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Hollywood Minister Guilty of Dealing Pot in Church

Friday , August 03, 2007

AP

LOS ANGELES —
A minister with mail order credentials was found guilty Thursday of distributing marijuana through his Hollywood church.

The Rev. Craig X Rubin, 41, the leader of the 420 Temple who has appeared in episodes of the Showtime comedy "Weeds," faces up to four years, eight months in prison for possessing marijuana for sale, said Jane Robison, a district attorney's spokeswoman.

Rubin and some 400 members of his church believe marijuana is a religious sacrament and burn and smoke pot during services.

He said he won't appeal his conviction.

"If my society believes I'm a danger and a threat, it's better off without me," he said in a telephone interview. "Hopefully people will be nice to me inside. I barely ever had a ticket before."

Rubin, who represented himself, is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 17.

He said he feels less worried about himself than his seven children.

"I go hiking with them every weekend. I read the Bible to them every night," he said.

Rubin was ordained in 1990 by the Universal Life Church — which, for a fee, will ordain anyone. The Beverly Hills-born minister was arrested last fall and freed after posting $20,000 bail.

Hollywood Minister Guilty of Dealing Pot in Church (http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,291936,00.html)

The "X" in his name was inspired by one of his hereos, Malcolm X, CRX was a follower of Judiasm then Roman Catholicism before he became an ordained minister in the "Universal Life Church".

He refers to smoking as a sacrament and tries to use the apocrypa - the book of Tobit- as a futher theological basis for doing so. His church's name - "420" - is old police code for a marijuana arrest.

This man is truly in need of prayer.  It wouldn't surprise me if he converts to Islam while incarcerated.