History of Religion in America: Primary Source Analysis

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Table of Contents

American Indian Religious Freedom Act
Passage
Context of the AIRFA
Author(s) of the AIRFA
Effects and Consequences
Criticism of the AIRFA
Conclusion
References

My task for this paper was to pick a primary source related to the history of religion in America. I decided to research on American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which was established in 1978 by the U.S. government. The following paper contains examinations of this source’s author(s), context, and its impact on religion in the United States of America.

American Indian Religious Freedom Act

American Indian Religious Freedom Act gives American Indians a right to choose or practice any religion that these people prefer. This primary source of history of religion in America was established by the United States government in 1978 (Chassanoff, 2013). Nowadays, it is kept in the National Archives of the USA and can be accessed from various online sources of a related topic. The original law was typed on a tawny sheet of paper with a red frame around the main text. There are two ellipse stamps on the sides of this document that state a date (August 1 – 1978) of release and other titles.

Passage

It is a well-known fact that different practices of American Indians were not allowed and were persecuted by Federals on the territory of the United States of America. There were many issues before, which did not give these tribes permission to enter their holy places and to practice their religious rituals there. One of the laws also did not allow using and wearing different attributes and other religious items of Indian tribes. Another issue of Indian religion was that their ceremonies and services were constantly interrupted or interfered by police or some other controlling departments (Grande, 2015). Besides that, other tribes as Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiians were limited in their religions and freedoms as well.

Context of the AIRFA

American Indian Religious Freedom Act has an official style of writing, contains regulations that correspond to the title of this Act, and denies particular restrictions to religious studies for Indian tribes. Each of the ten paragraphs starts with a word “Whereas”, which is continued by one official regulation. An example of one of the law’s paragraphs is given below. “Whereas the religious practices of the American Indian (as well as Native Alaskan and Hawaiian) are an integral part of their culture, tradition, and heritage, such practices forming the basis of Indian identity and value systems” (“American Indian religious freedom act,” 1978, p. 1). The first paragraph informs that American Indians now have a legal right to follow and practice any religion that they desire. The second article says that the U.S. government appreciates a tremendous variety of religions and other related heritages in the country. The third paragraph was mentioned above as a quotation. The fourth article accepts an ideology of American Indians and their religious style of life. The fifth paragraph says that these restrictions were governmental inadvertencies, which were declined at the moment of establishing the law. Other five sections are related to the previous ones and contain similar regulations.

Author(s) of the AIRFA

Although the name of an author of Joint resolution American Indians Religious Freedom (official title) was not detected, I would like to discuss people who partook of this law acceptance. The first person who appeared to introduce this law in the Senate was James Abourzek. He first addressed to his colleagues about the AIRFA on December 15 in 1977. On April 3 of the following year, this law was considered and discussed by members of Senate Indian Affairs. The law passed the acceptance procedure at the White House on July 18 in 1978, where some amendments were made as well. Furthermore, Senate approved the amendments that were made in the House on July 27 of the same year. And finally, the Act was signed by the President of the United States of America, Jimmy Carter on August 11 in 1978.

Effects and Consequences

After the American Indian Religious Freedom Act establishment, many different geographic areas and objects that were inhabited only by Indian tribes before became national landmarks. Nevertheless, there was another issue with this law that did not allow American government to put a road through particular places, which were significant for Indians’ faith. This road was supposed to be laid on the territories of such Indian tribes as Yurok, Karok, and Tolowa. The government could destroy some sacred places of Indian tribes that were situated in the mountains. It is a well-known fact that Indians were protesting against the government in order to save their sites. Fortunately, the court supported Indians’ position with accordance to the AIRFA following statement. “Whereas such laws and policies often deny American Indians access to sacred sites required in their religions, including cemeteries” (“American Indian religious freedom act,” 1978, p. 1). Besides, the judge did not give permission to start the construction process because it could affect ecology and environment of that area.

There was a case when a man lost his job because he was using a peyote plant at one of the Native American Church ceremonies. It would be proper to state that a peyote plant is one of the attributes of these services, but it is classified as a drug according to the U.S. law (Reyhner & Eder, 2017). After this incident, this man took his case to the local court, which admitted that he did not break the law because American Indian Religious Freedom Act allowed using this plant as a ritual item.

Criticism of the AIRFA

Although American Indian Religious Freedom Act was signed into law by the American President, it could not guarantee that all other people and Federals were going to follow it. This act was not considered as an authentic law – people of Indian ethnic background determined this regulation as a joint resolution. Technically, Indian people had a right to practice their religion on the territory of the United States of America, but sometimes this law’s regulations were not considered by regular citizens (Lobo, Talbot, & Morris, 2016). Therefore, some sacred places of the tribes were destroyed or corrupted by individuals who were not aware of the new law. Besides, no one could guarantee Native American population that they were going to be supported in their rituals and religious practices. For instance, if they did not have any place for their services, the U.S. government was not supposed to provide them one.

Conclusion

A primary source of American Indian Religious Freedom Act gave legal rights to Indian Americans to follow and practice their religious rituals and beliefs. Although this Act was established and signed into law, there were some issues that did not give Native Americans an absolute freedom of their religion. Nonetheless, Indian Americans were supported by the U.S. government during particular trials in courts that contradicted the AIRFA. Besides, there were a lot of protests on the ground of destroying sacred sites of Indian tribes.

References

American Indian religious freedom act. (1978). Web.

Chassanoff, A. (2013). Historians and the use of primary source materials in the digital age. The American Archivist, 76(2), 458-480.

Grande, S. (2015). Red pedagogy: Native American social and political thought. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Lobo, S., Talbot, S., & Morris, T. L. (2016). Native American voices: A reader. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Reyhner, J. A., & Eder, J. M. (2017). American Indian education: A history. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

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