NEW YORK (RNS) Sunday’s Super Bowl was dubbed by some
as the “pot bowl,” as the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks hail from
the two states where fans can soon get marijuana as easily as they can
get pizza. As public opinion has shifted in support of legalized
marijuana, religious leaders are wrestling over competing interests,
including high prison rates and legislating morality.
Show caption
Mark
DeMoss, a spokesman for many Christians like evangelist Franklin Graham
and Hobby Lobby founder Steve Green, speaks on a panel during the
Religion Newswriters Association conference in Bethesda, Md., on Oct.
5, 2012. RNS photo by Sally Morrow
According to a 2013 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute,
58 percent of white mainline Protestants and 54 percent of black
Protestants favor legalizing the use of marijuana. On the other side, nearly seven-in-10 (69 percent) white evangelical Protestants oppose it.
Catholics appear to be the most divided Christian group,
with 48 percent favoring legalization and 50 percent opposing
it. Opinions on how states should handle those who possess or sell
marijuana varies among Christian leaders.
Caught in the middle of the debate are pastors, theologians
and other religious leaders, torn over how to uphold traditional
understandings of sin and morality amid a rapidly changing tide of
public opinion.
Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for several prominent evangelicals
including Franklin Graham and Hobby Lobby founder Steve Green, admits
he takes a view that might not be held by most Christian leaders.
“When 50 percent of our prison beds are occupied by
nonviolent offenders, we have prison overcrowding problems and violent
offenders serving shortened sentences, I have a problem with
incarceration for possession of marijuana,” he said.
“None of that’s to say I favor free and rampant marijuana use. I don’t think it’s the most serious blight on America.”
Alcohol abuse, he said, is a much more serious issue. President Obama suggested something similar to The New Yorker recently when he said that marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol.
But don’t expect pastors to start preaching in line with
DeMoss, who said he has not seen much comment from religious leaders on
the issue.
“If a pastor said some of what I said, there would be some
who would feel the pastor was compromising on a moral issue,” he said.
“No one wants to risk looking like they’re in favor of marijuana. I’m
not in favor, but I think we should address how high of a priority it
should be.”
Views of Legalizing Marijuana: 1969-2013 graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center
Both Colorado and Washington state approved the
recreational use of marijuana by adults in the 2012 elections. Even
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who found early support among some evangelicals
during the 2012 presidential race, has come out supporting the decriminalization of marijuana.
Laws on marijuana have disproportionately impacted
minorities, said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National
Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.
“There are community programs that can better engage young
people than incarceration,” he said. “Many black and brown lives are
destroyed because of incarceration.”
A majority of Americans now favor legalizing the use of marijuana, according to the most recent polling from the Pew Research Center. In
2013, 52 percent said that the use of marijuana should be made legal
while 45 percent said it should not. Among millennials (adults born
after 1980), 65 percent favor legalizing marijuana use, up from just 36
percent in 2008.
Most Christians are still reluctant to favor legalization,
Rodriguez said, since the effects of marijuana aren’t much different
from getting drunk, which is a biblical no-no.
“It has the ability of diluting reason, behavior, putting
your guard down,” he said. “We are temples of God’s Holy Spirit, and it
has the ability of hindering a clear thought process.”
Some who favor legalized marijuana liken the Christians who
oppose it to be like the early 20th-century evangelicals and
fundamentalists who supported a federal prohibition on alcohol.
Part of a move in the Republican Party toward a loosening
on marijuana legislation could be coming from people who also would
sympathize with the Tea Party, said Russell Moore, head of the Southern
Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.
Russell Moore at the Washington offices of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks
“I definitely think there’s been a coalition of ‘leave us
alone’ libertarians and Woodstock nation progressives on this issue of
marijuana,” Moore said. “I do think there has been an effort to
stigmatize those with concerns as Carrie Nations holding on to prohibition.”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has joined
a growing group of states that have loosened restrictions on marijuana,
planning to allow limited use of the drug by those with serious
illnesses. Some leaders, including Focus on the Family’s Jim Daly, have suggested there are medical benefits but do not condone recreational use of marijuana.
