A Hollywood church that burned marijuana during services and distributed it to members is protected under federal law because the drug is a religious sacrament, the leader of the congregation argued in a hearing before his drug possession trial Tuesday.
The Rev. Craig X Rubin, 41, the leader of the 420 Temple who has appeared in episodes of the Showtime comedy “Weeds,” faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of possessing marijuana for sale. Jury selection was set to begin Tuesday afternoon.
Though ordained in 1990 by the Universal Life Church, police and prosecutors describe Rubin as a drug dealer. The Beverly Hills, Calif.-born minister was arrested last fall and freed after posting $20,000 bail.
Rubin, who is representing himself, has asserted his protection under a 1993 federal law designed to prevent government from imposing laws that restrict religious freedoms. “We feel pot is the tree of life mentioned in the Bible, so it is incorporated into the ceremony,” Rubin said before the hearing began.
| If this scheme worked, religion would be more popular than ever. I think a lot of us would go to this church |
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
Free The Rev. Craig X Rubin
That exact argument has lost about 2-3 times.
I assume before I die, at least MJ will be decriminalized. I wonder what will bring that about?
Some sense of wanting to live in a FREE country, but I can’t quite picture it.
If pot was the sacrament this agnostic would go to church every Sunday. Hypocrites for Pot Unite!
In other news. Out of the entire United States, this same church had the highest number of young adults in the congregation for 7 months in a row.
I wonder if tithing is mandatory there. So far I am liking this church.
“I think a lot of us would go to this church”
I always found it funny that people admit to wishing they could smoke pot legally. It’s similar to me like people older then 22 talking about wanting to get wasted on alcohol.
Party with Hilton and Lohan I guess. I think Baby Boomers should be renamed Peter Pan generation. They all taught us to live in Neverland and never grow up.
Finally, now there’s a religion that I can get excited about. I’d go to church every single night. Hell, I’ll even join the choir.
#6 – Well, that’s you, and not a reflection of reality. I, for one can’t drink, and I don’t want to be wasted… But marijuana is a nice relaxing high and it would be nice to sit on the deck on a Friday night after a hard week and relax with some good friends, conversation, groovy music and a joint or two.
Not only is it not immature, it’s no different than sharing a bottle of wine.
The church I attend has large stained glass windows that when the light strikes them just right, the most far-out colors are sprayed throughout the church……..uuugh….huuummmm…uuuggh…what were we talking about?
Damn I’ve got the munchies and my mouth is dry. Don’t bogart the bread and wine my friend.
If God put the plant there you have to be curious about the man that comes along and claims its wrong to touch it. What motives does this man have and what authority does he possess that says what God placed here to grow out of the dirt is something you should be imprisoned for touching?
10. what is this god you speak of?
#10. According to the bible a man touching a plant that he wasn’t supposed to is really when all the trouble started.
#10, can you say the same thing about poison ivy?
It changes the balance of your IQ’s,
emphasizes philosophical/artistic/
spiritual side, tunes you into your own
“source” at the expense of TV, gov’t.
Not polititically correct in nations
dominated by U.S…. Will be legal
only after total collapse of U.S.
system. See ya then! Cheers!
I only have respect for those who cite the desire to become intoxicated as the reason they wish for cannibis to be made legal.
All other reasons are rubbish.
#14 – It changes the balance of your IQ’s,
emphasizes philosophical/artistic/
spiritual side, tunes you into your own
“source” at the expense of TV, gov’t.
Bullshit. It gets you high and makes good rope. It doesn’t do any of the hippy dippy mystical new age rebalancing BS you claim.
Not polititically correct in nations
dominated by U.S…. Will be legal
only after total collapse of U.S.
system. See ya then! Cheers!
Bullshit again. We are not the captives of a foreign occupying force. This is our government. We can change it. All we need is the will and all I see is a metric fuckton of pussies who wanna bitch and moan about how “they” control everything and voting is useless…
If you think that… fuck you.
If not… put down the bong, put on a tie, and get involved. Laws and decisions are made by those who show up, so… show up.
#15 – All those other reasons like industrial and medicinal use are perfectly legit… But most importantly, it is a safer and healthier alternative to alcohol.
