Encyclopedia of North American Indians -

Encyclopedia of North American Indians

Native American Church

With roots in ancient tribal traditions, the Native American Church has evolved into a twentieth-century religion. It functions like other religions, offering spiritual guidance to its members, but it employs peyote as its sacrament. The church is one important place where Christianity and indigenous beliefs intersect, although some Native American Church chapters avoid Christian references and rely entirely on traditional tribal ways.

Anthropologists and archaeologists have documented tribal use of the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) ceremonially in pre-Columbian times in several tribes living along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the arid areas of northern Mexico. Legends describe peyote as a gift that first came to American Indians in peril. Some stories tell of the spirit Peyote speaking to a lone and despairing man or woman, advising the person to look under a nearby bush and eat a small cactus to be found there, after which the person would find renewed strength and the knowledge that would permit a return home.

In the late nineteenth century the peyote sacrament expanded from northern Mexico and the modern American Southwest, serving as a bridge between traditional faiths and the realities of contemporary life. In the process it became the base for a unique Pan-Indian movement. Each tribe that accepted the peyote religion did so in its own way by establishing doctrines and rituals consistent with traditional tribal beliefs and practices.

The rituals of the Native American Church allow believers to experience a revelation of mystical knowledge from the Creator. When the Creator is acknowledged as the Christian God, the peyote ritual blends traditional native beliefs and Christianity. Rituals may vary within tribes and from chapter to chapter. In the last decade of the nineteenth century, Quanah Parker (Comanche) developed a major ritual for the modern religion as it spread among his tribesmen. At the same time, Nishkuntu (Caddo/Delaware), also known as Moonhead or John Wilson, varied the design of the altar and ritual. Most Native American churches today follow either the tradition of Quanah Parker (the Half Moon Way) or that of Nishkuntu/Moonhead (the Cross Fire Way). Ministers of the Native American Church, called road men, officiate at prayer meetings, aided by other officials—fire men, drummers, and others. Services of the Native American Church also accompany weddings, funerals, thanksgivings, and healings.

The rituals of the Native American Church spread rapidly in the years before World War II. Faced with the suppression of many traditional rituals, native people welcomed the advent of ceremonies that took place quietly and with some legal protection. Battling alcoholism and poverty, many followers were attracted to the church's strict avoidance of alcohol and its call for monogamy and hard work. Many older religious leaders among the Navajos and elsewhere opposed the new faith, but it continued to gain adherents.

Suppression of the use of peyote began early in the contact of Indians with Europeans. The king of Spain issued an edict in 1620 against the use of peyote. Beginning in 1886, federal Indian agents requested prohibition of peyote, and congressmen attempted to pass the necessary national legislation. Indian agents lobbied the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature, which adopted a law, repealed in 1908, prohibiting peyote by name.

Intense antagonism to the peyote religion, and to Indian religions in general, forced members of the Native American Church to organize formally to protect themselves. Accordingly, on October 10, 1918, the Native American Church incorporated itself in the state of Oklahoma. Led by Frank Eagle (Ponca), the group's first president, the church stated its intention to promote Christian religious belief using "the practices of the Peyote Sacrament" and to teach Christian morality and self-respect.

The 1918 charter of the Native American Church was changed through amendments in 1944 and a new charter in 1950, further amended in 1955. Most of the changes reflected the expansion of the group from Oklahoma and Mexico to the Midwest, the Great Plains, the Southwest, and even into Canada. Peyotists chartered their churches in states where the religion became active. In addition, peyotists gained the recognition of the Texas Department of Public Safety so that they could gather the cactus in that state, the only place in the United States where it grows.

In 1962 three Navajos—Jack Woody, Leon B. Anderson, and Dan Dee Nez—were arrested in California for violating laws against the distribution of peyote. Their conviction was upheld in the court of appeals, but in August 1964 the California Supreme Court held that prohibiting their use of peyote was a violation of the First Amendment's ban on state infringement of religious freedom. As a result of this ruling, federal authorities thereafter generally protected the ceremonial use of peyote, even though several states continued to list the substance as a narcotic subject to state drug laws.

To formally protect the Indian religion, Congress passed the Native American Religious Freedom Act of August 11, 1978. Though the law pledged that Indian people would enjoy the free exercise of religion, it contained no enforcement provision. In 1994, in the aftermath of conflicts between federal policy and state drug laws, Congress amended the 1978 law to include a new section that states, "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the use, possession, or transportation of peyote by an Indian who uses peyote in a traditional manner for bona fide ceremonial purposes in conjunction with the practice of a traditional Indian religion is lawful, and shall not be prohibited by the United States or any State."

The Native American Church has tribal, regional, national, and two international organizations, with local churches, called chapters, in twenty-three states, Canada, and Mexico. The Native American Church of North America sponsors semiannual conferences as well as quarterly area meetings. Its Council of Elders, composed of past presidents, assists the organization. In addition, the presidents or chairmen of the Native American Church of North America, the Native American Church of Navajoland, Inc., and the Native American Church of the State of Oklahoma have formed a national council to provide leadership for the entire membership.

Native American Church leaders feel cautiously confident that federal law protects their religion even in states where they have no charter. They are, however, concerned that without cultivation, peyote may soon cease to exist because, unlike traditional harvesters, who take only part of the cactus, some illegal harvesters dig up the whole plant, and peyote has never been a commercial crop. In response the church is working to legalize the cultivation of peyote as well as its importation from Mexico. Their efforts are aimed at protecting ceremonies that offer believers guidance, fellowship, and contact with a spiritual power.





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