freedom of religion

My dear compadre Starrett said, in the last digest, that one of the
things that made this country great was "freedom of and from religion."
Actually, the "freedom of" part has not always been the case, as,
historically, Native Americans have often been forbidden to practice
their beliefs, at various times. The Ghost Dance was outlawed, just
prior to the Wounded Knee massacre; the Sun Dance has been forbidden (I
believe it's legal now), and the religious sacrament of peyote has also
been illegal (is it now? I'm not sure what the status is). Also, many
tribes had their children forcibly removed from their homes, and sent to
white schools, where they were forbidden to perpetuate their culture, in
any way; they could not speak their languages, and had to, virtually,
become like white people. I recently saw an article in the paper that
talked about the fact that many Native languages are almost extinct;
there are a few folks who are trying to keep them alive, but it's
becoming more and more difficult. This nation was founded on admirable
principles, to be sure; actually allowing all people the pursuit of
"life, liberty, and happiness" has been quite another story...Hstick

--- In metatuning@y..., "Neil Haverstick" <STICK@U...> wrote:
> My dear compadre Starrett said, in the last digest, that one of
> the things that made this country great was "freedom of and from
> religion." Actually, the "freedom of" part has not always been the
> case, as,historically, Native Americans have often been forbidden to
> practice their beliefs, at various times. <snip>

And that is one of the most galling things to me. We still have many
unenforced treaties, lost and stolen NA moneys that the government
_refuses_ to account for, and continued discrimination, in addition to
the historical genocide (and I might add, a president known as "Indian
Killer" Jackson on the 20). If any country wants an example of how we
don't keep our word, there it is, big as life, documented, continuing
unabated. If we are to stand up and speak of justice, as a nation we
must _at the very least_ give the NAs the money they are owed from the
trust fund. There is no politically feasible way to give them back all
their historical lands, but the continuing lying and foot dragging
about the tribal oil and gas money is just unconscionable.

John Starrett