The US obviously doesn’t have a problem with intoxication. Why should we care if the buzz is the mellow buzz of pot or the violence inspiring stupor of our legal but highly addictive drug, alcohol?
Yes… I say legalize it for all those valid reasons, but mostly so that I can catch a good buzz. (well, I don’t need it to be legal, actually… It isn’t a just law and the state has no compelling interest so I don’t recognize its authority and I smoke it anyway.)
Authority is there to be resisted… Resist it!
I hear the guy smokes so much that he now has man breasts and has to get mammograms. He’s a delusional pothead who is going to find a new home in prison real soon.
#18 – I can’t believe you are still repeating the old lie that pot makes your breasts grow larger, if that were true every woman in the world would be a pot smoker.
To the rest of you pot is legal (temporarily) in northern California where you can get a medical recommendation and then buy it over the counter at a cannabis club. Illegal marijuana makes up about half the economy of Mendocino County and wine is a big part of the rest.
Oh yeah, the guy will lose his case because the court gets to decide what is and isn’t a religion in the US and they will tell him his church is a cult not a religion and then they will throw him in jail. I know the Rastafarian church tried this in Florida back in the 1970s, and there are millions of them, but our supreme court says they are only a cult.
As to the baby boomers, I am one, and I used to think they were the greediest most self – serving generation ever. Then an asshole named George Bush came along and I realized there is worse yet to come.
Peace, love dope.
Ah, been reading about ‘illegal drugs’ for years… and even joined the Church of the Tree of Life, which declared any natural ‘high-inducing’ material as sacraments*. Folded long ago, as far as I can see. Still have the booklets and so on, not too bad an idea.
*not illegal material such as cocaine/coca or pot… it was an attempt to keep from losing other plants, etc. that would certainly be outlawed.
As for the case, forget it…. there was a case last December where an attempt to have a ‘religion’ recognized with Marijuana as a sacrament.
http://tinyurl.com/38yc4u
J/P=?
I realised the following many years ago when I wasn’t a stranger to illegal substances.
Making anything illegal creates a black market.
A black market makes some people lots of money.
People with lots of money can persuade politicians to make laws.
Laws make (for instance) dope illegal.
I firmly believe that the only people with an interest in keeping dope illegal are the criminals who profit from it (and anyone who can be persuaded to spout their arguments). If governments really, really wanted to reduce consumption they would nationalise the industry.
#8 – If I was your neighbor, and I smelt your pot, you could bet I’d call the cops. I can’t stand the smell of that $hit. It’s illegal so I don’t have to subjected to the smell. If you drink wine and get drunk, I just have to put up with you being an asshole. I can’t smell the wine.
#22 – And I have to put up with you being an asshole even if you don’t drink the wine.
#23 – I’m sorry… Did you take something personally?
You have no idea what you are talking about. Why don’t you tell us how pot aligns you chakras, or cleanses the air of negative energy? Your new age claptrap is the prattle of idiots.
I know most folks probably don’t buy your bullshit in the first place, and perhaps my reaction is bit knee jerk, when I see the undeniably bogus bullshit about the mystical properties of a simple chemical reaction, I feel compelled to call it out.
I don’t really care about your diet or your lifestyle, or your opinions, but if you project your fantasy ideas about pot as if they were facts, you are gonna get called on it.
#24 – Who you calling an asshole asshole?
I’m not here to start name calling. I think it’s funny that pot advocates believe that it’s ok to sit around and smoke it not caring about the people around them. Just like cigarette smokers. If you want to sit in your house and smoke it, go right ahead. Sounds like you do anyway. I shouldn’t have to worry about sitting on my deck and smelling your second hand pot smoke. But judging from your posts on this subject, it would lead me to believe you wouldn’t care.
#26 – Wow… It’s like you don’t even read you own bullshit.
You don’t know me, but I know you claim you’d call the cops if you smelled some pot… therefore, you are an uptight asshole who knows nothing about marijuana, either chemically, historically, medically, or recreationally, and are welcome to go fuck yourself.
And I don’t know where you imagine I live that my deck would be anywhere near yours, but in the one in a million chance that you could smell the odor that you imagine so offensive, I’d happily stop at your request because I’m not a jerk…
Until you start name calling, as you did.
I heard this guy is now running for mayor.