"The mushroom is Jesus, and Santa Claus is also a mushroom," said lecturer James Arthur. He was referring to "magic" mushrooms such as the red Amanita, which are known to expand human consciousness into mystical or spiritual states.
Arthur contends that the authors of the New Testament, as well as other ancient religious texts, were actually conveying secret knowledge brought on by the mushrooms, such as "the death and rebirth experience," using anthropomorphized characters. He cited the book
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Allegro, as an example of a scholarly exploration of this theory, which he said had been suppressed by the Catholic Church.
James Arthur's website:
http://www.jamesarthur.net