Where the Rubber Hits the Road

A young wag once suggested that the RC Church used pot as its incense, they might win back some converts! I doubt I'll ever live to see that day but it will be interesting to read the continuing arguments and the eventual court decision about whether or not the state possesses the right to determine what is a 'legitimate' religion. Charles Lewis writes on the Holy Post blog about a court case in which the state has charged two men with marijuana offenses who are defending their cannabis actives by claiming they were religious acts, and thus protected from prosecution. As part of the legal argument, Professor Katherine Young of McGill University offered the quote below as evidence in the case before the court. Her expert testimony was placed before the court as it wrestles with what legally constitutes a religion. Prof. Young told the court that trying to come up with a definition is an enormous problem for scholars because of the complexity or religious beli...