For a group or assembly of people to constitute a religion, according to his definition, there has to be "some kind of opening to the divine, to something transcendent." But the divine doesn't have to be God, Flinn says, and the group's beliefs don't have to be a creed. A religion, he says, usually has norms for behavior, rites and ceremonies, and an identifiable community of believers.

To determine whether he considers the Liberty Park Drum Circle a bona fide religion, he says, would require extensive interviews. "This group may be tweaking the nose of the authorities. On the other hand, it may be the beginning of a religion." At this point Flinn laughs uproariously and adds, "I'm not kidding you. Religions start for all kinds of reasons. ... Christianity started with this guy up in Galilee protesting the authorities."

In First Amendment cases, he says, "the burden is always on the state. Because of the First Amendment, you bend over backwards to accommodate." Yes, some groups are fraudulent, he says. "But you have to be very careful claiming something is a fraud."

Indeed, one man's religion is another man's cult. And what may seem misguided or comical or pointless to some people may be meaningful to others.

Drumming can be a spiritual activity, Flinn says, and so can smoking. Native Americans, who have traditionally used a more concentrated form of tobacco, believe that smoke carries prayers to the Creator. But for smoking to be considered a religious practice, he says, "the religious purpose has to define the smoking and not vice versa. Are they smoking and then claiming it's religious, or are they doing the smoking for a religious reason? ... Are they just trying to smoke in a public place?

"The Rastafarians once asked me to defend their use of ganja (marijuana) on religious grounds," Flinn explained recently in an e-mail. "I asked them 'When do you want to use it in a religious context?' They replied 'All the time.' I said I could not defend that use."