Is Taking Peyote a Religious Right?

A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from the Associated Press, November 23, 2002, with a headline:“Man seeks right to give son peyote,” dateline: White Cloud, Michigan.A member of an American Indian tribe said the court system is infringing on his religious freedom by prohibiting his four year old son from being given peyote, an hallucinogenic plant during spiritual ceremonies.Jonathan Fowler, 35, of Traverse City, testified about his son Friday at a Newaygo County Family Court hearing, stemming from a custody dispute with his ex-wife, Kristin Hanslovsky, 31, of Montague.Fowler, a member of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, attend an Indian church where peyote use is considered a sacrament.He credits peyote with helping him to overcome alcoholism and to “come into contact with God as I know him.”He wants to be able to give peyote to his son during his church’s religious services.Hanslovsky objects, saying it could harm the child.The couple split up soon after their son was born in 1998.In October 2002, a judge granted Fowler custody of his son but prohibited him from giving peyote to the child.Peyote, a small bitter-tasting cactus that grows in Southern Texas and Northern Mexico has been a part of Indian culture for thousands of years.Those who ingest the plant believe it provides enlightenment and other physical and spiritual benefits.The plant’s active chemical ingredient is mescaline, a hallucinogen.The U. S. Criminal Code usually classifies peyote as controlled substance and a person caught with more than 4 ounces faces the possibility of a 20-year prison sentence.But in 1994, Congress carved out exemptions for “the practice of a traditional Indian religion” by members of federally recognized tribes.Fowler is a member of a Native American Church of the Morning Star.The Michigan chapter of the church combines elements of Christianity with Indian practices that center on the ritual use of peyote.During church ceremonies, peyote is distributed as a tea or a greenish paste.Fowler has said he wants to be allowed to rub some of the tea on his son’s forehead.Under cross examination Friday by Hanslovsky’s lawyer, Martin Holmes, Fowler says he wants to leave it up to his child to decide when to ingest the peyote.Testifying on Fowler’s behalf was John H. Halpern, a psychiatrist and researcher at HarvardMedicalSchool, who was an expert on peyote and other hallucinogens.Halpern said he has found no evidence of any child or adult being harmed by it in Indian religious ceremonies.He also questioned the court’s decision to take up the matter, saying the federal government has affirmed such use of peyote.“We have to protect these people’s traditions and ways,” Halpern said.Under cross examination, Homes asked the researcher if there is evidence showing peyote users, particularly young children, faced no risks.Halpern responded that too much of anything is bad whether it’s peyote or Tylenol.

Tom:

Dave, there are a number of items in here that I think are worth addressing.We have a church that’s Native American and Christian, so called; we have hallucinogenic drugs to reach spirit entities with the god, as this man says that he knows, or as he knows him.This is problematic across the border, it’s not just for the sake of this four-year-old, but this is a delusion.

Dave:

Tom, I think you are being too kind. I would use a stronger word than problematic.This is clearly one of the major ways of getting in touch with spirit entities, as you intimated, entering the occult.It’s well known, I mean, we have quoted a lot of experts on this and what they are taking peyote for, I mean, the very purpose is to contact spirit entities.It’s not imagination but these are demonic entities and this is not God and, of course, the U. S. Federal Government allows them to do this.And, a recognized group of Indians can take this like Christians take bread and wine in communion.

Tom:

It’s referred to as a sacrament according to this article.

Dave:

We take it in remembrance of Christ; they are taking it in order to contact spirit entities.Who are these spirits? Are these angels? They are not angels, they are demonic entities, and this is what the shaman, the witchdoctor, does to pick up his spirit guide, so-called, which could be an animal even, or some human entity supposedly.And Tom, you’ve done research on this; this is the doorway into the occult.So now the question is—

Tom:

Dave, before you go too far in this—for our listeners who are interested in this, we have two books. One, The New Spirituality, which deals with this in great detail, but also your book, The Occult Invasion.If you want to contact us here I will give you the 800 number and we can tell you how to get hold of this book.

Dave:

Well, one of the things we point out in both of those books is, the New Testament comes down very hard on something it calls sorcery.The Greek word translated sorcery, at least in the King James, is “Pharmacia” from which we get drugs.A sorcerer is a person who takes conscience altering drugs in order to enter this spirit dimension and contact spirit entities—absolutely forbidden in the Bible because these are demonic entities and they lead you astray.Now, this man is in touch with what he calls god, as he understands him.Sounds kind of like, I think you’ve had some programs recently about 12-Steps.You get in touch with god, as I understand him, as I conceive him to be.This is not the true God but this is a god that you’ve come up with in your imagination.But these people are not just coming up with it in their imagination.They are taking a substance that puts them in an altered state of consciousness where they become open to these spirit entities.Now we’ve mentioned in the past, Sir John Eccles for example, he’s a Nobel Prize winner for his work on the brain, he described the brain as “a machine that a ghost can operate.”So, in the normal state of consciousness, your spirit operates your brain. In an altered state, you have loosened the connection between you, your spirit, and your brain and that allows another spirit to interpose itself and began to tick off the neurons in the brain and create a universe of illusion, psychedelic experiences, out of body experiences, prophesies, introduction to occult entities, and so forth.That’s exactly what’s happening.So, the question before the court is: is a four-year-old too young to get involved in this?Tylenol—take too much of it—look, don’t compare Tylenol with this!This is a spiritual experience and it is a delusion.

Tom:

Dave, this psychiatrist from Harvard—now am I wrong?Wasn’t Timothy Leary, the Harvard psychologist into LSD?I don’t know that I would go down this route with this guy