Prague, Jan 4 (CTK) – The Czech Culture Ministry has rejected the application of the Cannabis Church (Konopna cirkev) to be officially registered as a church, but the Cannabis Church group filed a complaint against the decision, its representative Dusan Dvorak told CTK.
Dvorak said the ministry did not give any legal argument why it did not meet the application.
The application to put the Cannabis Church on the list of churches that are officially recognised in the country was filed last July. The ministry decided on it after five months, on December 22. Dvorak filed the complaint against the decision on December 30.
At first, the ministry said it would not deal with the application since the faith in the benefits of cannabis and its propagation cannot be considered a religion. Dvorak appealed this decision and then he complained about the ministry’s inactivity. Two weeks ago, Culture Minister Daniel Herman (Christian Democrats, KDU-CSL) confirmed the previous decision of the ministerial clerks.
“The minister says we want to have a church in order to worship a narcotic substance. There is no such thing in our application. It concerns spiritual affairs… We want to run hospices, visit prisons and do things that are needed,” Dvorak said.
On the Cannabis Church website, the group says a church is the strongest form of legal protection of a church member in growing poppy, cannabis and any other psychoactive substance used in spiritual context.
There are 38 officially registered churches in the Czech Republic. The Josef Zezulka Community, promoting the biotronic healing method, has been the last to be added to the official list. Its application was met in 2014.
The newly registered churches have no right to receive financial contributions for their operation from the state, unlike traditional churches.
Last year, the Culture Ministry rejected the application of the association Lions of the Round Table – Order of the Lands of the Czech Crown (Lvi kulateho stolu – Rad Zemi Koruny ceske), the ministry’s spokeswoman Simona Cigankova said.
Two other applications from 2016 have not been decided on yet. They were filed by the Buddhism community in the Czech Republic and the Society of Saint Pius X, an orthodox community that left the Roman Catholic Church because it considers it too modernist and liberal.
kva/dr/rtj
