Georgia 'Pastafarian' Can Wear His Colander in Nevada

SNELLVILLE, GA -- Apparently, the Flying Spaghetti Monster works in mysterious ways.

A Georgia man who had fought the state for his right to wear a colander on his head in his driver’s license photo is being allowed to do so ... now that he’s moved to Las Vegas.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Christopher Avino, whose online profiles list him as a professional poker player, has gotten a Nevada driver’s license in which he proudly sports the piece of cookware as a fashion accessory.

A photo Avino posted to Twitter confirms as much.

“Props to Nevada for recognizing my religious rights,” he wrote.

In Georgia, Avino originally was allowed to don a colander in the photo on a temporary license he got using his parents’ Snellville address. But soon thereafter, the state said staffers had made a mistake and that Avino would have to have another photo taken.

“A colander is not a veil, scarf or headdress,” Department of Driver Services general counsel Angelique McClendon said to Avino in a letter obtained by the AJC. “A colander is a kitchen utensil commonly used for ‘washing or draining food.’“

Avino replied, saying that his First Amendment right to freedom of religion was being trampled.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is considered by many to be a parody of organized religion. Members frequently dress as pirates and on multiple occasions have inserted themselves into church-and-state debates like the display of religious symbols on government property.

On its website, the church denies being strictly a parody, while at the same time acknowledging that many members don’t literally believe its teachings.

Those teachings include a heaven with a beer volcano and a deity that looks like a giant blob of spaghetti.

Avino has said he doesn’t literally believe the church’s teachings but does believe in what it stands for. He argues that if the state’s ban on headwear in driver’s license photos is waived for anyone -- as it is, say, for Muslim hijabs or Jewish yarmulkes -- it should be waived for anyone who asks.

In the end, though, he was just ready to move on.

“I was tired of waiting,” Avino said in an email to the AJC.

If he ever moves back to Georgia, though, he said he plans to renew the fight for his Pastafarian headgear.

(Photo via Twitter)