Comments on Advance Indiana™: Big Media's Feeding Frenzing Over Birth Of Bill Levin's First Church Of Cannabis Reaches Israel

Thanks for the advice, 11:42. I am quite familiar ...

2015-06-12T13:52:30.308-05:00

Thanks for the advice, 11:42. I am quite familiar with Bill. I have sat down and talked with him previously before this all arose. I've been a keen observer of how things play out in politics. Franklin Roosevelt summarized it best: "In politics, nothing happens by accident." He was one smart guy and he knew how the game was played better than anyone. The First Church of Cannabis was just a wee bit too orchestrated to think this was orchestrated by Bill Levin alone. Things were too well-developed and carried out in a very short order for there not to have been outside help. The best PR professionals in this country would have struggled to gain the international attention for one of their clients his church has received in the past 45 days. He's very cagey, and he enjoys being the center of attention, but someone else is helping pull his strings on this one. Trust me. This is all an act, and it's the leading role Bill always wanted to have. Look at his failed campaign for council. What did he get? 2% of the vote? And he was trying really hard to draw attention to himself and his cause then.

Longtime reader (and fan) here...but I can't h...

2015-06-12T11:42:35.198-05:00

Longtime reader (and fan) here...but I can't help but say I think you couldn't be more off about Levin.

He's very well-known in the arts/music community and has done a lot of other projects/upstart businesses in the past. He certainly didn't come from nowhere--you should've tried to interview him!!

Annon @ 6:51 PM.....Whose ex-wife? And what is the...

2015-06-11T00:00:43.777-05:00

Annon @ 6:51 PM.....Whose ex-wife? And what is the meaning of that?

I have courage to put my name to my beliefs. Why ...

2015-06-10T20:51:21.297-05:00

I have courage to put my name to my beliefs. Why don't you, anonymous?

Fear is the opposite of love. I'm sorry you are so afraid to post your name. That's no way to live life. It's much nicer in the sunshine, to love and to be kind to people!

Melyssa, just admit that you and Bill worship Sata...

2015-06-10T19:03:51.008-05:00

Melyssa, just admit that you and Bill worship Satan! No one is buying your self righteousness anymore! Bill Levin needs to comb his hair! Your sucking up to that dirtbag Abdul and Bill Oesterle is sickening!

Tell that to his ex-wife, Melyssa.

2015-06-10T18:51:16.241-05:00

Tell that to his ex-wife, Melyssa.

He wished IMPD and IRS love. Any religion based a...

2015-06-10T18:21:07.523-05:00

He wished IMPD and IRS love. Any religion based around love (not judgement) has my support. The world needs more of it. I was so touched by Bill and his sincerity in the message of love I teared up. I will be going to church for the first time in years

Not a miracle--just a sign of a larger hand behind...

2015-06-10T17:32:25.707-05:00

Not a miracle--just a sign of a larger hand behind the curtain pulling the strings.

Bill claims the first church miracle has already h...

2015-06-10T17:24:06.746-05:00

Bill claims the first church miracle has already happened . . . IRS not-for-profit approval happened in less than 30 days. That's unheard of anywhere

Isn't Abdul a Muslim? Muslims aren't into...

2015-06-10T14:48:59.230-05:00

Isn't Abdul a Muslim?

Muslims aren't into drugs or apostasy in creating churches outside of Islam.

It would seem Abdul has twice has offended the Prophet (PBUH) and has to make atonement in Islam.

Will this afternoons major bust affect the church ...

2015-06-10T14:07:58.590-05:00

Will this afternoons major bust affect the church coughers?

Taking kids to the pride parade is like taking the...

2015-06-10T13:39:25.456-05:00

Taking kids to the pride parade is like taking them to a strip joint.

Guess which State’s Pride Proclamation excludes LG...

