A New York politician sported a spaghetti strainer as a head covering for his swearing-in ceremony to make a point about religious freedom.
Christopher Schaeffer, a minister in the Pastafarian faith, wore a solemn face on Jan. 2 as he stood with a colander on his head and his hand raised while Town Clerk Allison Dispense administered the oath of office to join the Pomfret Town Board.
"It's just a statement about religious freedom," he told reporter Greg Fox of
the Observer in Dunkirk, about accessorizing with the symbol of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Local news coverage of the town board election in the fall of 2013 makes no mention to Schaeffer's faith and Fox told the Daily News the then-candidates affiliation with the Church was not a topic of discussion during the campaign.
