ARAPAHOE—The smell of sweetgrass and sage clung to a shade tent tipped askew on the edge of the barrow ditch, the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s red, white and black flag flipping and clapping in the wind. On that day — July 26 — there were more people outside Foundations For Nations Church than inside it.
It was the third week of protest over a controversy that sparked national headlines and united tribal leaders on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
The clash has spurred legal questions focused squarely on tribal sovereignty and religious freedom. While both sides have promised they’re ready to fight in court, Foundations For Nations made the first move Friday with a discrimination complaint filed by a legal nonprofit based in Florida.
After Foundations For Nations Pastor Sarah Lucas condemned Northern Arapaho traditional ways in a sermon during the tribe’s Sundance celebration, diverse voices from across the Wind River Reservation and Native Country have coalesced into a singular message to the church.
Leave.
“Jesus can stay,” Darci Quiver, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, explained after standing for hours in 100-degree heat outside the reservation church’s gate. “Her and her family?,” Quiver said, referring to Lucas. “They need to pack up and go.”
The protests have persisted. Church leaders, who founded Foundations For Nations on the reservation just outside Riverton almost a decade ago, have continued to hold Sunday services, punctuated by protests, since. Outside social media posts, at least one appeal for funding from members, and a statement given to CNN, the church has largely remained silent and refused to answer questions about the controversy.
After the Northern Arapaho Business Council directed the church to leave the reservation in early July, the council announced a new policy requiring outside organizations to consult with tribal leaders to hold recurring “organized activities” on the reservation. The Eastern Shoshone Business Council quickly followed suit.
A sermon, and a month of backlash
On July 5, just as the Northern Arapaho Sundance was coming to a close, Lucas stood before her congregation and spoke specifically about the tribe’s sacred ceremony.
“I pray as the people coming out of Sundance today, their last day, they’re going back into community,” she said in a video that quickly went viral. “You have generations, generations, centuries of people doing this offering, going in and being, making vows to change, Father God. And we see no fruit.”
Lucas ushered several Native people up to share their testimony about how they had rejected their traditional spiritual ways, and urged others to turn away from “demonic activity.”
Lucas pointed to the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s sacred pipe and its ceremonial and spiritual use, calling it idol worship. “The pipe cannot hear your prayers. It’s just a piece of material, right? And this is a cycle that they’re caught up in, and this is all they’ve ever known,” she said. “And the Lord is saying, ‘Tear down the idols, tear down the altars, the idol worship.’”
The backlash was swift. By that Tuesday, hundreds gathered in protest outside the church. People took to social media to decry Lucas’ statements, generating thousands of posts, comments and videos across multiple platforms. Many demanded the church leave the reservation, but some messages were more ominous; Lucas said she’s received death threats, threats to burn down the church and of physical violence against her.
Protesters who have set up camp outside the church every Sunday since the July 5 sermon have been clear about their intentions to be peaceful. They’ve alerted law enforcement of their presence at the church and asked that officers keep an eye on things to ensure that no conflicts arise. At a July 19 protest, one protester reported being physically threatened by church security, which prompted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office to respond to the scene.
Tribal leaders’ united front
The Friday after the sermon, the Northern Arapaho Business Council met with church leaders and told them they were no longer welcome on the reservation.
But the church has continued to offer Sunday worship and other programming at the Arapahoe church building, and quickly sent out a message to members asking for funds for an anticipated legal battle. “We are standing firmly on the truth of the Word of God concerning idol worship,” church leaders wrote to members, describing “ongoing death threats and threats to burn our church.”
Church leaders said they could not be legally removed from property they own on the reservation, adding, “we are in contact with legal counsel and are preparing to pursue this in federal court as soon as possible in order to uphold our Constitutional rights to preach the gospel … We are not stopping.”
On Friday, Florida-based Christian litigation and policy nonprofit Liberty Counsel announced that it had filed a discrimination complaint with the USDA on behalf of the Foundations For Nations church. The complaint argues that the Food Bank of Wyoming unlawfully cut off a partnership that has for years helped stock the shelves of the church’s food pantry in Riverton on the basis of religious, political and racial discrimination. The food pantry is not on the reservation.
Leading up to that complaint, the Northern Arapaho Business Council announced July 20 a new policy requiring outside organizations to “consult” with the tribe before conducting “organized activities” on the reservation, and stated that the church had never received authorization from the tribe to establish the church. The business council requested a meeting with church officials to discuss the new policy.