Nine states and the District of Columbia have introduced
legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults, according
to the Daily Beast.
Twenty states have passed legislation to allow medical marijuana since
1996, while 16 states have begun to allow the possession of small
amounts of marijuana.
But Moore said the analogy between alcohol and marijuana laws don’t hold up.
“Alcohol already had a ubiquitous presence in American
society long before prohibition, in ways marijuana has not,” he said,
suggesting he could find support for some medical marijuana. “If there
were studies demonstrating marijuana is the best treatment for a
particular disease and the prescription was tightly regulated the way we
do morphine and other mind-altering drugs, yes. That’s not what we have
happening in America right now.”
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In
the midst of a nationwide debate over marijuana legalization, many
Christians are left wondering on how to respond to the issue. Various
pastors give their perspectives in a series of blog posts and interviews
as public opinion shifts increasingly in favor of decriminalizing the
drug.
In an article titled "Don't Let Your Mind Go to Pot," theologian John Piper offers Biblical reasoning for why marijuana should be avoided. He references a study conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that advocates for legalization of marijuana, which is categorized in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 as Schedule I drug along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy.
"The short-term effects of marijuana include immediate, temporary changes in thoughts, perceptions, and information processing," reveals the study. "The cognitive process most clearly affected by marijuana is short-term memory."
Piper quotes 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which states "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" The theologian says that this verse has been an "an immovable barrier between me and self-destruction."
Christians need to ask, "Is this making Jesus look like the treasure He is?" Piper writes. "I would ask this that about smoking, about drunkenness, about recreational marijuana, about sedentary indolence, about overeating, about banal TV watching, and lots of other things."
According to a 2013 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, 58 percent of white mainline Protestants and 54 percent of black Protestants favor legalizing the use of marijuana. On the other side, nearly seven-in-10 (69 percent) white evangelical Protestants oppose it.
Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for several prominent evangelicals including Franklin Graham and Hobby Lobby founder Steve Green, says he believes marijuana is not the most important issue leaders should be discussing.
"When 50 percent of our prison beds are occupied by nonviolent offenders, we have prison overcrowding problems and violent offenders serving shortened sentences, I have a problem with incarceration for possession of marijuana," he said.
"None of that's to say I favor free and rampant marijuana use. I don't think it's the most serious blight on America...I'm not in favor, but I think we should address how high of a priority it should be. "
In a blog post titled "Puff or Pass," Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle based Church Mars Hill, takes an alternative stance, saying that while recreational use of marijuana is not illegal or particularly sinful, it is unwise.
"... Eating a cereal box instead of the food it contains is not illegal or sinful - it's just foolish," he wrote. "This explains why the Bible speaks not only of sin, but also folly, particularly in places such as the book of Proverbs. There are innumerable things that won't get you arrested or brought under church discipline, but they are just foolish and unwise."
Referencing 1 Corinthians 13:11, Driscoll makes the argument that smoking marijuana is indicative of immaturity among young men. He says he fears that "young men are the most likely to smoke weed and, by seemingly all measurable variables, are immature, irresponsible, and getting worse."
A public poll released earlier this week reveals that three-fourths of Americans say it's inevitable that marijuana will be legal for recreational use across the nation, whether they support such policies or not.
- See more at: http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/50816/20140403/pot-or-not-pastors-weigh-in-on-the-marijuana-debate.htm#sthash.BNqkgYDV.dpuf
In an article titled "Don't Let Your Mind Go to Pot," theologian John Piper offers Biblical reasoning for why marijuana should be avoided. He references a study conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that advocates for legalization of marijuana, which is categorized in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 as Schedule I drug along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy.
"The short-term effects of marijuana include immediate, temporary changes in thoughts, perceptions, and information processing," reveals the study. "The cognitive process most clearly affected by marijuana is short-term memory."
