In 2016, a priest in the Episcopal Church had what he described as a profound, “very Christian” encounter with psychedelics in a study on religious professionals and psilocybin. Five years later, Hunt Priest said his experience inspired him to pivot from being a parish priest to founding the nonprofit Ligare, a Christian psychedelic organization.
But on August 5, after 20 years in the priesthood, Priest was removed from ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, largely due to concerns that he was using pastoral authority to endorse psychedelics, most of which are illegal under federal law. Bishop Frank Logue of the Diocese of Georgia concluded after a 13-month process that Priest committed “conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy” and “conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
Priest’s removal suggests debates involving Christianity and psychedelics, long reserved for academic circles and grassroots or underground groups, are surfacing in institutional church settings. Experts say the situation raises important questions about the risks, benefits, and theological legitimacy of framing psychedelic use in spiritual terms.
