SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
People who use psychedelic drugs often describe their experience as spiritual or religious. What about when religion is your job description? Kathryn Post of Religion News Service reports on a study published this month where researchers gave psilocybin to members of the clergy. And we note, this piece discusses drugs that are illegal in much of the country.
KATHRYN POST: A decade ago, a group of researchers wondered what would happen if pastors, rabbis and other faith leaders were given doses of a psychedelic drug found in magic mushrooms.
BILL RICHARDS: I mean, would they think it is of genuine religious relevance or not?
POST: Bill Richards is a psychologist who helped design a study to find out.
RICHARDS: This was the first focus on kind of normal, healthy religious professionals, and some of my colleagues just wondered how they would view their psychedelic experiences.
POST: It was a controversial premise. Nevertheless, between 2016 and 2019, two dozen Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and Muslim faith leaders traveled to Baltimore or New York for two daylong psilocybin sessions. None had taken psychedelics before.
DAVE BARNHART: Is this just chemicals bouncing around in my neurons or is this a genuine spiritual experience? And when people have asked that question to me, my response has been, I don't know what a spiritual experience is like without my brain.
POST: That's Dave Barnhart, a United Methodist pastor and participant in the trial. He says, there's not a clean split between spiritual experiences that are chemical induced and those that are divinely inspired. For instance, he noted that brain chemicals are also activated during religious services by things like group singing.
BARNHART: I hope it complicates the way that we often approach the world in these binary terms of spirit and flesh.
POST: Like Barnhart, many clergy describe their sessions as being more than drug-fueled trips. Twenty-three of the 24 clergy said the experience was among the top five most spiritually significant moments they'd ever had. During his session, hospital chaplain Jeff Vidt described meeting his unborn son an encounter he ultimately ascribes to a higher power.
JEFF VIDT: 'Cause there were some really amazing, powerful things that I still attribute to being God, not a mushroom or not a substance.
POST: But not all experiences were positive. Rabbi Zac Kamenetz said he encountered a dark, perplexing void. Others faced difficult truths about themselves or felt strong physical discomfort. The study also faced academic criticism. A Johns Hopkins review board audit found evidence of serious noncompliance with clinical trial practices. The published study notes these lapses, including the involvement of two of the study's funders in the trial itself. While the study may have limited scientific influence, it had a deep impact on some clergy members' lives.
JAIME CLARK-SOLES: I would argue that Christianity itself is fundamentally based on a mystical experience, which is the resurrection, where people saw a dead guy, like, raised back to life and speaking to them and telling them what to do.
POST: That's Baptist minister and seminary professor Jaime Clark-Soles, whose field of study now includes psychedelics and Christianity. She's among five of the 24 participants who have pivoted to focus their careers on psychedelics. Dave Barnhart became trained in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and three other participants have founded organizations for members of their faith groups interested in psychedelics.
For NPR News, I'm Kathryn Post.
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SIMON: And that story was produced through a collaboration between NPR and Religion News Service.
(SOUNDBITE OF HERMANITO'S "MARACUYA") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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