Spirituality

A Federal judge in Utah orders local officials to return a religious group’s psychedelic sacrament

That raid happened on November 11, 2024, less than eight months after Utah Gov. Spencer Cox had signed the state’s version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). That law likely protects Singularism’s psychedelic rituals, a federal judge ruled last month [Feb. 2025]  Jensen wrote in a September 2023 letter to the Provo City Council and Mayor…

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Spirituality

“Sincere religious belief” is an evolving standard for psychedelic churches

Interest has grown in establishing legal churches centered around the use of such substances, particularly as states like Oregon and Colorado have legalized forms of psychedelic-assisted therapy. …does not follow a rigid set of prescribed beliefs but instead encourages adherents to explore their own spiritual experiences…  This court’s order underscores that religious practice does not need to conform to…

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Spirituality

The gospel according to Amanita muscaria, the world’s most charismatic mushroom

…accounts of explorers in the 17th and 18th centuries witnessing mushroom rituals and shamanism in Siberia. Before the Russians and Finns introduced them to vodka, A muscaria was not only a sacrament but the inebriant of choice for the native tribes of Siberia and Lapland, in northern Scandinavia, eaten in a soup or fermented into a brew… British scholar John Allegro in…

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Spirituality

Psychedelic Church of Colorado Springs: magic mushrooms legally handed out to a community honoring “three universal truths”

In a seemingly normal El Paso County house, the Psychedelic Church of Colorado Springs has been open for one year and has gained more than 300 members. Benji Dezaval is the church’s founder. He says he is legally allowed to hand out magic mushrooms because of a law Coloradans passed in 2023, which decriminalizes the gifting and…

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Spirituality

Muslims navigate the tension between psychedelics for mental health and Koran teachings

Yasir Qadhi is chair of the Fiqh Council of North America, which issues religious rulings, or fatwas… [says], “Technically, psychedelics don’t fall under the exact same category as alcohol.” Islam is the second-largest faith community in the world… whether Muslims will see this as an outlawed substance, medical healing or mystical revelation remains an open…

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Spirituality

The day the Pope met a psychedelic evangelist

The pope met an emissary from the psychedelic world at a “holy meeting” at the Vatican, where a Jesuit lawyer named Brian Muraresku presented Pope Francis with a manifesto for a psychedelic “New Reformation.” Pope Francis accepted a copy of Muraresku’s 2020 book The Immortality Key at the meeting, which took place in late 2021 or early…

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Spirituality

SF psychedelic church dedicated to psilocybin mushrooms to close, cites harassment from city

Zide Door will close its location in the city’s SOMA neighborhood with its pastor citing harassment from the San Francisco Planning Department. The church also accused the planning department of criticizing the church in the media. Hodges said that he is concerned that the Planning Department’s “targeting” of the church could constitute religious discrimination… Zide…

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Spirituality

Quebec religion wants Health Canada’s blessing to use magic mushrooms in ceremonies

Gratitude Sanctuary, known as Sanctuaire de la Gratitude in French… in Ottawa says the group believes people receive “their own teachings when entering the sacred space opened by the consumption of psilocybin mushrooms.” …first asked Health Canada about an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in January 2022… Health Canada said it was…

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