Our pasta, who are in colander, draining be thy noodles

"Guess who became the very first official Pastafarian in the very conservative state of Utah today???" Asia Lemmon wrote on her Facebook page next to the photo you see on the left. "This is just my temporary license. I will get the official one in full color glory in 2-3 weeks. They tried to argue with me, but I brought in neatly stapled packets with all the information needed. One point for the Flying Spaghetti Monster!!" 

If you are not familiar with the wearing of cookware or the "religion" known as FSM - for "Flying Spaghetti Monster" - Asia Lemmon probably seems to you like a candidate for Lithium. But Asia is just the latest in a long list of non-believers who are making a point about religion.

"I’m a really proud, outspoken atheist,” explained Asia Lemmon. “I am proud of Utah for allowing freedom of all religions in what is considered by many to be a one-religion state."

The wearing of kitchen paraphernalia in government photos has become a common protest vehicle for atheists in the last few years. A Texas man was the first American to known to have donned a spaghetti strainer in driver’s license photo in August of last year. A woman in Oklahoma persuaded her local DMV be photographed with a head colander last September. DMV workers in New Jersey called the cops on a man who refused to remove a spaghetti strainer from his head while taking his driver's license photo. And in January, Christopher Schaeffer, who was elected to Pomfret Town Board in New York, wore a colander on his head while he was sworn into office.

The genesis of the pasta strainers as religious headgear is a letter written in 2005 by Bobby Henderson, who was at the time a physics student who objected to confusing religion and science. Henderson wrote to protest the decision of a Kansas school board to allow the faith-based theory of intelligent design to be taught alongside evolution. Henderson reasoned if teaching intelligent design was done to appease creationist Christians, equal respect should also be given to those who hold “the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster.”

"FSM" - for Flying Spaghetti Monster - soon became not only the war cry for atheists striving to make government respect the separation of church and state, but a pseudo-religion that allows followers to poke fun at religious beliefs. For instance, Pastafarians celebrate Ramendan, when they eat nothing but Ramen noodles for several days, and Pastover when all prayers are ended with “Ramen.” 

Although DMV officials at first objected when Asia Lemmon plopped the colander on her head for her driver’s license photo, when she presented her paperwork showing it was part of her religion - FSM - they relented and snapped the photo. 

“It’s just funny,” Lemmon told The Spectrum, referring to the FSM. “The church is purely satirical. (My daughter) Catty learned about it online before I did. She’s been an atheist since she was 5, and that’s how I learned about it.”

One small victory for the non-believer.