“Our responsibility is to protect our people, our culture, and our sovereign authority,” Northern Arapaho Business Council Chairman Keenan Groesbeck said. “This policy is not about preventing anyone from practicing their religion. It is about respecting the sovereign government of the Northern Arapaho Tribe. Any outside organization seeking to conduct organized activities within our jurisdiction should first communicate with the elected leadership of our Nation and work in partnership with the tribe.”
The Eastern Shoshone Business Council followed suit, issuing a statement outlining its adoption of the same policy. “The Eastern Shoshone Tribe calls on the Foundations For Nations Church and any affiliated representatives to immediately stop all efforts directed at persuading Native children and families to reject traditional practices and to engage in governmental consultation and authorization directly with the Eastern Shoshone Business Council before continuing or expanding any recurring ministry activities, especially where it concerns tribal member children,” the council wrote.
“The business council further recognizes the historical relationship between many Christian institutions and Native Nations, including the devastating legacy of forced assimilation, boarding schools, and efforts to suppress Indigenous languages, cultures, and spiritual traditions,” the Northern Arapaho Business Council said in its statement. “These historical experiences make it especially important that any outside organization engaging with the Northern Arapaho people do so through respectful government-to-government consultation and with a full understanding of tribal history, culture and sovereignty.”
For much of U.S. history, Native Americans’ cultural and spiritual practices were suppressed and outlawed, with sacred ceremonies and traditions often practiced in secret to avoid severe penalties. The U.S. Department of the Interior adopted the Code of Indian Offenses in 1883, making it illegal for Native people to practice their faith and traditions; it wasn’t until 1978 that Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. While the act protects the spiritual practices of Native tribes, it also reaffirms the rights of all religions, specifically affirming that no tribe, in “exercising powers of self-governance shall make or reinforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion” or freedom of speech.
On July 25, CNN’s Victor Blackwell posed the question to Northern Arapaho Council Chairman Groesbeck: Do you believe you have the authority to tell the church they cannot preach messages condemning traditional ways?
“Yep,” responded Groesbeck. He pointed to a Montana Supreme Court case as providing legal footing for the tribe.
Just after the July 5 sermon, in a letter to church members and supporters, Foundations For Nations leaders were also gearing up for a legal fight. “We also ask for your earnest prayers,” they wrote. “There is a deep spiritual darkness over this land, but we are confident in the promise that ‘more are for us than against us’ (2 Kings 6:16) … This matter is now moving toward the courts,” they continued, adding that they are preparing to take legal action in federal court.
Last week, Lucas, who has not responded to multiple requests for comment, offered an emotional statement on her Facebook page on the situation. She said what hurt the most to her wasn’t the “unbelievers” who protest against her, but Christians who have remained silent in her defense.
“Yet Jesus experienced this too. When He was arrested and facing persecution, His own disciples fled, and Peter even denied knowing Him,” she wrote. “Jesus understands that kind of pain.”
Lucas has also expressed a commitment to continue her mission of bringing people to Jesus at the reservation church. “And I’m not saying this to boast in any kind of way about who I am, but the Lord had said to one of the [Bible study] people, for God so loved the reservation that they sent Sarah,” Lucas said in her July 26 sermon.
Protests persist
Alice Thomas has spent every Sunday since the sermon outside the church’s fence line, holding up signs, offering protesters food and water, and stressing the need to remain peaceful. Her goal? She wants the church to pack up and go somewhere else.
“People contact me and ask why [keep protesting], when is it going to stop,” she said. “When they leave. We’re doing this to protect our children and our people.”
Though protesters consider their message to be one of high stakes for the Northern Arapaho Tribe, Sundays have been filled with laughter and music. “That’s how Natives deal with adversity. We joke about it. We laugh about it,” Thomas said. “Even this — we laugh about it, we joke about it, but it’s something serious to us. It’s something that shouldn’t have happened, especially if she’s the true person that she says she is.”
Quiver, who described herself as a pipe keeper and ceremony woman, said the church has not just offended her tribe, but Indigenous people all across the country. “She was so disrespectful. It hurts my heart for my people, it hurts my heart for our ceremonies, and I just want her to leave,” she said. Like the other protesters, Quiver said her goal was to send the church packing, but added that she hopes they stay away from Indian Country altogether.
