By Chelsea Langston Bombino
Religious and spiritual communities with distinct animating beliefs often face difficulties in explaining to their “religious others” why something that does not look like an obvious violation of their religious freedom actually is. Distinctive faith-based groups, especially minority religious communities, sometimes embody their sacred values through practices that appear unfamiliar — or even non-religious — to those with different beliefs. Religious literacy is needed for religious communities with different beliefs and traditions to understand what each other requires to fully exercise their spiritual beliefs without burden.
In the United States, Western Christian traditions have dominated history, culture and the common rhythms of our communal lives for centuries. Those Americans who are part of a minority religion, or of no belief at all, are almost all at least moderately familiar with basic elements of Christianity. There were many Christian-imagery inspired prayers and songs at President Biden’s recent inauguration, almost 400,000 churches cover the American landscape, and biblical stories and symbols influence today’s most popular shows and music.
On the other hand, many Americans have less knowledge of the religious and spiritual beliefs and practices of minority faith and spiritual communities in the US. This article will particularly focus on less well-understood Native American spiritual communities, and what they need to fully live out their religious freedom. Traditional Native American sacred ceremonies, such as Sun Dances, Ghost Dances and Pipe Ceremonies, were viewed as illegal acts until the passage of the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act. It is important for religious freedom advocates to consider the inherently complex, yet still religious, nature of how Native Americans engage with sacred lands. This is true even when claims of religious freedom violations by tribal communities are not always upheld in the American legal system.
“It is important for religious freedom advocates to consider the inherently complex, yet still religious, nature of how Native Americans engage with sacred lands”
On December 18th, then President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team nominated Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM), a member of the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, to head the United States Department of the Interior (DOI), the agency tasked with overseeing public lands and “honoring its treaties with Indigenous people, from whom those lands were taken.”
This was a historic moment. If confirmed, Haaland would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary. Haaland’s confirmation hearing is not yet scheduled. The Secretary of the Department of the Interior oversees the Bureau of Land Management, National Parks Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Services and executes land held in trust by the United States—numbering over 50 million acres—for tribes.
Many Native American communities and their advocates are hopeful about the DOI’s approach to Native issues under Haaland’s leadership, including issues of religious freedom to preserve sacred sites. Although those advocating for the protection of sacred sites for Native Americans recognize the Biden administration may not side with them on every issue, according to Ledyard King of USA Today: “there's a sense of hope that with Haaland, they have a key ally in the Cabinet and that true give-and-take on hot-button issues might finally take place.”
There are several current disputes between the federal government and Native tribes over the preservation of land in these Native communities, which have both historical and current religious significance. As chair of the Natural Resources Committee, Haaland has advocated for the protection of these sites that are sacrosanct to tribal communities. In February of 2020, in response to controlled blasting in Arizona to clear ground for a border wall, Haalad stated: “But a sacred site that's been blasted, it can never be made whole again. I want you to understand that.”
Among tribal communities, there was growing concern in recent months that the Trump administration was fast tracking massive projects on federal lands involving mining and energy before Biden took office on January 20. Oak Flat is regarded as holy and called Chi’chil Bildagoteel by the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Oak Flat rests upon about 40 billion pounds of copper. In 2014, legislation was passed that contained advanced plans for a transfer of 2422 acres of federal lands—including Oak Flat—to Resolution Copper mining company, backed by a foreign mining interest, Rio Tinto. In exchange, the federal government would be given thousands of acres currently owned by the corporation. Following completion of the land transfer, the process of forming the Resolution Copper mine on this site would eventually obliterate Oak Flat, transforming it into a vast chasm.
Many public lands experts and Native communities feared that the Forest Service would deliver its final environmental assessment before President Trump left office on January 20, 2021. And, they were correct. The final environmental impact statement on Oak Flat was published on January 15th, clearing the course for a massive land swap of federal land and private land owned by a mining company that would result in the destruction of Oak Flat. The National Forest Service’s impact statement comes nearly a year ahead of when the assessment was originally expected in December 2021. This timeframe would have afforded San Carlos Apache tribal community members a period of time to advocate for the Biden administration to reconsider the land transfer that will destroy their holy land.
A piece of proposed legislation has recently been introduced to stop the land transfer by Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ). The Arizona representative, who also chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, stated, "The committee is moving quickly to stop this destructive special interest giveaway...We believe the Forest Service understands that this should not be rushed and that no mining should occur on this sacred land."