Piper quotes 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which states "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" The theologian says that this verse has been an "an immovable barrier between me and self-destruction."
Christians need to ask, "Is this making Jesus look like the treasure He is?" Piper writes. "I would ask this that about smoking, about drunkenness, about recreational marijuana, about sedentary indolence, about overeating, about banal TV watching, and lots of other things."
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Nine states and the District of Columbia have introduced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults, according to the Daily Beast. Twenty
states have passed legislation to allow medical marijuana since 1996,
while 16 states have begun to allow the possession of small amounts of
marijuana.According to a 2013 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, 58 percent of white mainline Protestants and 54 percent of black Protestants favor legalizing the use of marijuana. On the other side, nearly seven-in-10 (69 percent) white evangelical Protestants oppose it.
Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for several prominent evangelicals including Franklin Graham and Hobby Lobby founder Steve Green, says he believes marijuana is not the most important issue leaders should be discussing.
"When 50 percent of our prison beds are occupied by nonviolent offenders, we have prison overcrowding problems and violent offenders serving shortened sentences, I have a problem with incarceration for possession of marijuana," he said.
"None of that's to say I favor free and rampant marijuana use. I don't think it's the most serious blight on America...I'm not in favor, but I think we should address how high of a priority it should be. "
In a blog post titled "Puff or Pass," Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle based Church Mars Hill, takes an alternative stance, saying that while recreational use of marijuana is not illegal or particularly sinful, it is unwise.
"... Eating a cereal box instead of the food it contains is not illegal or sinful - it's just foolish," he wrote. "This explains why the Bible speaks not only of sin, but also folly, particularly in places such as the book of Proverbs. There are innumerable things that won't get you arrested or brought under church discipline, but they are just foolish and unwise."
Referencing 1 Corinthians 13:11, Driscoll makes the argument that smoking marijuana is indicative of immaturity among young men. He says he fears that "young men are the most likely to smoke weed and, by seemingly all measurable variables, are immature, irresponsible, and getting worse."
A public poll released earlier this week reveals that three-fourths of Americans say it's inevitable that marijuana will be legal for recreational use across the nation, whether they support such policies or not.
- See more at: http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/50816/20140403/pot-or-not-pastors-weigh-in-on-the-marijuana-debate.htm#sthash.BNqkgYDV.dpuf
In
the midst of a nationwide debate over marijuana legalization, many
Christians are left wondering on how to respond to the issue. Various
pastors give their perspectives in a series of blog posts and interviews
as public opinion shifts increasingly in favor of decriminalizing the
drug.
In an article titled "Don't Let Your Mind Go to Pot," theologian John Piper offers Biblical reasoning for why marijuana should be avoided. He references a study conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that advocates for legalization of marijuana, which is categorized in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 as Schedule I drug along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy.
"The short-term effects of marijuana include immediate, temporary changes in thoughts, perceptions, and information processing," reveals the study. "The cognitive process most clearly affected by marijuana is short-term memory."
Piper quotes 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which states "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" The theologian says that this verse has been an "an immovable barrier between me and self-destruction."
Christians need to ask, "Is this making Jesus look like the treasure He is?" Piper writes. "I would ask this that about smoking, about drunkenness, about recreational marijuana, about sedentary indolence, about overeating, about banal TV watching, and lots of other things."
According to a 2013 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, 58 percent of white mainline Protestants and 54 percent of black Protestants favor legalizing the use of marijuana. On the other side, nearly seven-in-10 (69 percent) white evangelical Protestants oppose it.
Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for several prominent evangelicals including Franklin Graham and Hobby Lobby founder Steve Green, says he believes marijuana is not the most important issue leaders should be discussing.
"When 50 percent of our prison beds are occupied by nonviolent offenders, we have prison overcrowding problems and violent offenders serving shortened sentences, I have a problem with incarceration for possession of marijuana," he said.
