A Petition for Redress of Grievances

A Petition for Redress of Grievances

by Otter G'Zell

In 1987 a remarkable document was presented to Native

Americans. Titled "A Public Declaration to theTribal Councils and

Traditional Spiritual Leaders of theIndian and Eskimo Peoples of the

Pacific Northwest," this statement was signed by Bishops,

Archbishops and Executive Ministers representing ten major Christian

denominations, including Lutherans, Baptists, Episcopals, Roman

Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists and the United Church of Christ.

Addressed to "Dear Brothers and Sisters," the declaration proceeded

as follows:

This is a formal apology on behalf of our churches for their long-

standing participation in the destruction of traditional Native

American spiritual practices. We call upon our people for recognition

of and respect for your traditional ways of life and for protection of

your sacred places and ceremonial objects. We have frequently been

unconscious and insensitive and not come to your aid when you have

been victimized by unjust Federal policies and practices. In many

other circumstances we reflected the rampant racism and prejudice of

the dominant culture with which we too willingly identified. During

this 200th Anniversary year of the United States Constitution we, as

leaders of our churches in the Pacific Northwest, extend our apology.

We ask for your forgiveness and blessing. As the Creator continues to

renew the earth, the plants, the animals and all living things, we call

upon the people of our denominations and fellowships to a

committment of mutual support in your efforts to reclaim and protect

the legacy of your own traditional spiritual teachings. To that end we

pledge our support and assistance in upholding the American

Religious Freedom Act (P.L. 95-134, 1978) and within that legal

precedent affirm the following: (1) The rights of the Native Peoples to

practice and participate in traditional ceremonies and rituals with the

same protection offered to all religions under the Constitution. (2)

Access to and protection of sacred sites and public lands for

ceremonial purposes. (3) The use of religious symbols (feathers,

tobacco, sweet grass, bone, etc.) for use in traditional ceremonies and

rituals. The spiritual power of the land and the ancient wisdom of your

indigenous religions can be, we believe, great gifts to the Christian

churches. We offer our commitment to support you in the righting of

previous wrongs: to protect your people's efforts to enhance Native

spiritual teachings; to encourage the members of our churches to stand

in solidarity with you on these important religious issues; to provide

advocacy and mediation, when appropriate, for ongoing negotiations

with State agencies and Federal officials regarding these matters. May

the promises of this day go on public record with all the congregations

of our commumnions and be communicated to the Native American

Peoples of the Pacific Northwest. May the God of Abraham and

Sarah, and the Spirit who lives in both the cedar and Salmon People,

be honored and celebrated. As we cheered the publication of this

formal declaration of apology to the indigenous people of the

American Pacific Northwest, some of us could not help but think how

nice it would be to have a similar declaration made by these churches

to the practitioners of the indigenous religions of Europe, which is to

say, Pagans. Much of what was said in that statement would be

equally applicable to us, for our temples, groves, libraries and peoples

were systematically demolished and burned as official policy by the

dominant Christian churches of Medieval and Renaissance Europe.

We continue being hounded to this very day, suffering discrimination,

persecution and harassment in numerous ways in the name of

Christianity. Today there is a growing fundamentalist movement afoot

called "Christian Reconstructionism." Their stated purpose is to take

over our government and impose Biblical law as the law of the land!

But at that time acknowledgement of wrongdoing by Christian

leaders, especially those of the Roman Catholic Church_whose

Inquisition, administered by the Dominican Order, engaged in the

brutal torture and murder of millions of our people_seemed a remote

dream. Then I received another remarkable report, this one from the

Los Angeles Times, dated Wednesday, Dec. 19, 1990, written by

William D. Montalbano, Times Staff Writer. It was titled "Pope

Assails Totalitarianism, Intolerance."

Proclaiming freedom of conscience as mankind's "inalienable

right," Pope John Paul II on Tuesday scored totalitarianism and

intolerance and called religious fundamentalists a threat to world

peace.

The 70-year-old pontiff returned to the theme of human rights for

the third consecutive year in his message for the Roman Catholic

Church's World Day of Peace on Jan. 1.

Entitled "If You Want Peace, Respect the Conscience of Every

Person," the 6,000-word message urges world governments to respect

the rights of minorities and to allow individuals to freely pursue their

own beliefs.

