Unequal Rites: Peyote sacraments and the First Amendment

[marmar]

from In These Times:



Unequal Rites
Peyote sacraments and the First Amendment.

BY Remy Maldigian


I am sitting in a peace pipe circle of about a dozen people led by a half-Seminole, half-white medicine man named James Mooney. Another man, Jeffrey Bronfman, is shaking black pipe ash into my cupped hands and praying over it as others sit contemplatively, staring at a painted bull skull in the middle of the circle. Mooney blows smoke into the air, and it hovers for a few seconds before floating into the New Mexico desert.

Bronfman is a religious leader known as a mestre in the União do Vegetal (Union of the Plant), a syncretic-Christian church based in South America whose members regularly observe a psychedelic spiritual ritual by drinking a tea known as hoasca, which contains the psychoactive compound DMT. In 2006, the group won a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding its members’ use of the tea.

But even after winning Gonzalez v. UDV, União do Vegetal’s legal troubles continued. Just last year, the issue was concluded with the group finally gaining the right to use hoasca legally, free from the fear of being targeted and prosecuted by federal or state law enforcement.

It bears mentioning that Bronfman, a Canadian, is an heir to the Seagram beverage empire, and–like most members of the União do Vegetal–is white. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/12429/unequal_rites_peyote_sacraments_and_the_first_amendment

[eShirl]

1. thanks for posting

"So to be clear, this is a situation where the federal government dictates who may or may not belong to a particular religion based on race. And not race alone: Race (Native American blood) and political affiliation (federally recognized tribe) are the two criteria. It strains credulity to believe that Americans would accept this arrangement if it were applied to mainstream religion. Take a moment to imagine the blood of Christ being limited only to Italians and those church members able to prove a blood quantum of Italian heritage in order to partake of the sacrament–with the U.S. government standing at the ready should anyone step out of line."