Native American Church

NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH

NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH. The Native American Church, a development that evolved out of the Peyote Cult, is a religion combining some Christian elements with others of Indian derivation. It features as a sacrament the ingestion of the peyote cactus, which may induce multicolored hallucinations. Christian elements include the cross, the Trinity, baptism, and some Christian theology and eschatology. The peyote rite is an all-night ceremonial, usually held in a Plains-type tipi.

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Prominent rituals include singing, prayers, testimonials, and the taking of peyote. First incorporated in Oklahoma in 1918, the Native American Church has become the principal religion of a majority of the Indians living between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and it is also important among the Navajo in the Great Basin, in east-central California, and in southern Canada.

Peyotism's legal standing met a serious challenge in 1990, when the U.S. Supreme Court decreed, in Employment Division v. Smith (1990), that the free exercise clause of the First Amendment did not exempt Indians from criminal prosecution for the use of peyote in states where its use was outlawed as a controlled substance. The decision placed minority religions in jeopardy. In response Oregon passed a 1991 law permitting the sacramental use of peyote by American Indians in the state, and Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993, which required the government to demonstrate a compelling state interest to justify any measure restricting religious practices.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LaBarre, Weston. The Peyote Cult. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.

Slotkin, James Sydney. The Peyote Religion: A Study in Indian-White Relations. New York: Octagon Books, 1975.

Stewart, Omer C. Peyote Religion. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.

Vecsey, Christopher, ed. Handbook of American Indian Religious Freedom. New York: Crossroad, 1991.

Christopher Vecsey

Kenneth M. Stewart / j. h.

See also Bill of Rights ; Indian Policy, U.S.: 1900–2000 ; Indian Religious Life ; Religious Liberty .