Earleywine Chapters
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Religious
Freedom for Native Americans
HISTORY OF U.S. POLICY: A DISREGARD OF NATIVE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The
history of U.S. policy towards the religious practices of Native Americans
contrasts sharply with the image of the U.S. as a refuge from religious
persecution and domination. Beginning in the early 19th century, the federal
government supported the "civilization" and "Christian
education"of Native Americans. Congress financially supported mission
activities, including 200 mission schools which prohibited students from
practicing their traditional religions. The Dawes Act of 1887 outright
prohibited native religious ceremonies and the practices of traditional
religious figures. This was the law of the land for almost fifty years.
Even
today, the freedom of Native Americans to practice their traditional religions
continues to be questioned in the courts and discounted in federal legislation.
In the past few decades, issues such as access to religious sites, the
use of peyote in religious ceremonies, the process of obtaining eagle
feathers for religious uses, and Native American prisonersí access to
religious articles and practitioners have all raised questions about the
U.S. governmentís true commitment to protecting religious freedom for
all people in the U.S., including Native Americans.
PROTECTION
FOR SACRED SITES
Imagine
holding worship service in a church that is designated by law to be open
at all times to the public- hikers, picnickers, and tourists. Imagine
rock climbers scaling the walls of the National Cathedral during religious
services. Imagine a place of worship in your hometown being replaced by
an open pit mine. Imagine leveling the Wailing Wall to build a highway
through Jerusalem. Most people in the U.S. take for granted the sanctity
of worship sites. For many Native Americans, however, protection for their
sacred sites is uncertain at best.
- Enact
legislation to protect Native Americansí access to religious sites.
So far, the federal courts have found that neither the First Amendment
nor the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 guarantee tribes
protection of or access to sacred sites. For example, in Lyng v.
Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association (1988), the Supreme
Court narrowly defined the federal governmentís responsibility to protect
religious freedom. The court allowed for the U.S. Forest Service to
construct a road on USFS land, despite recognizing that construction
through the cemetery would "destroy the...Indiansí ability to practice
their religion." Although a 1996 Executive Order instructed federal
agencies to accommodate Native Americansí use of ceremonial sites and
to avoid "adversely affecting the physical integrity" of sites,
Native Americans have nonetheless had to struggle to protect sites on
a case by case basis.
RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM FOR PRISONERS
Many
Native American prisoners and their advocates have expressed several concerns
about the exercise of religious freedom inside prisons. Some religious
practices, such as possessing tobacco or prayer pipes, or growing long
hair, are illegal in certain prisons. These rules infringe on the rights
of Native Americans to practice their traditional faiths if they so choose.
Other rights such as access to traditional religious leaders or ceremonies
have been blocked by prison administrators wary of that which they do
not understand.
- Protect
the religious rights of Native American prisoners who practice their
traditional faiths. Prisoners should be allowed to access religious
leaders, practice traditional ceremonies as other people of faith are
allowed to do, possess and carry medicine pouches and prayer pipes,
grow long hair for religious reasons, and possess tobacco, cedar and
sage for religious purposes.
THE
NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVES PROTECTION AND REPATRIATION ACT
In
1990, Congress passed the Native American Protection and Repatriation
Act (NAGPRA). The Act was intended to ensure that ancestral remains and
sacred objects would be returned to tribes by the government agencies,
universities and museums which held them. Collections of ancestral skeletal
remains speak loudly to Indians of a vivid history which many Americans
seem to have forgotten. Many bodies were collected in ways repugnant by
any standards of decency. Today, the existence of these collections in
museums and other institutions denies the recognition of Indian tribes
as continuing, living cultures. Possessing Indian remains without consent
violates the beliefs of many Native Americans who believe that disturbing
the dead hinders their ancestors' spiritual journeys. Many ancestral remains,
along with religious artifacts, have been returned to tribes. However,
other collections remain in museums and institutions.
RESOURCE
CONTACT
Native
American Rights Fund
1506 Broadway
Boulder, Colorado 80302
(303) 447-8760
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See http://www.fcnl.org/issues/nat/sup/nat_bkrelfree.htm
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