The Original Kleptonian Neo-American Church (OKNeoAC), mostly shorted Neo-American Church, is a religious organization based on the use of
psychedelic drugs
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
(the "True Host") as a sacrament.
Founding
The Church was founded in 1965
[ or 1966][ at Cranberry Lake, New York, by Arthur Kleps,][ a participant in ]Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...
's circle based at the Hitchcock Estate
The Hitchcock Estate in Millbrook, New York is a historic mansion and surrounding grounds, associated with Timothy Leary and the psychedelic movement. It is often referred to in this context as just Millbrook; it is also sometimes called by its o ...
in Millbrook, New York. The organization was founded partly as an absurdist religion, partly as a religious expression of the psychedelic movement
Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic dru ...
, and partly as a device to gain religious exemption from American drug laws such as those outlawing LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...
.
Church clergy, known as Boo Hoos, claimed LSD as a sacrament. The original primary religious text of the church was ''The Boo Hoo Bible: The Neo-American Church Catechism and Handbook'' (1967),[ written by Kleps, a mixed-media work integrating comics, news clippings, senate testimonies, and political-religious diatribes.][ The ''Boo Hoo Bible'' has been described as "requiring its reader to transcend the personal in an act that simultaneously simulates and dissimulates, establishing and overcoming the ironic.... present nga cosmology of simultaneity, which Kleps considers essential to psychedelic experience. A radical solipsism emerges that sees all conscious and unconscious life as part of one dream where meaning-making becomes completely associative";][ it also includes the declaration that the ultimate goal of mankind is (or should be) the bombardment and destruction of the planet Saturn (which hoped-for event was depicted on the book's cover).][
''The Boo Hoo Bible'' was supplemented or superseded by Kleps' later book ''Millbrook: A Narrative of the Early Years of American Psychedelianism'' (1975, with new editions in 1977 and 2005) which provides an account of Kleps' founding of the organization along with a narrative of his experiences at the Hitchcock estate in ]Millbrook, New York
Millbrook is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, on the east side of the Hudson River, north of New York City. Millbrook is near the center of the town of Washington, of which it is a ...
, between 1963 and 1970, and describes the church's principles and doctrine as of the date of publication.[ ''Millbrook'' also includes philosophical interpretations of psychedelic experience and ]synchronicity
Synchronicity (german: Synchronizität) is a concept first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection." In contemporary research, synchronicity e ...
and social and political commentary on aspects of the psychedelic movement
Psychedelia refers to the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic music and style of dress during that era. This was primarily generated by people who used psychedelic dru ...
.
While it incorporated whimsical or even absurdist motifs – for instance, Church hymns included "Puff the Magic Dragon
"Puff, the Magic Dragon" (or just "Puff") is a song written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary from a poem by Leonard Lipton. It was made popular by Yarrow's group in a 1962 recording released in January 1963.
Lipton wrote a poem about a ...
"[ and "]Row, Row, Row Your Boat
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is an English language nursery rhyme and a popular children's song, often sung in a round. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19236.
Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album ''101 Gang Songs'' (1961). ...
" (with its solipsistic refrain of "Life is but a dream"), which fact did not help them in establishing their bona fides
In human interactions, good faith ( la, bona fides) is a sincere intention to be fair, open, and honest, regardless of the outcome of the interaction. Some Latin phrases have lost their literal meaning over centuries, but that is not the case ...
as a serious religion to the judge in ''United States vs. Kuch'' (see below)[ – this mainly extended to matters of form and organization. The actual theology was fully formed, serious, and culturally revolutionary in intent.][ Kleps testified that the absurdist elements of the Church were intended to show that all religions are invented and silly.][
]
''United States vs. Kuch''
The Native American Church
The Native American Church (NAC), also known as Peyotism and Peyote Religion, is a Native American religion that teaches a combination of traditional Native American beliefs and Christianity, with sacramental use of the entheogen peyote. The ...
(no relation) was around this time fighting successfully in several state courts to uphold its legal permission to use peyote (normally a banned substance) in religious ceremonies;[ the Neo-American Church hoped to gain the same right, by analogy.][ One of the Church's ministers, Judith H. Kuch, was arrested and put on federal trial on narcotics charges in 1968. Kuch claimed that her use of LSD was a religious requirement.
The judge ruled that the Church's rituals did not merit protection under the ]First Amendment
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
as he could find no evidence of "a religious discipline, a ritual, or tenets to guide one's daily existence"[ and that "...the eo-American Churchmembership is mocking established institutions ndplaying with words... There is a conscious effort to assert in passing the attributes of religion but obviously only for tactical purposes"][ and that " is clear that the desire to use drugs and to enjoy drugs for their own sake, regardless of religious experience, is the coagulant of this organization and the reason for its existence."][ This was an instance, rare in ]American Constitutional jurisprudence
The constitutional law of the United States is the body of law governing the interpretation and implementation of the United States Constitution. The subject concerns the scope of power of the United States federal government compared to the indi ...
, of a judge finding as an issue of fact that someone does not actually hold the religious views she professes.[ (Regardless of the merits of the religion, the judge in any case found substantial state interest in denying the exemption.][)
]
Later years
The Church reached its greatest notoriety around the time of this 1968 ''United States of America vs. Kuch'' case but continues into the 21st century as a small, loose organization. Membership in the Church is loosely defined but is based on assent to three principles: holding the psychedelic substances as sacraments, claiming their use as a basic human right
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...
, and defining enlightenment as "the recognition that life is a dream and the externality of relations an illusion (solipsistic
Solipsism (; ) is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known ...
nihilism)".[
]
Notes
References
Further reading
*{{cite journal , last1=Newman , first1=Joel S. , date=December 2015 , title=What is a Church? A Look at Tax Exemptions for the Original Kleptonian Neo-American Church and the First Church of Cannabis , journal=Lexis Federal Tax Journal Quarterly , publisher=LexisNexis , ssrn=2714965
External links
Original Kleptonian Neo-American Church website
Complete text of ''Millbrook: A Narrative of the Early Years of American Psychedelianism'' by Arthur Kleps
New religious movements
Religious parodies and satires
1965 establishments in the United States
Religious organizations established in 1965
Psychedelics and religion
Religious belief systems founded in the United States