Religious Freedom

Religious Freedom Police Interactions Jury Nullification " " Entheogen Law Civil Forfeiture... 

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the First Amendment protection for religious freedom does not require states to allow use of peyote. September The three Ochoa brothers who had been major Medellin cartel leaders agree to surrender to Colombian authorities in exchange for a reduced prison sentence and no extradition to the United States. 

American Indian Religious Freedom Act is passed and protects the religious traditions of Native Americans, including the use of peyote. 

United States Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments (AIRFA) restore right of Native Americans to use peyote in religious ceremonies. 

The 1990 Supreme Court decision in Employment Division v. Smith said that the religious use of peyote by Native Americans is not protected by the First Amendment. This decision was met with the outcry of many religious and civil liberties groups, which led to two legislative acts the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments (AIRFA). Amended again in 1996, AIRFA allowed for the same protection for the traditional, ceremonial use of peyote by American Indians in all 50 states. 

By the seventeenth century, there was a growing religious freedom which sparked a wave of interest in all things Mystical. Alchemical texts became still more widely available, and scholars boldly identified themselves as Rosicrucians, Adepts or Alchemists. The spiritual aspects of alchemy appealed to many, apart from any practical works. 

Thomas Jefferson s Virginia Declaration of Religious Freedom was circulated as a bill in 1779, but not passed by the Virginia legislature until 1786. By 6 February 1788 the Declaration had been ratified by Delaware Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut and Massachusetts. 

Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826 - exactly fifty years to the day after his Declaration proclaimed America s independence. His old friend John Adams died on the same day. Jefferson was buried on the hillside just below his beloved Monticello. Inscribed on his tombstone are the deeds for which he wished to be remembered, in the order of their importance Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia. There is no mention of his having served two terms as President of the United States. 

A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, repr. infra, vii.i. - Eds. 

Tf s most succinct statement on religious freedom, cast as an... 

---