When President Trump offered a proclamation on religious freedom in mid-January, few media covered the event. Fox News conceded, “Most people do not even know that January 16 is National Religious Freedom Day.”
But five months into pandemic, dozens of feature stories are declaring that the spiritual observances of any faith or culture are essential activities protected by the First Amendment.
As such, they should not be disrupted by executive orders restricting religious freedoms. Public outcry over intrusions on religious liberties is no longer restricted to evangelical Christians, for other faiths have been just as vocal.
These faiths want to keep access to their places of worship, reserving the right to choose when, and how many can gather to celebrate together. They claim they are taking sufficient precautions to do so.
Wall construction has devastated sites, access
At the same moment, border wall construction is restricting access and desecrating historic places of worship long used by Native Americans and other like populations.
These transborder communities were gathering for observances at such sacred sites well before border wall construction began. From La Lomita Chapel in Texas, to the Quitobaquito Oasis in Arizona, to the Border Church in the Friendship State Park in California, the border wall has restricted or imperiled the religious liberties of Indigenous communities we call America’s First People.
Increasingly, restrictive border crossing policies also impede Yaqui ceremonial leaders from both sides of the border from sharing their religious traditions.
More than a dozen cemeteries and chapels have been impacted. Contractors for the Army Corps have desecrated sacred plants, springs, shrines, burial and ceremonial grounds of at least six tribes.
A pledge to honor, consult with tribes reneged
Road building and by groundwater pumping by the Army Corps of Engineers has continued despite the fact that the Secretary of Defense and directors of other agencies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) called Native American Sacred Sites and the Federal Government. They pledged to work with tribes to assure protection of sacred sites through ongoing consultation.
As that MOU explained, “For Native American Nations, many spiritual, practices are linked to a very specific geographical location. If that Sacred Site… no longer existed or was inaccessible to Native people, specific religious, spiritual, medicinal and cultural practices would no longer survive.”
Despite their pledge to honor spiritual considerations, in February 2020, Homeland Security suspended their consultations with the Tohono O’odham Nation regarding sacred sites affected by wall construction.
Ignoring warnings, the Army Corps then bulldozed through two native burial sites in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The Department of Defense had broken its pledge.
We need new dialogue to limit construction
Many faiths are able to shift their place or time of worship, but Native Americans involved in seasonal ceremonial cycles at particular sacred sites have no such options. As the Tohono O’odham are taught, “We must harvest the saguaro cactus fruit, make the ceremonial wine and sing our songs and dance, or the rains won’t come to grow our crops to feed our people.”
Understanding this, intertribal and interfaith organizations are calling upon the U.S. Senate and Homeland Security to hold new field hearings along the border.
They urge all faiths to come together with responsible federal agencies to halt and even reverse border wall construction near sacred sites.
First Amendment religious freedoms of Indigenous communities have been violated in ways that will persist longer that a temporary church closure.
The pandemic has reminded us what a true national emergency is. A hyped-up emergency at the border should not override the Constitution.
All peoples of faith stand to lose when even one of America’s “First Nations” cultures loses its First Amendment religious liberties.
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Gary Nabhan is an ecumenical Franciscan Brother affiliated with the Wild Church Network. Octaviana V. Trujillo is advisory board member to the Indigenous Alliance without Borders and is former chairwoman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona. Verlon Jose is governor of Traditional O’odham Leaders. Reach them at gpnabhan@arizona.edu, octaviana@mac.com and vjose.ckd@gmail.com.
