Psychedelics in Monotheistic Traditions: Sacramental Practice and Legal Recognition
March 5-6, 2025
Harvard Law School
Cambridge, MA
Welcome! This interdisciplinary symposium brings together scholars of religion, legal experts, and contemporary psychedelic religious leaders to explore the legal recognition of religious psychedelic use in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities.
Empathogens #7 by Samantha Rose Stein
Sessions will draw on methodologies of religious studies, law, and the humanities, and will cover topics including:
Biblical, theological, philosophical, and mystical bases for religious psychedelic use
Religious psychedelic practices in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities today
Theological, critical, and doctrinal perspectives on religious psychedelic use
Legal pathways to recognition including religious exemptions, decriminalization, and legislative initiatives
Critical perspectives on safety, ethics, representation, access, and justice
The symposium is co-chaired by Professors Noah Feldman and Jay Michaelson, and is sponsored by the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Study of Psychedelics and Culture, with the participation of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University, and the Petrie-Flom Center’s Psychedelic Use, Law, and Spiritual Experience (PULSE) project at Harvard Law School.
Confirmed participants include
Kamal Abu-Shamsieh, Sughra Ahmed, Ismail Ali, Laura Appleman, Karina Bashir, Nathaniel Berman, Jeffrey Breau, Rev. Jaime Clark-Soles, Ron Cole-Turner, Joshua Falcon, Natalie Ginsberg, Christian Greer, Rabbi Dr. Jill Hammer, Allison Hoots, Ayize Jama-Everett, Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, Victoria Litman, Joshua McDaniel Madison Margolin, Mason Marks, Oriana Mayorga, Bryan McCarthy, Tim McMahan King, Elly Moseson, Sharday Musorinjohn, Roman Palitsky, Adena Phillips, Rev. Hunt Priest, Fayzan Rab, John Rapp, Yosef Rosen, Sam Berrin Shonkoff, and Elliot Wolfson.
