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Curiosities from Austria

Pasta strainer as religious headgear, holiday bonus for Catholics only

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Niko Alm with pasta strainer headpiece

Niko Alm, representative of the Giordano Bruno Stiftung in Austria and chairman of the Austrian Zentralrat der Konfessionsfreien (Central Council of the Denomination-Free), has made an absurd case of the Austrian regulation that only religious headdresses may be used on driving licence pictures: As a supporter of "Pastafarianism" and member of the "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster", Alm had his picture taken with a noodle strainer on his head and submitted it to the authorities. After being summoned to an official doctor who confirmed that Alm was able to drive, and three years of hesitation on part of the authorities, the Viennese entrepreneur was now able to pick up his new "Holy Driver's Licence".

The gbs directorate congratulates Niko Alm on this amusing Don Quichottery in the name of freedom of belief and is eager to see whether the Austrian state will soon officially recognise the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a religious community. Soon the news that pasta strainers were classifiable as religious headwear was circulating in the media, e.g. reports in ORFStandard, Spiegel-online, or BBC-News. Additional details can be found on Niko Alm's Blog.

Equally curious, but far less pleasing, is the latest proposal by Styrian's Chamber of Commerce official Hermann Talowski to pay holiday bonuses only to Catholic employees. "Talowski is obviously not aware that holidays are not a gift from the Catholic Church, but are rather earned through the achievements of the working population - Catholic or not," explained gbs spokesman Michael Schmidt-Salomon.

In a press release published today, the Zentralrat der Konfessionsfreien Österreichs (Central Council of Denomination-Free Austria) reacted accordingly: Talowski's proposals would ultimately result in the exploitation of non-Catholics or in forced missionary activity in the workplace. That, however, is not the job of the Chamber of Commerce and certainly not of the state.