When the head of Apple, Tim Cook, warned of "something very dangerous" happening in states across the US after Indiana passed its controversial religious freedom bill last week, this was probably not what he had in mind.
The First Church of Cannabis has now been approved in Indiana, according to reports in the US.
In a story datelined 30 March and not 1 April, the Washington Post reported that church founder Bill Levin, who styles himself "Grand Poohba", filed paperwork in direct response to Indiana governor Mike Pence signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law last Thursday.
The Post also claimed that Secretary of State Connie Lawson approved the First Church of Cannabis as a religious corporation with the stated intent "to start a church based on love and understanding with compassion for all."
Marijuana is illegal in Indiana for both recreational and medicinal use. If Levin gets into trouble with the law as a result of practising what he preaches, he plans to invoke the new law's defence of a person's right to exercise their religion. It is this right that Cook and others have warned against in the new law fearing that it will allow Christians to discriminate legally against homosexuals for example in provision of goods and services.
If the spelling and syntax of Levin on the church's GoFundMe website, where a donor has already given $1,000, is any guide, the Church's sacrament, cannabis, is in any case already being celebrated devoutly.
"Are other religions just not satifing (sic) your need for spirituality? Has your faith left the standard church doctrine? Well I have an answer. I have created the FIRST CHURCH OF CANNABIS. A church based on LOVE and FAITH with the plant we know and love."
He continues: "Please join me in building a better spritual (sic) future for all. This fund raisng (sic) campaign is to lease us a church for a year until we can break ground and build America's first HEMP TEMPLE celebrating all that is good in our hearts. We all have faith. Let's cherish it togehter (sic) under the roof of LOVE.
Although the church will grow hemp, it will not in fact buy or sell marijuana. Members will be known as "cannataerians".
Levin has drawn up 12 commandments which begin: "Don't be an a**hole. Treat everyone with Love as an equal."
They include: "Do not be a 'troll' on the internet."
They end: "Cannabis, 'the healing Plant', is our sacrament... We embrace it with our whole heart and spirit, individually and as a group. - Amen"
