In the News: New Zealand Approves Pastafarian Marriage

New Zealand: Pastafarian marriage ceremonies approved, BBC News, 2015-12-16

Members of the church call themselves Pastafarians and believe that the world was created by an airborne spaghetti and meatballs-based being, although its own website notes that some followers consider it to be a satirical organisation.

The official notice was published online in New Zealand’s government gazette. Registrar-general Jeff Montgomery says his decision was based purely on whether the organisation upholds or promotes religious beliefs, or philosophical or humanitarian convictions. “No judgement is made on the validity of those beliefs or convictions,” he tells Stuff.co.nz website.

[…]

While the church has an international following, which it says is in the “millions, if not thousands”, its members have faced legal hurdles in the past. In 2011, an Austrian man was given permission to use a driving licence photo showing him wearing a colander as “religious headgear”, but a similar application in Germany – this time involving a pirate bandana, failed last month.

See also:

• Pastafarian marriages approved in New Zealand. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is allowed to perform marriages in New Zealand, Helena Horton, The Telegraph, 2015-12-17
• Flying Spaghetti Monster, Wikipedia
• Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
• Église Québécoise du Monstre de Spaghetti Volant (Quebec Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster)