Samantha Sadlier

ssadlier@thespectrum.com

ST. GEORGE – A St. George woman exercised her religious rights recently when she had her Utah driver's license photo taken wearing a colander over her head.

Asia Lemmon, also known as Jessica Steinhauser, an atheist and member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, said she wanted to wear the colander, also known as a pasta strainer, on her head for the photo to make a statement.

The colander, official headgear for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, is used to represent the person's belief in the church — a satirical religious movement promoting a lighthearted view of religion.

"I'm a really proud, outspoken atheist," she said. "I am proud of Utah for allowing freedom of all religions in what is considered by many to be a one-religion state."

She is the fourth person in the United States to be permitted to exercise her religious freedom in this way and the first in Utah.

Members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster are often referred to as "Pastafarians."

"I wanted to see if I could (wear the colander) in Utah. I wasn't sure if they would let me," she said.

Lemmon said she went to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Hurricane and put the strainer on her head at the time of the photo.

Briefly she met opposition, but armed with printed documents indicating her religious freedom, DMV employees took the photo without question.

"It was surprisingly really, really easy," she said.

Bobby Henderson, founder of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, said in an interview with The Spectrum & Daily News that he enjoys watching the church members make a statement.

"I think it's nice, and I'm 100 percent sure Asia is doing this for good-natured reasons," he said. "Hopefully, the state of Utah will have a sense of humor about it as well. We are fortunate to have her as a member of the church. She's great."

Lemmon said she is no stranger to making waves in the public eye.

Lemmon was a former popular adult film star under the name Asia Carrera, with most of her work filmed in the early 2000s.

She has since retired from the industry and lives in St. George with her son and daughter.

Lemmon is also a member of Mensa with an IQ of 156, she said. Mensa is a high IQ society that provides a forum for intellectual exchange among its members. There are members in more than 100 countries.

Another example of her choosing to take a stand is her push to be recognized on the Mensa's list of prominent members.

After her previous role in the public eye, celebrating her membership in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was an easy decision to make, Lemmon said.

"I've always been a proud atheist, and I feel comfortable doing that even here (in Utah)," she said. "Even though it's really conservative here, everyone has always been really sweet about (my religious views.)"

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster came out of a satirical open letter written by Henderson in 2005, protesting the Kansas State Board of Education's decision to allow teaching Intelligent Design as an alternative to evolution in public schools.

Henderson wrote a letter that satirized creationism by stating a belief that whenever scientists carbon date an object, there is a supernatural creator, closely resembling spaghetti and meatballs, "modifying the data with his Noodly Appendage," according to the church's website.

On the website, Henderson notes not just atheists can be members of the church — it welcomes any kind of believer.

"We are not anti-religion," Henderson states on his website. "We are anti-crazy nonsense done in the name of religion. There is a big difference. Our ideal is to scrutinize ideas and actions but ignore general labels."

Henderson added that while some members of the church — of which there could be thousands or even millions — "honestly believe" in the flying spaghetti monster, some view the church as a satirical view of religion.

Lemmon said she is of the latter group.

"It's just funny," she said. "The church is purely satirical. (My daughter) Catty learned about it online before I did. She's been an atheist since she was 5, and that's how I learned about it."

Henderson said he never expected a church to form following his open letter or that it would turn into the religion it is now.

"I didn't expect the Church of FSM to grow the way it has," he said. "It's mostly good, but I worry about the true believers and the occasional member who is only looking to bash mainstream religion. I think we have the best results by having our own community and our own beliefs. There are a ton of Pastafarians who don't take it very seriously, I mean lots of us are totally skeptical of our own scripture, and I think that's way healthier than the dynamic in some of the mainstream churches with the hierarchy and dogma. Also we are aiming to get a pirate ship in the next few years, so I'm optimistic about the future."

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