What’s an actual religion-based head gear, and what isn’t, something for the courts to decide I guess. I’d favor a no headgear at all rule, to make the photo as clearly identifying as possible, but not everyone would agree w/that either. Like a say, that’s what we taxpayers pay the courts to decide.
I would issue him a drivers license valid ONLY while wearing a colander on his head.
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I’ll bet you guys lunch that none of these “pastafarians” wear their colander except when at highly visible public functions, having their pictures taken at dmv, or posing for youtube videos
Can’t imagine them wearing those things while going about their everyday business
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If it’s covered under IRS exclusions, it’s a legit religion. I don’t think the spaghetti people are covered. 
Seriously, anything that might interfere with the ability of the viewer to positively identify the license holder or the validity of the document should be verboten, and my guess is that this would interfere with the ability to determine if the I.D. is a valid one or a joke one. To me, that should make it invalid.
Imagine, if you would, being a cop pulling a driver for a traffic violation at 2:00AM and having him hand you an out of state license that has a photo of him wearing a colander on his head. If I were the cop I’d have serious doubts about its validity. He’d spend the night in the can until his license could be verified.
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Organized sports is treated like a religion. I want to wear my favorite baseball team’s official cap for my new driver’s license. I worship them! 
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Not really.
We already have dealt with people who want to claim a bogus religion, and have for centuries. People want to get out of the draft. Or get out of paying Social Security. Or eat peyote. All of which are legal for certain recognized religions, on a First Amendment basis. So, we’ve established a pretty good rubric for what constitutes a “real” religion. The “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster” fails on every level imaginable.
Come back when you’ve got a real religion, bub.
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I have been asked why I removed my cap when others in the restaurant are wearing them? I answer: “Because I don’t want my Mother to reach down and slap me”! Your example of the Asian lady gave me another possible explanation for an incident that confused and disturbed me. About 4 years ago I had my 4 year old Grandson at a city park. An Asian lady with two little girls age 4 and 6 arrived and were playing with my Grandson while their Mom and I chatted. She seemed nice, friendly, and quite normal. The 4 year olds were sitting side by side on the swings so I took their picture. The Mother screamed “NO PHOTOS”! I apologized and said I would delete the photo. She grabbed the girls, threw them in her car, and peeled out of the parking lot! I was left standing there with my mouth hanging open and a confused/upset Grandson. I was thinking: Hiding from an abusive Husband? Witness Protection Program? Thank you for offering another explanation but I’m sticking with Witness Protection Program for the cool factor.
It’s not just religious attire that is sometimes not allowed in license ID photos. Hats, sunglasses, etc. aren’t allowed.
There are religions that believe that a photograph can steal their soul and it does not matter if it is digital or celluloid photography. There are Native American tribes that refuse to be photographed. Many Amish have the same believes .
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Come back when you’ve figured out how to allow a government to declare a religion to be fake without opening the possibility that it decide that, oh, say, Muslims aren’t a real religion…
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Wouldn’t the number of Muslim women actually allowed to drive be rather small? They may desire state ID cards. Here they are issued by DMV.
So I’ve got a smart alec question . . .
If somebody from those religions has their picture taken . . . and they are NOT aware that the picture was snapped . . . does that mean they’re now walking around without a soul?
What would happen if you walked up to them and informed them you snapped their picture last week, but they were too blind to notice it?
If they never knew about the photograph, what’s the harm?
If they don’t know about it, they won’t lose any sleep, I imagine
I don’t know what will happen, perhaps they will go to hell… I am not defending that believe, but only stating what some do.
In the case of the Amish, I hear it has more to do with avoiding vanity than it has with believing that photography steals your soul. They won’t let their portraits be painted or statues of themselves be carved either.
Many will allow themselves to be photographed doing work or some activity as long as they can’t be recognized in the photo.
According to one source, it boils down to this:
http://starcasm.net/archives/233570
And on another topic, if the person in the photo is recognizable, what’s the problem? You could get your I.D. photo with long hair and then cut it short after the photo, or even dye your hair a different color.
Sometimes I think we need to get over ourselves.
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I dunno. It was never explained to me and the Indians I knew never talked about it. I think it doesn’t matter if they know the picture was taken or not-why would it? But I believe it has more to do with the soul after death since they talk about walking the path of souls after death. A little strange to me anyway but just goes to show no matter how careful you are to respect others, you’ll still get in trouble somehow.
We have lots of Muslim women drivers around here and they wear their full uniform. Drives me just as crazy as the guys who wear hoods when they are driving. I don’t know how they see around them to drive. When its cold out and I have a hood up, I have very little peripheral vision and sure don’t have a hood up while I’m driving.
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You got that right
No matter what you do, no matter what you say, SOMEBODY will get bent out of shape
I may be ignorant as heck, but I have a hard time believing that if you lived a good and moral life, and treated people well, that your soul will be in jeopardy because somebody snapped your picture
I would like to think that whatever god or deity you believe in will take your good deeds into account, instead of just condemning your soul, because somebody snapped your picture
Now to bring it sort of back to cars . . .
On one of my old driver’s license photos . . . at least 20 years ago . . . it appears that I’m wearing a black baseball cap. Many people remarked that they were surprised I was allowed to wear it for the photo. But in fact it was just my hair. Yeah, it was really “tall” at the time 
I reckon that somebody must have snapped too many photos of my Toyota Yaris because it’s definitely the most soul-less transportation appliance ever built by robots on an assembly line.
Not that that’s a bad thing.
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In places like Saudi Arabia (the source of the 9/11 attacks and–apparently–our new best friend), where the most extreme forms of Islam are practiced, that would be true.
On the other hand, in places where extreme forms of Islam are not practiced, that would not be true.
I see an incredible number of women driving in the NYC/NJ metro area who are wearing traditional Islamic head coverings.
Sorry VDC. I neglected to add (sarcasm). I spent 7 months in a predominantly Muslim area of Bosnia populated by Muslims In Name Only (MINOs). I did not see 1 prayer rug or hijab much less a burqa. Young women wore mini skirts, short shorts, “spray on” jeans and tank tops. Some older women wore regular head scarves which are common in Eastern Europe regardless of religion. Women not only drove cars but also commercial trucks and busses. Many MINOs also drank copious amounts of alcohol. Their ancestors were forced by the Ottoman Turks to convert to Islam in the 15th century.
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