Religious Freedom

[sunyata]

Religious freedom, or lack of it
<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
The UN’s human rights clearly states that:
Article 2.
-Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
<H4 style="MARGIN: auto 0cm; TEXT-INDENT: 35.4pt">Article 7.</H4>
-All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
<H4 style="MARGIN: auto 0cm; TEXT-INDENT: 35.4pt">Article 18.</H4>
-Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
<H4 style="MARGIN: auto 0cm; TEXT-INDENT: 35.4pt">Article 29.</H4>
-In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.
So, if we are all entitled to the same rights, despite race and religion, how come then I don’t have the same right as the Native American Church, the Santo Daime, Unaio de Vegetal and others, to ingest substances which I see as beneficial, or even necessary to achieve my personal goals in life? This declaration clearly states that the individual has the same rights as anyone belonging to a religious community.
Tradition? Fine, but bear in mind that the Santo Daime was founded in 1930, and the NAC(Native American Church) was founded in 1918. The use of these plants have been used by Indians for thousands of years, but it’s not like “The White Man” has lived in sobriety through these years. There are indications that the Vikings used Psilocybe Semilanceata and Amanita Muscaria a thousand years ago, so I can basically claim the same heritage, but the declaration states that I don’t have to in order to enjoy the same rights as anyone from either of these groups. Belief is inalienable regardless of whether it stems from personal conviction or tradition.
As for article 29, is the taking of a psychotropic substance infringing upon the rights of others? Clearly not! Does it infringe upon the requirements of morality, public order and general welfare in a democratic society? That statement is so vague that it can go both ways, but consider this: If a Santo Daime member ingests his Daime, containing N,N-DMT and Harmalin, why is he more fit to observe these requirements, whereas I am not if I ingest the same substances in it’s pure chemical form? Why is a Native American more fit to ingest peyote than I am? The northern American peyote ritual was imported from Mexico in the 1800s, much the same way as the consumption of Psilocybin Mushrooms were imported from the same area by white men in the 1950-60s. Furthermore, there has been no clear evidence that the use of such substances promotes anti-social behaviour, on the contrary, they seem to generate a sense of responsibility and respect for life, the universe and everything. The only indication of danger connected with these substances are when immature people ingest them for fun, without any knowledge of the action of said substances. And compared to how many doses of LSD(not toxic, whereas peyote is) is ingested each year, the occurrence of problems related to their use is very small indeed. Considering how many problems alcohol, cigarettes and coffee produce, psychedelics like LSD, Mescaline, Psilocybin etc, despite their intensity, are quite safe to ingest, even when the effects turn out to be negative.
A non-religion organisation should be founded to promote the rights of the individual to ingest those substances that he feels necessary to live a meaningful life, without being persecuted for it. Being part of an organized religion is not a requirement to qualify for these rights, your beliefs can be personal, and you are free to change them as you see fit, and you don’t have to convince anyone of their validity. Personally I think organized religion can be more limiting than enabling in the pursuit of truth and happiness, we are different and thus the truth will be different to all of us. I see no reason to adopt another mans reality tunnel, no matter how successful he is, as success is a highly relative thing. But I still have a lot of respect for certain aspects of organized religion, it’s just not my cup of tea.
These rights need to be claimed, it is utterly naïve to think that anyone but us, who use these substances, will work for their legalization, government will not do it voluntarily. We may fail, but remember that the Santo Daime and the NAC have fought, and are still fighting for these rights, which must be said to be a minimum requirement for achieving a right, the will to stand for it. There have also been some promising cases that indicate the possibility of success. A couple of years ago a Rastafari was found not guilty upon charges of smuggling a private amount of marihuana to the United States, by an american court. The argument being that smoking ganja is a part of the rastafari’s religious practice.
It has also been argued quite convincingly, especially by Jonathan Ott, in Proemium, the foreword to Pharmacotheon, that the criminalization of drug users do more damage to the users than the pure drugs themselves. This should not be allowed to be shrugged away so easily by our authorities, it is too important. The alienation and degradation of such a large portion of the population has negative effects on our economy, our moral foundation, the general health of the public and last, but in no way the least, our cultural/spiritual development as a species.
This post is not meant to be an attack on either the Santo Daime or the NAC, both of which I admire greatly, but as an attack on religious and racial discrimination in the area of drugs. And I hope that an effort from our side on this matter will be supported by the NAC and Santo Daime since we are all children of the same mother Earth, and our goals are the same even if we walk different paths to get there. The time is more than ripe to actively resist the mindless bureaucratisation of our species and refuse the degrading lives we are offered to keep the machine of state and government running.
I’m sorry this post became so long, but thank you for reading it anyway.

[djryand]

AMEN!!

Preach on brother.

I am dying for someone to take this to the highest of courts in America and Europe and fight this for discrimination. Blatant, disgusting discrimination.

One day we will truly be free.

[P!MPJU!C3]

Im happy 2 say that im so free of discrimanition i can even
joke about with my other discrimination free friends. Then u know ur discrimination free

[BEEKSc1]

yea i am part of the thc ministry. "we smoke religiously, and you can too." thc-ministry.org it great i have an ID card to go in my wallet and many others things to legally declare myself as a religioususer of cannabis

[AZMEO]

Don't kid yourself in the US there are no recognized Religions that can smoke leagaly and given that Mj use has no long standing religious tradions there likely never will be.

[BEEKSc1]

ignorance sucks, check out the link that i posted, don't believe me if you don't want to, but the info is at thc-ministry.org if you would ever want to educate yourself on the religion prtection, but if not, your loss, not mine

[BEEKSc1]

<DIV dir=ltr>I believe that cannabis is the original sacrament of Christianity in addition too numerous other Religions and fulfills the prophecies to “feed all our hungers”. I also believe cannabis is one of the main ingredients in the original Anointing Oil, as described in The Holy Bible.</DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr>"And God said, Behold, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."
(Genesis 1:11)
"And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."
(Genesis 1:12)
"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
(Genesis 1:29)
“And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.”
(Genesis 1:30)
And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. -- Ezekiel 34:29</DIV>