"None of that's to say I favor free and rampant marijuana use. I don't think it's the most serious blight on America...I'm not in favor, but I think we should address how high of a priority it should be. "
In a blog post titled "Puff or Pass," Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle based Church Mars Hill, takes an alternative stance, saying that while recreational use of marijuana is not illegal or particularly sinful, it is unwise.
"... Eating a cereal box instead of the food it contains is not illegal or sinful - it's just foolish," he wrote. "This explains why the Bible speaks not only of sin, but also folly, particularly in places such as the book of Proverbs. There are innumerable things that won't get you arrested or brought under church discipline, but they are just foolish and unwise."
Referencing 1 Corinthians 13:11, Driscoll makes the argument that smoking marijuana is indicative of immaturity among young men. He says he fears that "young men are the most likely to smoke weed and, by seemingly all measurable variables, are immature, irresponsible, and getting worse."
A public poll released earlier this week reveals that three-fourths of Americans say it's inevitable that marijuana will be legal for recreational use across the nation, whether they support such policies or not.
- See more at: http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/50816/20140403/pot-or-not-pastors-weigh-in-on-the-marijuana-debate.htm#sthash.BNqkgYDV.dpuf
In an article titled "Don't Let Your Mind Go to Pot," theologian John Piper offers Biblical reasoning for why marijuana should be avoided. He references a study conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that advocates for legalization of marijuana, which is categorized in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 as Schedule I drug along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy.
"The short-term effects of marijuana include immediate, temporary changes in thoughts, perceptions, and information processing," reveals the study. "The cognitive process most clearly affected by marijuana is short-term memory."
Piper quotes 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, which states "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?" The theologian says that this verse has been an "an immovable barrier between me and self-destruction."
Christians need to ask, "Is this making Jesus look like the treasure He is?" Piper writes. "I would ask this that about smoking, about drunkenness, about recreational marijuana, about sedentary indolence, about overeating, about banal TV watching, and lots of other things."
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Nine states and the District of Columbia have introduced legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults, according to the Daily Beast. Twenty
states have passed legislation to allow medical marijuana since 1996,
while 16 states have begun to allow the possession of small amounts of
marijuana.According to a 2013 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, 58 percent of white mainline Protestants and 54 percent of black Protestants favor legalizing the use of marijuana. On the other side, nearly seven-in-10 (69 percent) white evangelical Protestants oppose it.
Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for several prominent evangelicals including Franklin Graham and Hobby Lobby founder Steve Green, says he believes marijuana is not the most important issue leaders should be discussing.
"When 50 percent of our prison beds are occupied by nonviolent offenders, we have prison overcrowding problems and violent offenders serving shortened sentences, I have a problem with incarceration for possession of marijuana," he said.
"None of that's to say I favor free and rampant marijuana use. I don't think it's the most serious blight on America...I'm not in favor, but I think we should address how high of a priority it should be. "
In a blog post titled "Puff or Pass," Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle based Church Mars Hill, takes an alternative stance, saying that while recreational use of marijuana is not illegal or particularly sinful, it is unwise.
"... Eating a cereal box instead of the food it contains is not illegal or sinful - it's just foolish," he wrote. "This explains why the Bible speaks not only of sin, but also folly, particularly in places such as the book of Proverbs. There are innumerable things that won't get you arrested or brought under church discipline, but they are just foolish and unwise."
Referencing 1 Corinthians 13:11, Driscoll makes the argument that smoking marijuana is indicative of immaturity among young men. He says he fears that "young men are the most likely to smoke weed and, by seemingly all measurable variables, are immature, irresponsible, and getting worse."
A public poll released earlier this week reveals that three-fourths of Americans say it's inevitable that marijuana will be legal for recreational use across the nation, whether they support such policies or not.
- See more at: http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/50816/20140403/pot-or-not-pastors-weigh-in-on-the-marijuana-debate.htm#sthash.BNqkgYDV.dpuf
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