Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Amsterdam's Smokers Forming Their Own Religion To Get Around Anti-Smoking Laws

Maybe one of the reasons that the Dutch haven't been of much help to Geert Wilders, is that they're too busy starting new religions of their own. New religions such as this one, as translated by myself from the French news account covering the anticipated opening of The Universal Church of Smokers:

A cafe owner in Alkmaar, in northern Amsterdam, will consecrate his cafe Wednesday as the "One and Universal Church of God's Smokers", hoping to escape the anti-smoking ban that started on July 1st...

The holy trinity venerated in the church will be "smoke, fire, and ash", explained Cor Bush, the owner of the "Le Tilleul" cafe, who said he wanted to defend "religious freedom" as stated in the Netherlands' constitution for the mostly protestant country consisting of many "churches". The faithful that join the church will received a card and would be authorized to light a cigarette, while those without a card would have to respect the smoking ban, he added.

A dozen cafes have come forward to join his "church", Mr. Bush said; he plans to hang a certicate to the front of these establishments, explaining that "the community of the church of smokers are free to smoke so that they may honor the Good Lord in peace". ...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's kinda funny, really.


Although, if you look at Scientology, didn't that really just become a religion so that they were tax-free?

truepeers said...

Some of those Amsterdam "browns" (I think they call them), those dark little cafes, are covered in the smoke residue of ages. They were serious about their tobacco culture when I was there in the early 90s, almost as if smoking was a religion for the Dutch...

Anonymous said...

Admittedly, smoking has potential to be a much more fun and entertaining religion, and really, considering the life-span of the average martyr, it's not really less healthy.

I can't imagine the adherents to the religion of smoking being too rowdy either. It's hard to have much energy when your lungs are filled with tar. I imagine that they would be quite peaceful.

Anonymous said...

Will Amsterdams coffe shops be shut down for smoking cannabis?

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