In a noodley triumph of liberty, religious crusader and Madison area resident Michael Schumacher won a decisive legal battle against the Wisconsin Department of Transportations in a carbo-loaded defense of the First Amendment.

For Schumacher, a practicing Pastafarian — those who worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster — wearing a colander as a headdress is a tenet of his religious beliefs. But when Schumacher attempted to express his religion in his driver’s license photo, the Sheboygan DMV prevented him from doing so.

After a strongly worded scolding from Attorney Derek R. Allen at Shannon Law Offices, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation apologized for its transgressions against Schumacher’s religion — allowing him to wear his ‘religious head covering’ in future photos.

“Wisconsin DMV Service Centers have been advised to recognize a colander as a religious head covering, if requested by one who claims it is part of a sincerely held religious belief,” Wisconsin Department of Transportation said in a letter to Allen.

Wisconsin now joins Utah, Texas and Massachusetts as the few but bold forward-thinking, pro-pasta states.

For his audacious defense of religious freedom, Schumacher shall surely frolic amongst the booze-volcanoes and stripper factories Pastafarianism promises in the afterlife.

Onward toward liberty, onward toward freedom.