Indiana's First Church of Cannabis plans to test the state's new religious freedom law on the day it goes into effect by conducting its inaugural service in a sanctuary filled with worshipers smoking marijuana, reported U.S. News.
Church founder Bill Levin established the church in the wake of the state's controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which goes into effect July 1.
The church's adherents say they worship cannabis as a holy sacrament, but the plant is illegal to grow, use or possess under state law.
"It brings us closer to ourselves and others," the church's Facebook page says. "It is our fountain of health, our love, curing us from illness and depression. We embrace it with our whole heart and spirit, individually and as a group."
Levin told a Chicago ABC affiliate that he founded the church "since religion is governing the states," and he hopes that the new law will afford him the same religious freedoms as it does to those not willing to serve homosexuals due to religious reasons.
The church's first service will kick off with "Amazing Grace" played on harmonica, followed by a short sermon and member testimonies about recent positive experiences in their life, Levin told U.S. News.
Then, Levin "will issue a call to worship and the sanctuary will fill with smoke."
Levin says he has received an "influx of free legal advice" which leads him to believe that his service will be entirely legal. He even wants to hire off-duty police officers to work the event, according to U.S. News.
Although, Peg McLeish, a spokeswoman for the Marion County Prosecutor's Office, told U.S. News that the law doesn't necessarily protect people from being arrested. "It's that they could assert [their religious beliefs are] a defense if they are prosecuted," McLeish said.