The public land upon which Oak Flat sits had been protected for 60 years, set aside by President Dwight Eisenhower in an Executive Order ceasing mining in the area. On January 12, a Native advocacy group, Apache Stronghold, aiming to protect Oak Flat, filed suit in federal court. The suit alleged multiple legal violations, including a claim that the federal government violated the First Amendment’s religious freedom protections, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Plaintiff Apache Stronghold claims that the federally mandated land exchange creates a substantial burden to the tribal community’s practice of sincerely held religious beliefs without a compelling governmental interest. Their brief states: “Plaintiff Apache Stronghold and its members’ sincerely held religious beliefs originate at, and are seated at, Oak Flat. Plaintiffs' compliance with these beliefs is a religious exercise. The Mandate creates government imposed coercive pressure on Plaintiffs to change or violate their religious beliefs.”
In a letter by the organizer of Apache Stronghold and former chairman of the San Carlos Apache Nation, Dr. Wendsler Nosie, Sr. wrote: “Oak Flat..is a central part of our prayers, songs, stories and spiritual practices. It is from here that we emerged. It is who we are.” Nosie describes how Oak Flat’s historic original people have faced systemic depopulation, displacement, relocation, and oppression of their religious freedom.
The ongoing case of Oak Flat can help Christians to reimagine what religious freedom means for diverse groups. Dr. Noise states of Oak Flat:
The question has been asked so many times..how is this place holy? The example I can give close to that [in the Christian tradition] is Mount Sinai. It is a religious place that gives that teaching of God to all of us. We cannot forget that there is a generation yet to be born. This is their identity. This is their religion. This is [what we believe] God blessed this side of the world with.
People of all faiths and none should still recognize that there is a spiritual element — a religious freedom framework — through which to view this issue, whether or not American law has caught up with protecting religious exercise outside of Protestant traditions with the same force. If one imagined religious freedom visually, one might conjure images of someone singing a hymn in a church pew, someone praying in a mosque, or someone studying sacred texts in a synagogue. These images carry much truth about how adherents of Abrahamic religions typically practice their faith. Yet these images alone do not encapsulate the expansive diversity and creativity of what a person or a group's exercise of religious freedom looks like.
“People of all faiths and none should still recognize that there is a spiritual element — a religious freedom framework — through which to view this issue”
Religious freedom is often framed, in public imagination, in terms of the capacity of individuals to worship, pray, or engage in explicitly religious acts in private spaces. An exercise of religion for many Native Americans communities resists these Western conceptions. The American legal system has often failed to protect the fullness of religious freedom practiced collectively, publicly, and through acts beyond traditional worship. As Michael McNally writes in Defend the Sacred: “The language of religion can [especially] fall short of the range and complexity of Indigenous commitments to lands and waters. Indigenous places can be sacred, but not necessarily in terms of a non-negotiable dichotomy between the sacred and the profane.”
Religious communities and organizations of vastly different spiritual paradigms often have challenges explaining why something that does not look like an obvious violation of their religious freedom to an outsider actually is. Distinctive religious groups or spiritual communities often have practices and precepts that appear strange or even non-religious to non-adherents.
Christian young adults can commit to taking small, incremental steps to reframing religious freedom and advocating for those with different spiritual commitments and practices. Here are a few steps to consider:
Gain a deeper understanding of what different faith communities need to fully exercise their religious freedom without substantial burden. Spend some time reading about the cultural contexts, belief systems, practices and organizational structures of different faith traditions, including Native American traditions, through The Pluralism Project of Harvard University.
Consider praying for the Native American sacred site of Oak Flat. The Native American group advocating for the preservation of Oak Flat—Apache Stronghold—is asking people of all faiths for their prayers: “Calling all people of faith, all religions to pray for Oak Flat...Pray in your own manner, organize others to pray with you. Reach out to your religious and spiritual leaders and congregations to ask for prayers for Oak Flat. Set intention for the safety and well-being of Oak Flat, of all life and water of that Sacred site and of all who defend it, for the passing of the Save Oak Flat Act by Congress.”
Consider researching a challenge a religious or spiritual group, other than your own, is facing in your local community. This may be a challenge accessing COVID-19 relief, a religious freedom violation of a sacred site, or a social challenge a local faith group is helping address. Then, consider forming a Political Discipleship group to advocate for justice for the ‘religious other’ in your community.
Chelsea Langston Bombino is a believer in sacred communities, a wife, and a mother. She serves as a program officer with the Fetzer Institute and a fellow with the Center for Public Justice.
Photo via Sacred Land Film Project.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
1. Sign up to receive Shared Justice's monthly newsletter and stay up to date on the latest content, resources, and highlights.
2. Write for us! Email sjsubmissions@cpjustice.org for more information.
3. Form a Political Discipleship group and advocate for a justice issue in your community. Political Discipleship is an 11-week praxis-based curriculum that helps Christians form lifelong habits and practices of citizenship. Email katie.thompson@cpjustice.org for more information.