“Church’s peyote use OK’d”
Read a June 23, 2004, Deseret News story about the Utah Supreme Court ruling that non-native Americans can use peyote in religious ceremonies.
Read a June 23, 2004, Deseret News story about the Utah Supreme Court ruling that non-native Americans can use peyote in religious ceremonies.
Read a June 2005 article about the tea case posted by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
See an Oct. 31, 2005, Christian Science Monitor story about the UDV case.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life offers resources for covering the UDV case.
Read the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the 1990 peyote case, Employment Division, Oregon Department of Human Resources v. Smith 494 U.S. 872.
Read about the legal status of peyote, including the 1993 federal statute that allowed members of the Native American Church to ingest peyote as part of religious ceremonies and state laws granting exemptions for Native Americans’ ceremonial use of peyote. The information is posted by the Peyote Foundation.
Read the First Amendment Center’s article on the free exercise clause, which includes a discussion of how Employment Division v. Smith, the 1990 peyote case, changed the legal precedent for religious groups whose practices conflict with state law.
Read the First Amendment Center’s resource page on Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal. It includes amicus briefs filed for both sides of the case.
The UDV religion in the United States has a website with resources for covering the case, including a FAQ and background links.