"People must not attempt to impose their own 'truth' on others,"

the Pope said. "The right to profess the truth must always be upheld,

but not in a way that involves contempt for those who may think

differently. Truth imposes itself solely by the force of its own truth.

"Unfortunately," John Paul noted, "we are still witnessing

attempts to impose a particular idea on others, either directly_by a

proselytism which relies on means which are truly coercive_or

indirectly, by the denial of certain civil or political rights."

Published Tuesday at the Vatican in Italian, French,, English,

Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic, the papal appeal will be

distributed to governments around the world and read out in Catholic

churches on New Year's Day.

John Paul defended "the inalienable right to follow one's

conscience and to profess and practice one's own faith," warning that

those who violate such a fundamental human right risk causing

"strained and hostile relations within society or even...open conflict."

"A serious threat to peace is imposed by intolerance, which

manifests itself in the denial of freedom of conscience to others. The

excesses to which intolerance can lead us has been one of history's

most painful lessons."

Without naming them specifically, the Pope attacked

governments and societies that ban religious practices_a reference to

totalitarian Marxist states_and those that impose a single religion_a

reference to countries in which Muslim fundamentalism is the ruling

force,

When religious law becomes synonymous with civil law, the

Pope warned, it "can stifle religious freedom, even going so far as to

restrict or deny other inalienable human rights."

"Intolerance can also result from the recurring temptation to

fundamentalism, which easily leads to serious abuses, such as the

radical suppression of all public manifestations of diversity, or even

the outright denial of freedom of expression," John Paul said.

Calling religion "a powerful force for liberation," he warned that

attempts to suppress it risk "fueling open or latent rebellion."

He insisted that individuals must have the right to choose their

own religion. Citing excesses in the history of his own church, he

asserted that "no one ought to be compelled to believe" and noted that

"even today much remains to be done to overcome religious

intolerance which in different parts of the world is connected with the

oppression of minorities."

Peace-threatening intolerance is born, John Paul said, when

individuals or minorities "are oppressed or relegated to the margins of

society. In public life, intolerance leaves no room for a plurality of

political or social opinions, and thus imposes a monolithic vision of

civil and cultural life."

This year is the 300th anniversary of the infamous Salem Witch

Trials, in which 20 innocent people were executed on charges of

Witchcraft. (Interestingly, 1992 is also the 50th anniversary of Hitler's

declaration of "The Final Solution"_total genocide_to "the Jewish

Problem," initiating the only other holocaust to compare with the

Burning Times.) Such slogans as "No More Witch Trials!" and "Never

Again the Burning!," long voiced in the Pagan community, are now

appearing in media interviews with various Pagans.

I believe we have reached an historic moment, in which for the

first time some of the most powerful churches in Christiandom,

including the monolithic Church of Rome, may at last be ready to

acknowledge and redress the evil oppression they have inflicted upon

the Pagan peoples the world over. The process of reconciliation

requires three phases from the perpetrators of an injustice: First, their

acknowledgement that a wrong has been committed. Second, their

sincere apology and assurance that it will never happen again. And

third, restitution to the victims of the injustice. The churches'

declaration of apology to the Native Americans and the Pope's 1991

World Day of Peace message are strong indicators that such a

reconciliation may now be possible. But this will happen only if we

Pagans bring this issue to the attention of the same Christian officials

who issued this earlier statement. This is one of the many reasons we

need a unifying body such as the Universal Federation of Pagans with

Pagan delegates authorized by our community to deliver our petition

for redress.

We need not think we are alone in this. We have allies in

respected Christian authorities who know us and are committed to

justice. People such as Rev. J. Gordon Melton, Methodist minister and

director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa

Barbara, California. Rev. Matthew Fox, a Dominican priest (the same

order which waged the Inquisition) and director of the Institute in

Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland,

California. (Starhawk is on Fox's staff! ) I suggest we appeal to these

people to help draft a statement similar to the one presented to the

Indians, and sponsor its passage through channels to the appropriate

authorities. I want to see it signed by Pope John Paul II himself!

For our part, we Pagans must be willing to accept such an

apology and embrace reconciliation with the assurance of peace by an

end to this holy war. We must be able to offer forgiveness (though not

forgetfullness!) for the crimes of their ancestors against ours. Only

then will we truly be able to close the book on our Pagan Holocaust.