http://wishtv.com/2015/06/26/authorities-pot-users-face-arrest-at-church-of-cannabis/
Authorities: Pot users face arrest at Church of Cannabis
Associated Press
Published: June 26, 2015, 1:06 pm
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Visibly frustrated Indianapolis authorities said Friday they’re prepared to arrest participants who attend the first service next week at a pot-smoking church that was formed as a test of the state’s new religious objections law.
Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Rick Hite said that they are frustrated that they have to devote time and resources to Wednesday’s service at the First Church of Cannabis, and Curry called on lawmakers to repeal the law that church founder Bill Levin plans to use to defend his congregation. Marijuana is illegal in Indiana.
“We do not view the Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a legitimate defense to committing a crime,” Curry said during a news conference. “I am beyond frustrated that we are having to devote valuable time and resources to this matter solely because of an ill-advised and unnecessary law.”
Gov. Mike Pence signed the religious objections law in March despite concerns that it would allow religious beliefs to be used as a legal defense to discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents. The move sparked calls to boycott the state and forced lawmakers to revise the language.
Levin has said he established the church as a test of the law, which gives people the right to follow their religious practices without the heavy hand of government. The Internal Revenue Service has granted it tax-exempt status, and Levin has taken a mortgage on a building that will serve as the church.
Congregants will follow blessings by smoking marijuana in what he describes as a religious practice, Levin told The Indianapolis Star.
But legal experts have questioned whether he’s on solid ground, and Curry and Hite warned Friday that anyone who attends the First Church of Cannabis service next week is subject to arrest or summons and criminal charges.
“If they engage in this act and they assert that defense and the court disagrees … they’ve got a criminal conviction,” Curry warned.
Hite shared his frustration.
“This doesn’t fit in a modern city that’s moving progressively,” he said. “Is this really what churches are about?”
As per SCOTUS you can get down on your knees and suck on anything - so long as it's not a marijuana cigarette! 😮 😛 😉
slam dunk! lol
Cannabis Church leader 'horrified' by link to mass murder-suicide
Jill Disis, Tim Evans and Mark Alesia 5:31 p.m. EDT June 26, 2015
The founder of the First Church of Cannabis says he wants the Indianapolis police chief to leave office after references to Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones.
The founder and "Grand Poobah" of Indy's First Church of Cannabis is calling on the city's police chief to be removed after the law enforcer referenced the notorious leader of a mass murder-suicide when speaking about the pot-based church's leader.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Rick Hite was speaking Friday at a news conference on how the city plans to respond to the inaugural Church of Cannabis service next Wednesday when he made the remark about former Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones, a religious leader who in 1978 led hundreds of followers in a mass murder-suicide in Guyana, South America.
"But as Jim Jones once did in our state, he led a group of people into a place of no return," Hite said. "We don't want that to happen ever again in our history. And we want to send a message: This is not the way to challenge a law. And you certainly can't expect the police to stand by and watch it happen and not do something about it."
Jones, who was born in Indiana, started his ministry in the early 1950s in Indianapolis. He first appears in The Indianapolis Star's archives in 1953, when he was a student pastor at Somerset Methodist Church on the Southside.
In 1955, Jones started his own congregation, naming it the Peoples Temple. On Nov. 18, 1978, he instigated a mass murder-suicide at the Guyana community he had nicknamed "Jonestown." More than 900 of Jones' followers died.
Bill Levin, the leader of the Church of Cannabis, said he was at first amused by the comparison, but later found it offensive.
Levin said Hite's comment was "religious bigotry" and a "vulgar insult to our new religion."
"I am horrified and mortified by his verbiage," Levin said. "I think he should be pulled from office immediately for being openly prejudiced about the birth of a new religion."
Levin added that he hopes Mayor Greg Ballard addresses the issue.
"If this was said about any other minister at any other church, this town would be in riots," Levin said. "This man is way out of line, owes me a public apology and most certainly needs to be removed from office."
talk about admissible evidence of religious bias......wow
New religion? Some say it goes back thousands of years!
watching live.........what a circus.
https://www.periscope.tv/w/aGP36zIwMjI3fDMxOTIyMTAwkusCExYncvoy9OcAKaW9wazEKLxdFGSvxcmcgfDmOi4=
Live from inside the service.
https://www.periscope.tv/w/aGQGETIwMjI3fDMxOTQ2NDUzz79YH7AXiJSbhhbMKBUv2vl7VbryhbgFHApTAN098Og=
this is fricking hilarious, maybe the whole video will get posted later.
[Edited on 7/1/2015 by LeglizHemp]
OMG this is bad. 45 mins of music and now Grand Poobah is taking the stage.
part 3
https://www.periscope.tv/w/aGQaiTIwMjI3fDMxOTg1NzQ3EsvlsH_Wi_5g2RQa3_N-8SsBv1IFdfNB4oOwAElRxiY=
what a circus or maybe this is what church is like seeing as i haven't been in 40 years.
[Edited on 7/1/2015 by LeglizHemp]
looks like people are toking up....waiting for the police now.
hmmmm mostly cigarettes but was some weed smoked......no arrests so far.
[Edited on 7/1/2015 by LeglizHemp]
Church of Cannabis files religious liberty lawsuit
Stephanie Wang 4:27 p.m. EDT July 8, 2015
The First Church of Cannabis challenges Indiana's marijuana laws, saying cannabis is its sacrament.
The First Church of Cannabis filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the state of Indiana and city of Indianapolis, challenging state laws on possession and use of marijuana as infringing upon religious beliefs.
The complaint was filed in Marion Circuit Court and names the state, Gov. Mike Pence, Attorney General Greg Zoeller, Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas G. Carter, Indianapolis Police Chief Rick Hite, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Marion County Sheriff John Layton as defendants.
The church says cannabis is its sacrament, and its members believe marijuana "brings us closer to ourselves and others," according to the lawsuit.
"We are taking legal action today to ensure love has no barriers in our land," Church of Cannabis founder Bill Levin said in front of the Statehouse. "Today we invite the state of Indiana and all its leaders to joyfully meet us in a court of law for clarifications on our core religious values. We look forward to engaging them on the high plane of dignity and discipline, with love and compassion in our hearts, to find a swift and sensible answer for our questions of religious equality."
Under the state's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which took effect July 1, the government must prove it is enforcing a compelling interest in the least restrictive way if a person claims an undue burden on religious liberty.
The Church of Cannabis held its first service July 1 but said its members would not use cannabis after law enforcement warned that police would arrest anyone who smoked marijuana.
The church holds its second service at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
