8. Invented Religions and the Law: Jediism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Violence, Conspiracies, and New Religions - A Tribute to James R. Lewis - Margo Kitts
Carole M. Cusack [+]
University of Sydney
Description
In 2018 a Dutch law student, Mienke de Wilde (Radboud University, Nijmegen) went to the highest court in the Netherlands to plead for her right to wear a colander on her head in official documents like her driver’s license. This action was taken because she is a Pastafarian. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Pastafarianism), a third millennium ‘invented religion’ was founded by Bobby Henderson in 2005 (Henderson 2006a, 33-37). De Wilde’s court case failed, and she filed an application in Strasbourg to the European Court of Human Rights, resulting in that court’s first judgement on Pastafarianism (Wolff 2021). This chapter considers invented religions (or “fiction-based religions,” ‘”hyper-real religions,” and “hypothetical religions”), examining their history, defining qualities, and legal status (Wolff 2022). Jediism and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are then discussed regarding ritual garb in public and official contexts (hoods for Jedis, colanders and pirate attire for Pastafarians). I argue that the distinction between Jedis and Pastafarians and traditional religions with mandated religious attire like Sikhs and Jews is not as clear-cut as non-religious studies scholars think (Cusack 2010, 32-34).