On Tuesday the 102-year old Swiss chemist who discovered LSD died of a heart attack. Albert Hofmann was looking for medical uses of a certain fungus when he stumbled on the hallucinogenic chemical, and took his first 'trip' in 1943. He is said to have been saddened by the 'irresponsible' uses of LSD and the reputation it acquired.

It's worth pointing out, though, that LSD and other hallucinogens were once seen as shortcuts to spiritual enlightenment -- perhaps most famously by the writer Aldous Huxley in "The Doors of Perception." For many of a certain generation, Hofmann's drug discovery to a lifetime of trying to recreate the LSD experience through systems of religious and spiritual practice and pursuit.

At a Northern California meditation retreat I attended last week, the instructor said at one point that in his decade of teaching he had noticed that a large number of his students had had their first spiritual experience while taking LSD. In a room full of largely grey-haired self-identified "spiritual seekers," there were murmurs of happy agreement.

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The story of the Wheaton professor who is quitting his job this month after two decades because his divorce doesn't pass muster with the evangelical Christian college's agreed upon biblical code for living is a lovely example of the challenges of attempting to institute heavenly laws (or legally binding contracts!) on earth.

Wheaton asks its professors and other employees to sign an agreement saying they will uphold biblical standards of behavior and transgressions, the Chicago Tribune reported last week.

Rather than be fired, or explain his divorce from his wife of 30 years, Ken Gramm is splitting, saying “I’m accepting the policy as it applies to me because I knew it was in place and I don’t expect anyone to make any exceptions....But in the long run I think the policy is not a good one, because in a sense it’s saying that Wheaton’s standards are higher than God’s. That’s an upside-down world.”

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Whatever you think about Scientology, you have to wonder about the Church's treatment by the German state.

In December, Germany's interior ministers said they considered the religion to be "not compatible with the constitution." Yesterday, an AP story reported that the German Scientologists have dropped a legal battle to keep the country's intelligence services from monitoring its activities. What is Germany so afraid of?

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When Irfan Aleem found out in 2003 that Farah, his wife of two decades, was filing for divorce in Maryland court, he tried to take matters into his own hands. The retired World Bank employee trotted down to the Pakistani Embassy and repeated "I divorce thee," three times, thereby performing talaq, the procedure by which men are allowed to divorce their wives under Islamic and secular Pakistani law.

No dice, said Maryland's state Court of Appeals said Tuesday, in ruling that Talaq is contrary to The Free State's constitutional guarantee of equal rights to men and women.

One of the main questions that seems to me to keep coming up as I wade through large quantities of national religious news is that of privacy and religious liberty. My Scientology post yesterday touched on this, and the talaq decision makes me think of the polygamists and the privacy issues raised in West Texas, as well.

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I've been writing this blog for four months now and the main lesson I've learned is that commenters here on the topic of religion have little ear for nuance and much propensity for deep and energetic anger.

At first, it bummed me out to read all these screaming comments weekly, seemingly willful in misunderstanding everything I'd written. The pitch of the comments seem particularly incongruous to my reality as I'm generally mild-mannered and would rather listen than talk--that's why I became a journalist. I rarely have an opinion that is answered with a scream.

I was advised to ignore the craziness. People familiar with the site and other religion blogs said there was something inebriating in the combination of the anonymity of the web and the radicalism of religious opinions that made people react with venom.

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I had breakfast a few weeks ago with acclaimed documentary filmmaker Steve James whose work includes "Hoop Dreams" and one of my favorites, "Stevie". James and Peter Gilbert have a new film out, "At the Death House Door" that examines the journey of a Presbyterian minister Carroll Pickett who spent 15 years as chaplain at the infamous Huntsville, Texas, prison where he bore witness to 95 executions.

After each execution, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of that fateful day. (Here's a review in the Chicago Tribune). The film sort of sneaks under your skin as it follows Pickett's struggles and transformation from a pro-death penalty preacher to a very isolated being trying to reconcile his faith and feelings to his role in these deaths.

It opens this week and actually there's a screening in D.C. tonight at 7 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theater with a discussion afterward with the filmmakers as well as Rev. Pickett so this is nicely if a bit belatedly timed. Check it out.

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