Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Spaghetti Injunction: Pastafarianism Is Not A Religion, Dutch Court Rules
Spaghetti Injunction: Pastafarianism Is Not A Religion, Dutch Court Rules
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/1
6/pastafarianism-is-not-a-religion-dutch-court-
rules
Mienke de Wilde is now considering taking her case Officially recognised by the New Zealand
to the European court of human rights. government, which approved it to conduct
marriages in 2015, the church’s status is disputed in
The Netherlands’ highest court said de Wilde, a law
many other countries, although several have
student from Nijmegen, could not be exempted on
allowed followers to wear colanders or pirate
religious grounds from a ban on headwear in
outfits for ID photographs.
official identity photographs, because Pastfarianism
was essentially a satire and not a serious faith. 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).
which features a stripper factory and a beer such criticism a serious religion,” the council
volcano. said, adding that Pastafarianism lacked the
“seriousness and coherence” required of a religion.
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,
Assignment – Writing – Not Assessed:
which backed Nijmegen authorities’ rejection of her
ID photos. The Dutch government is reconsidering its position
and seeks public comments to establish society’s
“I can imagine that it all looks very odd if you don’t
view of the legitimacy of Pastafarianism.
believe,” she told the Algemeen Dagblad
newspaper. “But that’s the case with many faiths if Please write around 450 - 500 words / 1 page
you don’t believe in them – people who walk on offering your view on this “religion” and how the
water or divide themselves in two, for example. I government should treat people claiming to adhere
find other religions unbelievable.” 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.
Pastafarian followers protest for the right of please include a brief reference (in a footnote) such
minority religions to be recognised in the UK. that I can locate and retrieve it.
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo Due Date: please bring your printed response to the
The Dutch council of state was not impressed, tutorial class on Friday 7th September.