Innovation, Affect, and "Hypothetical" Ritual at the First Church of Cannabis

In 2015, Bill Levin established the First Church of Cannabis (FCOC) in Indiana, and claimed that the state’s newly passed Religious Freedom Restoration Act legalized his church’s central ritual, i.e., the corporate smoking of marijuana. Subsequent lawsuits determined otherwise, but the FCOC continues to operate today, gathering weekly to hear sermons, share testimonials, and engage in what I call a “hypothetical” version of the this central ritual. The endurance of the FCOC and of a denuded version of this central ritual raises fascinating religious studies questions. This paper focuses on three: 1) The power of even a “hypothetical” ritual to organize and link a community’s ethos and worldview, 2) the fact and nature of ritual innovation, and 3) affect in the context of religious rituals and beliefs that explicitly center the body and acknowledge its needs and desires.