Crusades, pederasty and bombing abortion clinics aren't part of Christianity, either, but...

I'm actually more surprised that you aren't making more of an issue of his treatment by the authorities, DB. Afterall, you can't say that you're going to make allowances for people's personal beliefs and then demand that they undergo psychological testing. Can you? Are you willing to follow that no matter how ugly it might get? Or maybe he's not having a go at Muslims at all and just pushing your button?

Better to have a chat with a doctor than be denied outright, surely?

I don't think even the Austrians attach electrodes to people's brains when they do their psychological assessment.

Without probable cause, no. This certainly does not meet that standard. Unless you're completely humorless.

So? What if they just locked you in a room for a few days for 'observation' and informed your employer?

To be honest, I don't care what the Austrian authorities did to this attention-seeking little prat. His protest is without merit, and whatever he has endured to get his silly photograph on his driving licence, he has brought entirely upon himself.

As I said before: if the Pastafarians want to take on the Muslims, I'd have a bit more respect for them if they actually did it on Muslim territory.

Picking on genuine religious minorities to prove petty points of 'individual freedom' is childish and potentially dangerous.

But as long as we're all having a laugh, eh?

I can see now how the UK ended up where it is now....

They aren't 'taking on the Muslims', they're mocking all religion. Or does, say, a yarmulke not qualify as relgious headgear either? It's not just the Muslims, you see.

He's pushing the boundaries of a law and mocking it. If he's 'making fun of Muslims', he's either doing it in such a way that only the easily offended can see it or he's not doing it.

Absolutely! You should try it.

Er, yeah, it is, you see.

Because that's how it works in Europe these days. Even the Pastafarians are in on it...

I'm sorry DB, but IMHO you are dead wrong on this one. The guy (Niko Alm) is a co-sponsor of the "Volksbegehren gegen Krichenpriviliegien" that seeks to a) separate (the roman catholic) church from the Austrian state completely b) do away with the privileges of the (roman catholic) church c) put in place a law that specifically aimed at solving cases of child abuse perpetrated by church members.

http://blog.alm.at/

http://www.kirchen-privilegien.at/kirchen-privilegien

Thank you for the information - and I stand very much corrected.

However - do Roman Catholics in Austria ever wear 'confessional headgear' in their driving licence photographs?

True, but nobody dies with a simple photo with a pasta strainer. Only the media can whoop this into something more than it is...a dumb kid who thinks it's cute. There's no pope in this equation.

Apparently he's not such a dumb kid, after all.

With or without a minaret?

As much as i admire what this guy is doing, i am not tempted to sign up.

According to the UK government i am a Jedi Knight and shall remain so until i join the dark side.........(depending if Darth Sidious offers health insurance coverage or not).


May the force be with you my penne brothers.

cheers
SC

Uncut Kebap stands are a kind of Minarets! Aren't they?

Snap. Just haven't got the mind control thing working properly yet.

Not a pastafarian, i like the idea, but I think it's better to make a new religion up in every case where one particular group starts claiming extra freedoms and priviliges because they happen to be avid fans of particular books.

Why can one man wear a hat and not another? If one guy can wear his favourite confessional head dress, why can't a die hard spock fan wear his fake ears in a photo?

Maybe the next step after winning the right to wear headress is claiming the right to feel insulted and discriminated by random things and demaning some random signs be taken down, some random customs abolished or some random words banned from langauge.

That might be a first step towards taking down the legislation that many countries have placing freedom from insults above freedom of expression.

Ditto.


cheers
SC