Where the Rubber Hits the Road

In June 2010, the Crown brought in Katherine Young, a professor of religion, as an expert witness. Prof. Young said she could not see anything in the Church of the Universe that resembled ritual, sacred spaces or symbols, or helped its members deal with life’s paradoxes. The only “ scripture ” or other literature she could find was from Cannabis Culture magazine, a secular journal, and some information on a website. Crown attorney Nicholas Devlin called the religious defense “ inside joke among people who like to smoke marijuana .” Church of the Universe ministers Peter Styrsky (L) and Shahrooz Kharaghan Mr. Filipovic said Prof. Young’s definition was too specific and countered by quoting American philosopher William James: “Religion shall mean for us the feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may consider divine.” Any article that includes a quote from William Jam...

Cannon condemns planned execution in Iran - CTV News

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...