2015-06-10T13:21:44.178-05:00

Guess which State’s Pride Proclamation excludes LGBT folks? Whoops. A welcome letter signed by Pence tor the Indianapolis Pride festivities left out any mention of LGBT people. The letter actually went down in history as his first pro-gay LGBT proclamation, a generic welcome to all attending the Indianapolis “pride” festival. But its also the first pride proclamation in U.S. history that makes no mention of “gay” people; a cut and paste welcome traditionally given to out of state conference organizers instead of the couple hundred thousand indiana residents that flock to the pride event. “I am confidant that you will come to know a vibrant city,” it says, as if attendees had never been to Indianapolis before. It does not use the word gay. It does not use the word lesbian. One actually wonders if Mike Pence has ever said the word lesbian. One also wonders if Mike Pence has been in the same room as anyone smoking a joint, or whether that experience is also just completely elusive and fictional to him. Is it any wonder that adding nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people ‘is not a priority of this administration?’ Hell, Governor Pence can't even be bothered to say the name of the community. He has words for out of state visitors, but nothing for the locals he supposedly represents.” Gay pride. Its a huge celebration here. Enormous. Everyone goes They bring the kids. Next to GenCon and the Indy 500, its this huge annual thing that has been happening for decades. And its generally considered to be violence free. The cops relax. Its fun. Gay people having fun. And the straight people that enjoy it with them. But Pence can’t say the word. That word. Remember, Mike Pence famously said he’d never had a gay friend. Never. So don’t expect Mike Pence to pony up with a defense of the religious freedom of the Church of Cannabis. I doubt he’s every even seen a joint. Maybe he’s never said the word marijuana.

Sorry, but rfra had everything to do with gays, an...

2015-06-10T10:03:57.550-05:00

Sorry, but rfra had everything to do with gays, and nothing whatsoever to do with anything else. Tell me, pray tell, what rfra is really for if not what the Church of Cannabis intends to do with it. They want the same freedom as the peyote smoking Indians, and they may get it. Because if they don't, then what was it really about? Of course you and I know, based on the anti-gay people up on that stage with Pence, what it was really about. They wanted a legal defense to discrimination suits from gay people over cakes and photographs and what not. Whine all you want that rfra has nothing to do with gays. That's all a lot of Christian whitewash. Just look at the trash talk coming out Franklin Graham's mouth these days. He hates homosexuals. So does the Family Council. And a dozen other Christian organizations. Rfra is all about gays. If it isn't, then you would embrace the only other religious purpose it has, and that's to defend drug use by religious organizations a la peyote, and now, marijuana. You can't have your cake and eat it too. When you say rfra isn't about gays, you aren't being honest.

The cool aid corollary in this parody, has unfortu...

2015-06-10T09:49:23.235-05:00

The cool aid corollary in this parody, has unfortunate foreshadowing elements as well.

Anon 6:27- The good books (Torah & New Testament) were written to benefit, not offend mankind. Free will / self determination is a God given right. Those good books suggest guidelines rooted in wisdom for living a better life; one of better choices. It's hard to argue with the goodness & beneficial sense of the Ten Commandments; though it's acknowledged in those fine texts, we're free to do so.

In this fallen world of limited time (the planet ride ends & someone else inherits "our" seat), it's seemingly paradoxical, that our freedom is ultimately vested in that to which we commit ourselves; by direction of free will. In the realm of the proportional or issues weighed in terms of significance; how does mockery of America's founding, judeo-christian principles, benefit or advance anything? Those principles are the underpinning of the Constitution; where undermining, depreciating or marginalizing of same is destructive to the cause of liberty.

Those who disagree with what's written in the book are certainly free to exercise that disagreement; which more begs a question about whether this is the best that can be done, proportional to & respective of, the world we live in?

Religious freedom is clearly embodied within the First Amendment. The ability to say yes, no or maybe, is the difference between tyranny & liberty. Tyrants suffer a toddler like psychosis of arrested development; insisting others bend to their will, sanction or approve their behavior & perversely live a slavish game of "Simon Says."

Oxymoronic, divisive / selective privileges are counterfeited categorically as "rights;" painting by numbers, by those who fail to understand that there are only human rights. Communities beyond jurisdiction exist in the minds of those who seek to divide rather than unite; trapped within a tyrannic psychosis of arrested development.

