I thought I knew quite a bit, some of it from personal experience, about the history of psychedelic churches in North America. Then I read Psychedelic Cults and Outlaw Churches, by Mike Marinacci. Backed by indefatigable research, well-organized, and astonishingly comprehensive, this remarkable work brings together into one volume the true stories of the many saints and sinners, with a preponderance of the latter, who founded organizations that proclaim or proclaimed the religious value of psychedelics, and who persisted under the threat and, in many cases, imposition of harsh prison sentences and confiscation of property. Sure, I knew of some of them, had even participated in two of them; but there were many more of which I had no inkling.
But what is the point of all this work Marinacci has done? Why does it matter? Consider four possible positions on the issue of the religious value of psychedelics: 1) they are a gift from God; 2) they are a temptation from the Devil; 3) they are both; 4) they are neither. Whichever of these positions you choose, and whatever other reasons you may give in defense, if that view is to have any hope of being the one closest to the Truth, it will have to be consistent with the history of the individuals and groups presented in this book.