Psychoative Sacrament? Legal Fight Erupts in Utah Over 'Mushroom Church'

A church in Utah which takes psychoactive mushrooms as sacrament says they’re facing religious persecution just months after Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed a bill into law bolstering religious freedom.

Now, amidst government raids, sacrament seizures, and even pending drug charges for the founder, a U.S. district judge has sided with the church, arguing that religious freedom must apply to all - even churches whose sacrament is technically against the law.

Meet the Mushroom Church

“A government entity may not substantially burden the free exercise of religion of a person,” reads Utah’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which was passed by the Utah Senate and signed into law in March of last year. Per the bill, the government may not impede actions “substantially motivated by a sincerely held religious belief,” - except, apparently, Singularism, a religious group based out of Provo, founded by a man named Bridger Lee Jensen. 

Singularism promotes the consumption of psilocybin - the naturally occurring compound in hundreds of species of mushrooms which psychoactive effects to users - as religious sacrament. For a cost of some $1,600 per tea ceremony, Singularism adherents are able to consume the otherwise-illegal sacrament in a safe, controlled environment run by Jensen, which the Singularism website describes as “a sacred space where science and spirituality unite.”

But that all came crashing down on November 11, 2024, when Utah police raided the Singularism religious center, confiscating 450 grams of "mushrooms and mushroom-like material." Jensen was also later charged with a suite of drug-related criminal charges.

Now, Jensen is fighting back, filing an injunction against county officials to drop the charges and return his sacrament - an injunction which a district judge just granted.

Sacrament, or Loophole?

The law “must apply its protections equally to unpopular or unfamiliar religious groups as to popular or familiar ones if that commitment to religious liberty is to mean anything,” reads the preliminary injunction order penned by U.S. District Judge Jill Parrish. “Indeed,” she writes, “the very founding of the State of Utah reflects the lived experience of that truth by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Parrish dismissed skepticism that Jensen’s Singularism was some sort of legal loophole to consume illegal drugs, and ordered local agencies not to interfere with his “sincere religious use of psilocybin” while litigation is pending. 

The state leveraged the “coercive power of its criminal-justice system,” she writes, “to harass and shut down a new religion it finds offensive.”

Ancient History

There’s no question that the use of psychedelics has a lengthy religious history. Indigenous communities in the Americas have utilized psilocybin mushrooms and ayahuasca in religious rituals for at least 3,000 years. And archaeologists have found evidence of psychedelic use in faith rituals in places as varied as Iraq, India, and Greece. It’s even been speculated by biblical historians that John of Patmos wrote the Book of Revelation entirely (and perhaps unwittingly) under the influence of hallucinogenic morning glory. This Utah church may be new, but their faith traditions certainly aren’t. Now the question is… are they legal?

At the heart of this story is the clash between one religious group’s otherwise-illegal sacrament and the state’s hardline anti-drug laws. The state has widespread religious protections, recently reinforced by the RFRA. But does that not actually apply to all faith groups? Does Utah’s religious freedom come with terms and conditions?

How far can the government go in dictating how one practices their faith?