A life of pot hasn't been generous to the 57-y...

2015-06-10T09:22:56.992-05:00

A life of pot hasn't been generous to the 57-year old. Levin looks older than my 77-year old father.

Maybe Mr. Levin should open up his books to show w...

2015-06-10T09:17:30.447-05:00

Maybe Mr. Levin should open up his books to show who is financing his church.

Rev. Jim Jones' unusual teachings about his vi...

2015-06-10T08:30:36.111-05:00

Rev. Jim Jones' unusual teachings about his views of human sexuality certainly come to mind in light of the current state of affairs.

Someone has an agenda to be seeing this non-stop m...

2015-06-10T08:22:58.280-05:00

Someone has an agenda to be seeing this non-stop media coverage of every move made by this start-up "church." I don't know who is playing us, but my experience tells me there is someone behind the curtain.

It will be interesting to see the prosecution of t...

2015-06-10T07:24:44.385-05:00

It will be interesting to see the prosecution of these people when they light up at the end of their first service on July 1. Freedom of religion does not negate laws of the state. Pot is illegal, hence they cannot use it. If they want to incorporated hemp oil, so be it, the THC has been removed and no impairing qualities exist. The only people who can use illegal drugs in their religious acts are the American Indians who use Peyote. But, they have to be licensed to possess and use or it is illegal for them also. Think Chief Hite or Riggs will put officers in the crowd with body cameras on to document the illegal activity then go in and shut them down?

That's the popular meme, anon. 6:27. Everyone ...

2015-06-10T07:12:32.554-05:00

That's the popular meme, anon. 6:27. Everyone with a sincere religious belief is automatically anti-gay. RFRA had nothing to do with gays until someone concocted that idea in the middle of the passage of the same law that already existed at the federal level and most states.

What is this, the morning whine of grumpy old men....

2015-06-10T06:27:42.810-05:00

What is this, the morning whine of grumpy old men. This is the progeny of your RFRA. Look at it. Aren’t you proud of your newly won religious spawn. Religious freedom. Restored. After so much hard work to defeat the enemy agenda. Yes. We know you old guys are confused. You thought religious freedom meant freedom to slap down the gays, not freedom for even more wacko churches to propagate. Franklin Graham is withdrawing his tithings from Wells Fargo Bank as we speak. He wants to show his outrage over corporate advertising to gay people. But how will he protest the coming wayward churches made more desirable by rfra? What will happen when the Muslims want more religious freedom. And the Wiccans, etc. It isn’t so much ‘the media” offended by your religiosity. Its just thinking people recognizing the dangers of Christians so consumed by moral outrage against homosexuals, that they provide unlimited legal defenses to anybody claiming to be a religion. So look within. There is plenty of church hypocrisy, and power grabbing, to go around. Maybe the Church of Cannabis will have a less hateful overall message. You faithful Christians created this monster. Maybe you should embrace your all important religious freedom, go worship in your Church of Cannabis, and most importantly, stop thinking about gay people, who really prefer to stop thinking about you. As with most things that upset Christians, this too is a tempest in a teapot. Live and let live. How come everybody but the Christians gets that saying.

Bill Levin is definitely full of it! He and his si...

2015-06-10T05:29:25.513-05:00

Bill Levin is definitely full of it! He and his sidekick Melyssa Hubbard are nothing but narcissistic publicity hounds who are obsessed with what others think of them! Hubbard and Levin are not only are they obsessed with turning the world into their sick and twisted little versions of themselves. But they are also traitors to the Liberty Movement! Melyssa Hubbard and Bill Levin have no consciences, no souls, and no reflections! They don't need to worship Satan! He worships them!

Oh, but government gets to decide what constitutes...

2015-06-09T21:45:24.940-05:00

Oh, but government gets to decide what constitutes a church and our government says it's a church entitled to tax-exempt status.

"In his church, there is no guilt, and no sin...

2015-06-09T21:42:17.178-05:00

"In his church, there is no guilt, and no sin."

And no god, divinity or supernaturality.

A church is not a club.