White House seeks ban on Religious Tea

[disillusioned1]

Thursday, February 10, 2005 · Last updated 3:03 p.m. PT

White House seeks ban on religious tea

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block a New Mexico church from using hallucinogenic tea that the government contends is illegal and potentially dangerous.

The appeal from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales argues that a lower court was wrong to allow the Brazil-based O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal to import and use the hoasca tea as part of its religious services.

"The court's decision has mandated that the federal government open the nation's borders to the importation, circulation and usage of a mind-altering hallucinogen and threatens to inflict irreparable harm on international cooperation in combating transnational narcotics trafficking," the filing states.

The church, which has about 140 members in the United States and 8,000 worldwide, said the herbal brew is a central sacrament in its religious practice, which is a blend of Christian beliefs and traditions rooted in the Amazon basin.

...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Scotus%20Religious%20Tea

Don't they know? It's illegal if the CIA didn't think of it first!

[Dhalgren]

1. But all fundies want religious freedom, don't they?

[Betty]

3. Freedom to force everyone to be a born again

Christian is what they mean by freedom. And by separation of church and state, they mean separation of every-church-but-theirs and state.

[bleever]

2. Okay, then we need to make the Neocon Kool-Aid a Schedule 1 drug,

since we're cracking down on mind-altering substances.

Oh, I'm sorry, you're right: the Kool-Aid is a mind *alleviating* substance.

Never mind.

:)

[Tux]

5. If only it was Johnstown style Kool-Aid©

[disillusioned1]

6. BWAHAHAHA

Thanks, I knew if I posted this stupid piece, someone here would make me laugh. Thanks.

[sonicx]

7. RW Talk Radio fits in that category

[K-W]

4. Ah the timeless argument of tyranny.

We should ignore the constitution because it interferes with what the government wants to do.

I love it when they just spell it out like that, no bullshit, they just argue to a court that the government should just get to do whatever they want, and the court just says ok.

The beauty of american politics.

[HCeline69]

8. Here's what we do

Dress up like Amazonian natives and dump the tea in Boston Harbor.
So, is this hoasca anything like ayahuasca? (Er, not that I would know anything about that)

[housewolf]

9. Wouldn't you think that the new Atty General...

would have something better to do than harass 140 church-going people in New Mexico????????

Of all the things on the plate of the country's top crime fighter, THIS is his top priority??????

Grrrrrrrrrr......

[Charon]

10. Religious Ban

Don't think this is the first time the Govt has attempted to proscribe certain religious practices. Believe back in the late 60's
a move to outlaw the use of peyote by some Native American religious groups.

[xpat]

11. Has the law changed?

When I was in college we mail-ordered peyote from some guy in Texas. It was legal, since Southwest Indians use it in their religious services.

We also picked up some signs from a religious paraphenalia outlet. They said, "Divine service held here daily". We got the address from the "East Village Other", a great newspaper that has probably since disappeared.

The "Other" ran a cartoon that I think of every time I recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Imagine Uncle Sam bent over a table wearing nothing but his iconic hat. Bent over buggering him is that fellow who reaches out to touch Adam's finger on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The caption is "One nation under God".

My wife couldn't handle the divine service sign, so I have been reduced to hanging Giotto's "Annunciation" over the bed.

[hnsez]

12. But W.H. Press Releases are a "mind-altering hallucinogen"

[SheepyMcSheepster]

13. so they gonna outlaw fundy snake handling?

seems pretty dangerous to me?
:shrug:

[SmokingJacket]

14. Of all the fricking nerve.

It's okay to be a fundamentalist on megadoses of Valium, but NOT okay for these people to pursue their freedom of religion?

Hypocrites.