14 DAY TRIAL // Shawna Hammond of Oklahoma, US, is the proud owner of one of the coolest driver's licenses ever, which shows her wearing a spaghetti strainer on her hear. Apparently, the kitchen utensil stands as proof of the woman's affiliation to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Even weirder, it looks like Shawna Hammond's decision to wear a spaghetti strainer on her head when posing for her driver's license photo did not in any way contravene state rules. This is because Oklahoma allows people to wear religious headpieces during DMV photo shoots.
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Contrary to what some might assume, there is such a thing as the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It's a movement otherwise known as Pastafarianism, and those affiliated to it describe it as a genuine religion. Still, many agree that it's merely a parody religion.
The deity worshiped by Pastafarians is the almighty Flying Spaghetti Monster, a god-like creature made of – what else? – spaghetti and meatballs. Hence, there are some who like to refer to Pastafarianism as the fastest-growing carbohydrate-based religion.
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was born less than a decade ago. More precisely, this positively wacky religious movement was started by an intelligent-design opponent back in 2005.
Thus, it was Bobby Henderson who first described Pastafarianism in a letter protesting the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to ask that intelligent design be taught in schools as an alternative to biological evolution.
Not at all surprisingly, the scientific community is quite fond of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. This is because this movement first and foremost serves to promote freedom of thought and poke fun at traditional religious beliefs.
The viral driver's license photo
As a Pastafarian, Shawna Hammand wanted to wear a spaghetti strainer on her head when having her photo for her driver's license taken as a means to let the entire world know about her religious views and her great love for the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Since the kitchen utensil did not in any way hide her face or cause shadows, DMV employees in Oklahoma, US, had no choice but to let her have her way. They did, however, ask her to remove her glasses, and the woman was quick to obey.
“I asked if I could wear my religious headwear and he said, yes, it just couldn’t have any logos, or any type of writing. I told him it didn’t, and I went out to my car and got my colander,” the woman told the press in a recent interview.
“For me the colander represents freedom, our freedom of religion, and to whatever religion we prefer or lack of religion. It was important to me to exercise that, even if it’s just a driver’s license photo,” the Pastafarian went on to explain, as cited by Mirror.
It is understood that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol is now looking into this incident. Hopefully, Shawna will get to keep her bizarre driver's license.