Trippin’ For God
Drink the tea, take that girl ...
The Church of the Holy Light of the Queen in Ashland Oregon has won the right to drink an “hallucinogenic tea” as part of it’s ceremony. It’s brewed from the ayahuasca plant, which contains DMT.
Is this giving churches special status? There are, after all, real honest medical issues that can be aided with the use of illegal drugs (like glaucoma and recovery from cancer treatment), and they are not given a complete write off (the federal enforcement of medical marijuana may be changing, though).
The only mention of religion in the Constitution are both contained in one sentence in the First Amendment. They are referred to as the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
By asking the members of a religion to obey the laws of the United States, are we “prohibiting” their free exercise of religion?
The church argued it’s case under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is a law passed in 1993 that, for the most part, only reinforces the Free Exercise Clause.
I really don’t see how a judge can rule that your organization has the right to break the law simply because of a religious claim, especially since it does not work for scientifically proven medical issues. The religious institution doesn’t need to prove a thing, that, for instance, the drug aids them in achieving a spiritual perspective, they only need to make a claim and, because they are a church, it’s protected. It’s silly.
And it’s not an age old religion. It’s a syncretism of Christianity and South American shamanism known as Santo Daime, and was founded in 1930. So, pick the religion of your choice, then find a religion that takes the drug of your choice, and presto, new religion with all the touble free drug use you want.
That being said … how does one become a member of this church?
Tags: DMT, hallucinogenic tea, Santo Daime, The Church of the Holy Light of the Queen
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March 25, 2009 at 5:51 AM
Surely this opens the floodgates for all kinds of claims – what’s to stop me founding the First Church of Yunshui and insisting that my followers and I all need to smoke large quantities of crack in order to commune with our Creator? Or that payment of taxes is against the teachings of my religion? Or that Yunshuism views common assault as a divine requirement, and it is especially holy if one takes the victim’s mobile phone in the process?
I have a feeling the court will come to regret its decision. This is not a precedent that they want to set.
March 25, 2009 at 6:30 PM
My religion allows me to sell kidneys on ebay.
September 7, 2009 at 2:01 PM
I was happy to see this. I have no idea why people are afraid of hallucinogenic substances.
I’m an old retired man dying of liver disease and I would want to be given the ability to find some sort of transcendence.
This does have historical precedent too. http://digitalseance.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/lsd-and-dying-2-aldous-huxley/
I know from experiences 40 years ago that there is more than meets the eye. I would love the ability to experience that vision again.
September 7, 2009 at 5:48 PM
You linked to a very good article. Aldous Huxley was truly a revolutionary thinker and had some great insight for people of any faith.
September 7, 2009 at 6:25 PM
I doubt Huxley had any faith. He regarded the mind as a ‘reducing valve’ which causes us to remove experience from our live. He saw ‘psychedelics’ as a way to open that valve.
My nervous system is all that defines me.
Who can legally prohibit me the right to stimulate it in the way I feel is best for me.
We all are on the way to the grave.