news-of-the-weird cycle and churned out faster than noodles from a pasta roller. The aim of Nico Alm’s impish stunt, as he explained on his blog at its outset, was not to win legal privileges for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, but rather to challenge the religious exemption to the regulations barring head coverings from official ID photographs.
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