“Every tribe is different. Every tribe has their own traditions, has their own ceremonies,” Quiver said. “But she lumped us all together. She didn’t just disrespect the Arapahos; she disrespected the Shoshones, she disrespected the Lakotas in that — all these tribes that have Sundance, she disrespected them. And it’s not just the Arapahos. She disrespected all Native people.”
The protests are intergenerational. Zona, who asked to be identified by only her first name, spent her 21st birthday outside, in the heat along the barrow ditch outside the church’s gate, with her protest sign.
In red on black — the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s colors — it read: “You’re not welcome.”
“Just why? Why say all those things?” Zona said. “When she first said that she was here to help us — so why go against what we believe in?”
As a young person charged with carrying on the Northern Arapaho traditional ways and culture, Zona said she remembers being a little girl, running off and playing with her friends during sacred tribal events. “But I’ve always loved the Sundance. I’ve always loved just being around my family, and getting to understand my culture a little better,” she said. “And I’ve started going up to the lodge with my mom. I stand there and watch on, listen to the songs.
“I believe it’s a big part of everybody, to be closer to their own culture, no matter what you are,” Zona offered. “To at least have that be a part of you.”
Chad Guenter states in part: Foundations for Nations is a Christian Church, the Ten Commandments are kind of a thing with Christians …
Be careful, Chad, do not swallow your moral code in tablet form.
I stand by the native people and their rights to their culture and faith, without the noise from Christian bigotry.
Christians have committed mass genocide against Native Peoples since 1492. They murdered millions in the name of Jesus.
Jerry: I have a poster in my office that shows Geronimo; Chappo (Geronimo’s son); Yanozha; and Yanozha’s half-brother. All are armed with older rifles and look formidable.
The title of the poster is: Fighting Terrorism Since 1492.
The comments disparaging the traditional religious practices of the Northern Arapaho, made by Foundations For Nations Pastor Sarah Lucas, are abhorrent and reminiscent of one of the most egregious eras of Federal Indian policy-the Allotment and Assimilation Era (1887 – 1934).
The most destructive policy of the federal government was that of separating Indigenous families using brutal methods of the forced assimilation of Native children into white culture through federally funded boarding schools. The goal of this forced assimilation was erasing Indigenous cultures, languages, and family ties under the motto “Kill the Indian, and save the man.”
Boarding schools were largely focused not on education, but on assimilation. Students were required to adopt English names, forbidden from speaking their native languages, forced to convert to Christianity, and made to perform manual labor like domestic servitude, brick making or farming. In many cases children were not allowed contact with their families and rules of the boarding schools extended to when they did see their families. The children were taught that their traditional religion and culture was demonic and their family member who didn’t adopt Christianity would spend an eternity in fire and brimstone.
This forced assimilation; not being allowed to learn their traditional culture, language, and religion and the rampant abuses by those running the boarding schools has resulted in intergeneration trauma passed from generation to generation through epigenetic expression–Epigenetics refers to the way your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.
This was how the federal government thought that they could eliminate the “Indian problem.” This was attempted genocide.
The remarks made by Foundations For Nations Pastor Sarah Lucas calling the Northern Arapaho religion and traditional spiritual ways, “demonic” and calling the Sun Dance and the ceremonial use of the sacred pipe, “idol worship” are a further attempt for a Christian church to destroy Native culture, language, and religion. The Indian Religious Freedom Act. (42 U.S.C § 1996) was Federal policy enacted to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions of the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiians, including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites without interference from organizations such as Foundations For Nations and Pastor Sarah Lucas. This
I find it ironic that as Foundations For Nations Pastor Sarah Lucas is bringing suit against the Northern Arapahoe for discriminatory practices. She and her foundation/church is outright and vocally discriminating against traditional culture and religion.
The Northern Arapahoe are a sovereign nation. As a sovereign nation they make laws and rules regarding their land, who can use it, and what they can do on that land. Foundations For Nations and Pastor Sarah Lucas have no inherent right to be there. Tribal leaders and Tribal Council have the right and duty to exclude them from Wind River.
We do not follow a false idol we follow Mother Earth, nature is our church we respect everything nature the animals plants. Our church taught us our Creator is the same as God just goes by a different name like all dieties you could pray to a rock but at least you are praying
I as a non native being married to a native. Believe that we should respect others religion or spiritual upbringing. If we were to try to understand each others beliefs we can find something that is good in all beliefs. But we do disrespect.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
That is Jesus teaching.
The church should leave.
