LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A judge has dismissed a Nebraska inmate's lawsuit that claimed he was denied his right to worship the divine Flying Spaghetti Monster, and that he was mocked and faced discrimination for his faith. 
 
 Stephen Cavanaugh sued the Department of Correctional Services and penitentiary officials in 2014 seeking $5 million and a court order mandating that inmates who practice FSMism receive the same rights and privileges as inmates who practice other religions. 
 
 U.S. District Judge John Gerrard dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday. He said in his ruling that "FSMism" is not a religion as outlined by federal law, but "a parody intended to advance an argument about science, the evolution of life and the place of religion in public education." 
 
 Gerrard said those issues are important and that FSMism contains a serious argument, "but that does not mean that the trappings of the satire used to make that argument are entitled to protection as a 'religion,'" the Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/1SCqb7C ) reported. 
 
 He also said Cavanaugh, 24, didn't sufficiently back up claims that he had been prevented from exercising his religion while serving time in the Nebraska State Penitentiary on assault and weapons charges. 
 
 Cavanaugh claimed prison staff discriminated against him by refusing to allow him to meet for worship services and classes, to wear religious clothing and pendants and to receive communion. He said staff mocked and insulted his faith. 
 
 Gerrard determined that prison staff considered Cavanaugh's request in good faith "and concluded, reasonably, that FSMism was satirical and required no accommodation." 
 
 "This case is difficult because FSMism, as a parody, is designed to look very much like a religion," he said. 
 
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 Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com ||||| Image caption Having received his driving licence, Niko Alm now wants to get pastafarianism officially recognised 
 
 An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as "religious headgear". 
 
 Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons. 
 
 Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism. 
 
 Later a police spokesman explained that the licence was issued because Mr Alm's face was fully visible in the photo. 
 
 "The photo was not approved on religious grounds. The only criterion for photos in driving licence applications is that the whole face must be visible," said Manfred Reinthaler, a police spokesman in Vienna. 
 
 He was speaking on Wednesday, after Austrian media had first reported Mr Alm's reason for wearing the pasta strainer. 
 
 After receiving his application the Austrian authorities had required him to obtain a doctor's certificate that he was "psychologically fit" to drive. 
 
 According to Mr Reinthaler, "the licence has been ready since October 2009 - it was not collected, that's all there is to it". 
 
 The idea came into Mr Alm's noodle three years ago as a way of making a serious, if ironic, point. 
 
 A self-confessed atheist, Mr Alm says he belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a light-hearted, US-based faith whose members call themselves pastafarians. 
 
 Image caption A medical interview established the self-styled "pastafarian" was mentally fit to drive 
 
 The group's website states that "the only dogma allowed in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the rejection of dogma". 
 
 In response to pressure for American schools to teach the theory known as intelligent design, which some Christians favour as an alternative to natural selection, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster wrote to the Kansas School Board asking for the pastafarian version of intelligent design to be taught to schoolchildren. 
 
 Straining credulity 
 
 In the same spirit, Mr Alm's pastafarian-style application for a driving licence was a response to the Austrian recognition of confessional headgear in official photographs. 
 
 The licence took three years to come through and, according to Mr Alm, he was asked to submit to a medical interview to check on his mental fitness to drive but - straining credulity - his efforts have finally paid off. 
 
 It is the police who issue driving licences in Austria, and they have duly issued a laminated card showing Mr Alm in his unorthodox item of religious headgear. 
 
 When asked for his reaction to Mr Reinthaler's comments, Mr Alm told the broadcaster ORF: "I didn't know I was guilty of not collecting it. That doesn't alter the fact that it still took nearly a year [to be issued]". 
 
 The next step, Mr Alm told the Austrian news agency APA, is to apply to the Austrian authorities for pastafarianism to become an officially recognised faith.
– A judge has dismissed a Nebraska inmate's lawsuit that claimed he was denied his right to worship the divine Flying Spaghetti Monster, and that he was mocked and faced discrimination for his faith, reports the AP. Stephen Cavanaugh sued the Department of Correctional Services and penitentiary officials in 2014 seeking $5 million and a court order mandating that inmates who practice FSMism receive the same rights and privileges as inmates who practice other religions. US District Judge John Gerrard dismissed the lawsuit this week. He said in his ruling that "FSMism" is not a religion as outlined by federal law, but "a parody intended to advance an argument about science, the evolution of life, and the place of religion in public education." Gerrard said those issues are important and that FSMism contains a serious argument, "but that does not mean that the trappings of the satire used to make that argument are entitled to protection as a 'religion,'" reports the Lincoln Journal Star. He also said Cavanaugh, 24, didn't sufficiently back up claims that he had been prevented from exercising his religion while serving time in the Nebraska State Penitentiary on assault and weapons charges. Cavanaugh claimed prison staff discriminated against him by refusing to allow him to meet for worship services and classes, to wear religious clothing and pendants, and to receive communion. Gerrard determined that prison staff "concluded, reasonably, that FSMism was satirical and required no accommodation."