<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/28/colander-wearing-pastafarian-strains-the-rules-with-queensland-drivers-licence-photo>
"A “Pastafarian” in rural Queensland has vowed to fight to keep his driver’s
licence featuring a photo of him wearing a colander on his head, arguing it’s a
matter of freedom of religion.
But the state government has told him he must hand it in and get a new one, as
it was issued “in error”.
Syaban Shadikillah, who has been living and working in Mareeba in the state’s
far north after moving to Australia in late 2024, insists his licence is valid
and says he does not want to retake the photo.
He said it was a matter of principle and freedom of expression, and that it was
a violation of his right to wear religious headgear: the colander.
Shadikillah, 28, said he converted from Islam to the Church of the Flying
Spaghetti Monster in 2021 while a university student in his home country of
Indonesia due to his growing doubts about the religion in which he’d been
raised.
Also known as Pastafarianism, the new religious movement began with an open
letter US physics graduate Bobby Henderson wrote in 2005 to protest against the
teaching of intelligent design, a form of creationism, in Kansas schools.
He argued that the same logic behind intelligent design equally applied to a
universe created by a flying spaghetti monster with noodly appendages."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
