Cannabis Religion Is Exempt From Paying Taxes
Indiana has passed a Religious Freedom Act, which mean a person may be protected from criminalization depending on their religious beliefs. Criticism has come as some people believe this will give some people the right to discriminate against gay people on religious grounds. Some people see the law change as an opportunity to practise smoking cannabis for spiritual and religious reasons. Testing these new laws is a newly-founded church where their ceremonies are similar to Christian rituals but with the incorporation of cannabis.
The service will open with ‘Amazing Grace’ played on a Harmonica leading to a quick sermon, finishing up with a call to worship where they partake in the smoking of the ‘holy’ cannabis plant.
The big news coming out of this is that IRS have awarded the church a tax exemption. This means the cannabis parish is an established church in the eyes of the American tax authority.
Bill Levin – Founder of the church spoke to the news “It means people in higher tax brackets will be more generous with the church,”, he added “There have been people who want us to succeed but they’ve [been] waiting [on] our 501©3 exemption.”
A religion that worships a plant may be somewhat obscure in some people’s eyes but then people have worshipped other living creatures such as cats, cows and reptiles for thousands of years. Some communities believe elements like air and water are sacred because they’re essential to human life. The endo-cannabinoid system is an essential part of the human make up and cannabis is that essential compound in plant form… so by those standards its certainly sacred.