Start Your Own Religion: New York State's Acid Churches
Nova Religio The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions February 1, 2011 Devin R. Lander 14 citations
A short-lived spiritual movement known as the Acid Churches emerged in New York State during the 1960s, led by Dr. Timothy Leary. From 1963 to 1968, Leary and his communal group lived in Millbrook, New York, where these psychedelic religions gained brief cultural prominence. Negative media attention and a law enforcement crackdown, partly provoked by the leaders' increasingly provocative stance, forced the groups to flee the state by early 1968. The paper establishes the historical significance of these Acid Churches within 1960s culture and draws connections to today's Neopagan and New Age movements, as well as the modern scientific and therapeutic revival of psychedelic substances.