INDIANAPOLIS
— On the altar, behind a row of flickering candles, the silhouette
outline of a marijuana leaf shined in lights. Colored balloons
occasionally bounced through the air as the minister of music led a band
in a pew-shaking rendition of “Mary Jane,†the funk tribute to the
drug. And Bill Levin, who was introduced as “the Grand Poobah†of
this new church, finished the gathering with a simple message: “Light
up, folks!â€
As
legislation that proponents call a religious freedom law took effect in
Indiana on Wednesday, Mr. Levin’s First Church of Cannabis held its
first service in a quiet neighborhood on this city’s Eastside. Mr.
Levin, who is 59 and known around here for his wild puff of white hair,
dreamed up the church as a way to test the state’s new, much-debated
law: If the law protects religious practices, he figured, how could it
not also permit marijuana use — which remains illegal here — as part
of a broader spiritual philosophy?
“We
will celebrate life’s great adventures,†Mr. Levin said before the
service, as clumps of uniformed police officers began gathering outside
the newly renovated church, front and back. “This is not just smoking
pot and getting high. It’s about the birth of a new religion. I’m a
smile harvester.â€
Credit
Aaron P. Bernstein for The New York Times
Earlier
this year, Indiana’s Republican-held legislature approved a Religious
Freedom Restoration Act aimed at preventing government from infringing
on religious practices. Critics said the measure was anti-gay and aimed
at allowing discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the name of
religion. Facing the threat of boycotts and fierce objections from
business leaders, state officials swiftly added a provision explicitly
blocking the measure from trumping local ordinances that bar
discrimination over sexual orientation.
Mr.
Levin, who has been a carpenter, a promotions and marketing strategist,
and a Libertarian candidate for political office, had few kind words
for the lawmakers who wrote the state’s law in the first place. He
called them “clowns†who “polluted and embarrassed†his state.
But if Indiana was going to have such a law, he said, why not test its
limits and press for his long-held goal, permission to use cannabis?
State
leaders, including the office of Gov. Mike Pence, a Republican who
supported the religious exceptions law, did not respond to requests for
comment on the church. And some legal experts said Mr. Levin may have
trouble proving that the use of marijuana is truly tied to religious
expression. But Mr. Levin seemed untroubled.
“This
is an honest-to-God religion,†he said. “Other religions have sins
and guilt. We’re going to have a really big love-in.â€
Near
the church, which Mr. Levin said he bought only weeks ago, some
neighbors posted yellow “Caution†tape around their yards to keep
people away. A group from a nearby church marched outside with signs in
protest.
Credit
Aaron P. Bernstein for The New York Times
“What’s
next?†Shari Logan, 46, said. “The church of crack? The church of
heroin? It’s a mockery to Christians, to God.â€
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Continue reading the main story
Sarah
Taylor, 50 — who watched from her front yard as two food trucks
parked outside the church and people in tie-dye gathered — shook her
head and drank her coffee. “They’re using religion as a way to
legalize their habit,†she said. “If it stands, it’s going to be
in your backyard, in your backyard, in all the backyards.â€
By
Wednesday, though, law enforcement authorities here had made it
abundantly clear that they viewed the laws on marijuana as unchanged.
Lt. Richard Riddle of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police declined to
say exactly how many officers were at the church, but there were
officers outside, posted on nearby corners, behind the church, and
riding in pairs on bicycles. And officials announced late last week that
anyone smoking marijuana at the First Church of Cannabis’s first
service could expect criminal charges. Even observers might be charged,
the officials warned, with “visiting a common nuisance.â€
So,
in the portion of the service when Mr. Levin had planned to pull
marijuana from a wooden box and begin smoking it, he did not. Instead,
he lit a thick cigar. Some people lit ordinary cigarettes. The legal
fight over the religious law needed to be fought in civil court, he
said, not in criminal court. The church’s legal advisers, he said,
were working on the next steps for getting the legal test they want.
“There was a little bit of intimidation about our religious
beliefs,†Mr. Levin told the crowded church.
What was left to do, then?
The
rest of the service was part dance party, part comedy routine and part
heartfelt, personal testimony from those in attendance about the medical
use of marijuana. Mr. Levin ordered those assembled to rise and say,
“I love you,†five times while looking in different directions. He
had the crowd repeat a “Deity Dozen†phrases to live by, including
“Do not be a troll on the Internet†and “Grow food.†The police
said no arrests were made, and Police Chief Rick Hite described the
events as civil and peaceful.
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