CANNABIS CULTURE MAGAZINE

Issue # 9 Summer of 1997

The Canadian Inquisition:

(Part II - Beliefs of the Church of the Universe)

By Daniel Loehndorf

Part I - History of the Church

What follows is a profile of major ideas of the Church of the Universe,

compiled from a number of different interviews given by the

Reverends Tucker and Baldasaro.

On The Sacredness of Marijuana

"Why is marijuana a sacrament?"   

Reverend Tucker: "When I want to calm my world, the immediate habitation of my soul, marijuana has a calming influence. And when I want to direct my thoughts internally, it has the ability to allow me to direct my thoughts where I want to without interference from negative forces.   

    "It's a matter of doing it every day. It's a matter of wearing the cloth. It's a matter of eating the seed. Its a matter of ingesting the Holy Weed into my chest, into my body and allowing that spirit which is the plant spirit to combine with my spirit in worship of our creator.   
    "It makes me feel as though life is worth living. When I look around I know I have something to do to make it better for my fellow brothers and sisters."   

"What about other plants and herbs?"   

Reverend Tucker: "This is the most sacred plant in the world, it's the most user friendly plant you could ever smoke."   

"As a member of a religion which holds marijuana to be the sacred Tree of Life from Genesis, are you legally entitled to smoke it?"   

Reverend Tucker: "Who could say to me 'it's okay to do it, Walter', that I would pay any attention to it? You seem to assume that I'm asking for someone's permission to live my life. I got that permission from God a long time ago. And no one can take that away. Only God."   

"So you don't believe that a person should fight for legalization?"   

Reverend Tucker: "I don't believe it's illegal. That's all smoke and mirrors. Bullshit. All you're doing is justifying the existence of a bunch of idiots [the government] who don't have the right to exist anyway except they live off your guts, your life."

On The Holiness of Nudity

"Why Nudity?"   

Reverend Tucker: "What we believe is that the two golden rules, don't hurt yourself, and don't hurt other human beings Ñ don't create any negative aspects to the fact that you are born nude. The idea of taking your clothes off is to show that you are not guilty before God. You are willing to stand before God exactly as he created you, without shame.   
    "So nudity has two aspects. One, the health aspect of being in God's creation with the golden sun shining down upon you. The other is that when you see yourself nude along with other human beings, you understand that you are one of God's creatures."   

"Do you think Jesus was a nudist?"   

Reverend Tucker: "He was, under his clothes. Look, he said it the way it is. I forgot where in the book he said it but he said something like "into this world you're brought naked and from it naked you will go."   

Reverend Baldasaro: "Hey man, it's natural. You don't hurt anybody by doing it and we want to do it on our own ground, not in any middle class place. We want to be free." 

On Other Beliefs

"Do you consider yourself a Christian?"   

Reverend Baldasaro: "I am not a Christian. Neither was Jesus. I am a Universalist who believes that 'God is God'. Jesus was a Jew who found and suggested a new way."   

"Could you explain the significance of the number 69, and of the nine-pointed star symbol prominent on so much church literature?"   

Reverend Baldasaro: "The star of David, Ô6 of the woman', and the star Ô9 of the man' is where we are. The 6 and 9 together makes 8, which is the symbol of infinity and of the river of life.   
    "The waters must flow. Man and woman must create between them universal peace and love. God created all under the sun, both good and evil. The woman and the man fill the positive requirements of the creation".   

"What are the goals of the Church of the Universe?"   

Reverend Tucker: "To have the whole world be a space where you can create your own lifestyle and your own spirituality within the same rules that we're talking about in each one of our missions: don't hurt yourself and don't hurt anyone else. We'd like to see the whole world love one another and share with one another in the good things that they have."   

"Who is God?"   

Reverend Tucker: "Everything. Everyone. The judge, the Smoke, the Tree of Life. That's why I don't hate the policeman.  
That's why I don't hate the judge."  God is God!

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