I grew up in Wyoming as a young man and attended a fundamentalist Baptist church in casper and attended christian school there… those were the worse years of my life .and it took many years to unravel the religious things I was taught… I can say today i am free from it but still sad it took up so much of this experience I’ve been given here..I hope in the next 100 years people can kick it all to the side.. we have come to a point in humanity that we should know better. This is not to say that there isn’t some good to understand from different religions or beliefs because there is but you dont have to make it a religion maybe rather an understanding.. I personally think people should have a right and freedom to think any crazy thing they want in this life but I also think when they are condemning another belief that it crosses a line..there was an electric billboard sign message that came on at a local church where I live now in idaho ,it simply said (pray for Isreal ) after tens of thousands of palastine people were killed it still had the same message after many attempts to talk to one of the preachers at the church and finally being able to talk to one i asked him if he saw anything wrong with that message? he immediately said no he didn’t i said dont you think it would be more appropriate for it to say pray for Isreal and the Palestine people? he replied no! The Palestine people are not Christians .I said really can I ask you a question ,does your god love the Palestine people and he quickly replied yes. He said he understood my point . They still never changed that sign.. I also have people I like very much in the russian orthodox faith by all rights beautiful smart intelligent people but people i dont share understanding with .the leadership of that church believes( putin) was sent by there god . I bet there’s alot of people who live in Ukraine and Russia who would not agree..religion creates separation its tribal like a clan. We as humans needed that early in our past for protection. To hunt and thrive today the world is different we are all united. We should all love and respect each other and be excited for what we can all share with each other that is different.. I tell people all the time I love tacos and spegetti.. on a more serious note religions are beliefs and they all think they are right.and hold the truth but none of them do. the truth is in you .its what you are..I can’t speak for the native people but I dont think a ceremony has anything to do with religious beliefs. They are 2 very different things. I can’t recall a native american ceremony telling you what you must believe.rather its a ceremony. As I sit here bythe ocean in kodiak alaska Im recalling a conversation I had just yesterday with a native alaskan from a village near me ..we were talking about how the population of the little village he lives in is declining and how it mostly has older age people now .no younger people to carry on traditional ways.ive thought often how hard it would be in the early years to live on this land it can be harsh.how the early people lived and survived will be lost to all the world and that is a great loss to us all. Some day there will be no religions and that in my estimation will be a good day. Religion has caused most of the problems in the world. It will be interesting to see how this will play out in the courts .the native people have a huge fight to try and keep what’s left of there past and culture for future generations without religions condemning them.(im all in with the native people) but im afraid this battle will be lost because of the power of stupidity. Good luck
Sarah Lucas sounds like every American who advocated for “Kill the Indian, Save the Man”, every missionary who brought their Bible and then the gun, every religious supremacist who has killed and destroyed in the name of their God! She has no respect for the people who she’s trying to preach to, the land, their culture or the history of what happened to them. If she’s so sure that she’s right, then why not build her church somewhere she’s wanted. I know if she came with that mess to me, I would definitely Voodoo her! They know for a fact that Voodoo is real and grounded in what God gave us naturally!
I believe that tribes are basically self govering nations that also must in some manner conform to the Constitution. However, because they are also self governing they can control who enters their reservation . They have a right to keep Lucas from entering the reservation
Her church member still on the reservation.have a right to worship in their church. They simply will have to continue to conduct church services without her.
“Preservation of one’s own culture does not require contempt or disrespect for other cultures.” Chavez. This will be a hard one to work out. My granfather told me “it is more important to focus on what you are fighting for than what you are fighting against”. There is a danger of becoming that which you fight against if your focus is off. My hope is that, even with differences of opinion, respect will prevail.
Spiritual colonialism.
Hmmm…seems to me the 1978 American Indian Religious Freedom Act mentioned allows the church to speak it’s unpopular message w/o the express approval of the Tribal Council. Sensitivities should be shared and discussed but “consultation” does not mean “authorization”. That said, this is yet another flavor of the country-wide debate on religion & free speech… Protests vs. building mosques and temples, protests re: Right to Life vs. Abortion clinics, etc… it’s a challenging situation demanding discussion everywhere. It’s the blessing & burden of living in a multi- cultural society.
I am with the Arapahoe 100%!
My faith as a Jesus lover compels the respect for all who are motivated by love and seeking good for others. Sadly, some legalistic groups think their own practices and detailed doctrines are all that God comprises. The same self-righteous voices are the ones who neglect so much of the whole Gospel. Once we can accept that nobody (including thousands of Christian sects) gets it all right, the sooner that true spiritual unity can overcome out arrogance. Love & Humility are key. Ignore the truly satanic (fascist) invasion of the USA politically and miss the great evil of our times.
