Pubdate: Tue, 04 Feb 2014
Source: Daily Freeman (Kingston, NY)
Copyright: 2014 Daily Freeman
Contact:  http://www.dailyfreeman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3269
Author: Sarah Pulliam Bailey, The Associated Press
Page: A7

FAITH LEADERS DIVIDED OVER MARIJUANA

New York (AP) - 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.

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 7-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."

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.

"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.
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MAP posted-by: Matt