HOLY SMOKES! THIS TORONTO-BASED CHURCH GOES TO POT

If you yearn to taste religion, it's a spiritual smorgasbord.

Within about 21 major religions there are hundreds of large religious
groups and thousands of smaller independent churches. Each one
naturally believes theirs is the correct creed.

Signing on can require an introductory course, jumping doctrinal
hurdles, obeying rules perhaps and subscribing to an interpretation
of sacred scripture.

If you're looking for something simple, however, consider the Church
of the Universe. Founded in 1969, it has but two rules: Do not hurt
yourself and do not hurt anyone else.

Easy-peasy.

As for scriptural interpretation, it focuses on one verse in the last
chapter of the Bible. Revelation 22:2 says "The leaves of the tree
were for the healing of the nations."

Obviously, says the church, the holy plant here is cannabis and God's
children "have a right to God's tree of life."

The church's founder was Walter Tucker, whose wife and family left
him when he devoted his life to "worship and the divine weed." The
high priest of hemp grew his hair and beard and began to wear hempen
cloth. The church was inundated with new members on its property, a
quarry outside Toronto. Buildings were erected. Church members shared
their bare skins with the sun and rocks, partaking freely of their
sacrament of marijuana.

The tree of life, ahem, took hold in the soil. And as the forest
grew, so did Tucker's vision. Tucker began ordaining ministers and
missionaries. The church currently boasts about 4,000 members across
Canada and about 35 ministers who are mandated to wear headgear such
as a yarmulke or turban.

The church uses marijuana as a sacrament in the search for an
understanding of their spirituality and connection with God. Church
members are asked to sign a simple statement of faith and pay a small fee.

Through the years, their holy smoke has been hindered by the
prevailing winds of Canadian law.

This week we learned the church will not get the blessings of the
court to inhale its blessed sacrament, losing its bid to be exempt
from Canada's pot laws.

It launched the constitutional challenge in defence of Peter Styrsky,
who along with fellow church minister Shahrooz Kharaghani, was
charged with trafficking marijuana in 2006. Prosecutors had argued
that allowing the church's challenge would effectively legalize
marijuana, as others would claim a religious right as well.

Although Ontario Superior Court Justice Thea Herman ruled against the
church, she said the group is sincere in claiming it uses marijuana
to connect to God.

"The provisions in question constitute a reasonable limit on the
applicants' charter rights," reads Herman's ruling. However, Herman
ultimately did not think it was possible to create a workable
religious exemption.

"There is no feasible way to make an allowance for the religious use
of cannabis in the circumstances of this case," she wrote.

"It is difficult, if not impossible, for an outsider to identify the
religious user and religious use because religious use is barely
distinguishable from recreational use."

The Crown argued that the applicants' religion is a "sham" and a
"joke," a parody of religion designed to legitimize illegal behaviour.

As the church sees it, Adam and Eve, in tending the garden, were
given care of the tree of life and were not forbidden its fruits or,
I assume, its leaves.

Real religion is and always will be in the mind of the adherent. And
the thirst for God satisfied in a multitude of sacramental behaviours.

Not only consuming wine but, allegedly, smoking weed.