That’s what religions do – disrespect the people.
Imagine if this had just been ignored, how people would be free of the poison of anger and outrage.
Foundations for Nations is a Christian Church, the Ten Commandments are kind of a thing with Christians, and are at the center of this “controversy”.
Lucas’ comment in her sermon regarding pipes and prayers directly relate to the first two commandments.
1 You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
Imagine if there were no religion. The world would be a much better place.
Chad Guenter, both of your comments are inaccurate. Federally recognized tribes, about 567, are sovereign nations. The Northern Arapahoe of Wind River is a federally recognized tribe and therefore a sovereign nation. They have their own laws, bylaws, and constitutions. Tribal sovereignty means that not only do they make their own laws it is also up to the tribal government and tribal councils who is allowed entry, who is to conduct business, and who is permitted to remain within tribal land.
These tribes are extra-constitutional, meaning that they are not bound by United States Constitution within the exterior boundaries of the reservation.
The Indian Religious Freedom Act. (42 U.S.C § 1996) was Federal policy enacted to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions of the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiians, including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites without interference from organizations such as Foundations For Nations and Pastor Sarah Lucas.
You say something about Christianity is at the center of this “controversy.” Absolutely, it is but not the way you are portraying it to be, and why is controversy in quotation marks. It seems to me what you are saying is something like, “oh you silly little Indians, your traditions, customs, and religion doesn’t matter because we Christians and Christianity…”
Not all people want nor need your white version of Christianity. Foundations For Nations Pastor Sarah Lucas Is has no right to go into another country — yes country remember sovereign nations — or another person’s home and tell them that their religion and culture is demonic and idol worship. The only people that do this are Christians and it is beyond disrespectful. To say that the Northern Arapahoe are violating the Ten Commandments is beyond normal thinking. It is disrespectful and makes my skin crawl.
Your other comment says that “Civil Rights is a two way street.
Being “offended” by another’s religion or words doesn’t give the Wind River Reservation the justification to break the law.” And “a)In general
No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall—
(1)make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances.”
This is where you are wrong, incorrect, and inaccurate. Like I wrote earlier, federally recognized tribes have their own constitutions and while within the external boundaries of the reservation, the US Constitution does not apply to them. By saying that tribes are breaking the law because, “No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall—
(1)make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances.”
This is The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 (ICRA), 25 U.S.C.§§ 1301-1304 (ICRA), which include the Indian Bill of Rights. This keeps Tribal members safe from corrupt Tribal governments. It was created for Tribal member to be safe from Tribal governments. This does not apply to non- tribal members.
What does apply here is the The Indian Religious Freedom Act. (42 U.S.C § 1996) was Federal policy enacted to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right of freedom to believe, express, and exercise the traditional religions of the American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut, and Native Hawaiians, including but not limited to access to sites, use and possession of sacred objects, and the freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites without interference from organizations such as Foundations For Nations and Pastor Sarah Lucas. It is not the Northern Arapahoe breaking the law, it is Foundations For Nations and Pastor Sarah Lucas. This foundation and its leader have no legal right to enter onto another’s land and use their god and their beliefs to bully and scare the people. You all should be ashamed.
Frankie Joe, there are lots of Tribal members attending Foundations for Nations and are in full agreement with Ms. Lucas. Those tribal members are being effected as well, with threats, etc.
And absolutely nowhere does ICRA state that only native/traditional religions are protected, you completely made that up.
Again, simply ignoring what was said by Ms. Lucas would have been so easy, it was in their church not out in public (although that would be protected by ICRA as well). But outrage is in fashion these days, especially against anything related to Christianity.
Christians have never been under attack in America. Fake christians is another thing and they deserve it.
Gordon, you seem to love to judge these “fake christians” whenever you can. I have asked you in the past what EXACTLY defines a “fake christian” without getting an answer. All I can come up with from your comments is they are any christian you don’t agree with politically.
Civil Rights is a two way street.
Being “offended” by another’s religion or words doesn’t give the Wind River Reservation the justification to break the law.
a)In general
No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall—
(1)make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/25/1302
We sure screwed the indians , didn’t we.
The fake christians don’t have the right to trash other peoples religion. They should be booted out.