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By Karen Lincoln Michel
Last Updated: Dec. 17, 1999
All his life, Tommy Billy has faced ridicule for practicing a religious belief as old as the red canyon rocks near his home on the Navajo/Dine' Reservation in northern Arizona.
He is a follower of an ancient religion that uses the peyote cactus - classified as a hallucinogenic drug in this country - in the manner that Catholics use sacramental wine.
He has come to accept that mainstream America misunderstands his way of worship, the Native American Church, which claims about 250,000 members, 30,000 among the Navajo/Dine'. But there is another kind of disregard toward his belief that worries him. This time, it is the people on his own reservation who are the perpetrators.
Non-believers, mainly Navajo teens, reportedly have been using peyote in the way some people take recreational drugs. The active ingredient in the cactus is mescaline, a mind-altering stimulant that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has placed in the same category as heroin and LSD. A federal law, however, exempts church members from prosecution when peyote is used in religious ceremonies.
The Navajo/Dine' Nation government is holding public hearings around the reservation to discuss stricter tribal laws that will crack down on illegal use of peyote without obstructing the religious freedom of bona fide church members.
Billy, who is a chapter board member of the Native American Church of Navajoland, says there is a proposal to remove peyote from the tribe's controlled-substances law. A new ordinance would authorize the use, possession, sale, trade and delivery of peyote by an American Indian for bona fide religious use.
It hurts Billy that his own people would abuse something he considers a holy medicine. And it hurts me, too.
Just like Billy, I have been chided, criticized and looked upon with suspicion because of my standing as a Native American Church member.
I was born into the church and baptized in the Half-Moon Fireplace of the Native American Church of Wisconsin. The principles of the Wisconsin chapter are built on the belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We sit on the ground and worship the triune God in all-night prayer services. We listen to sermons, sing praises to the Creator, offer prayers and foster fellowship among the congregation.
We also partake of the sacrament, a sacred rite that opens our souls and senses to fully receive the Creator. That's the part non-believers have difficulty understanding.
There are people outside the church, however, who accept and support our beliefs. A Catholic priest once told me that many Christians hear the word of God, but few allow the Holy Spirit to enter and connect on a divine spiritual plane. After hearing me talk about my religious beliefs, the priest said it sounded as though sacramental use of peyote was a conduit to reaching that spiritual level. Well put.
Now if only Navajo teens abusing peyote could grasp that concept, we would be making progress.
Ironically, these teens are following in the footsteps of the hippie culture of the 1960s, whose abuse of peyote prompted the government to add it to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. It's unfortunate that the "psychedelic '60s" had such a dramatic impact on a way of worship that scientists and archaeologists have traced back 10,000 years.
Most Americans believe the First Amendment has protected the right of all organized religions to practice their faith. But after the federal government listed peyote as a hallucinogen nearly 30 years ago, the cactus was outlawed in 22 states. It wasn't until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was amended in 1994 that religious use of peyote by Native American Church members was legalized nationwide.
Billy blames himself, other church leaders and their followers for failing to educate their own people about the significance of peyote as a holy medicine and the struggles the church has endured to protect it.
Billy doesn't have much faith in the media helping to educate the public about this issue. He criticized a recent Associated Press article that said seeing "visions" is part of the spiritual experience when peyote is ingested. He said that's how misconceptions get formed about his way of worship.
I agree. It's hard to understand beliefs of another culture when society views them through Euro-centric and Judeo-Christian eyes.
The Navajo teens abusing peyote will, I hope, grow out of their ignorance. I hope the rest of society will, too.
Karen Lincoln Michel, past president of the Native-American Journalists Association, is co-owner of News from Indian Country
Last Updated: Dec. 17, 1999
All his life, Tommy Billy has faced ridicule for practicing a religious belief as old as the red canyon rocks near his home on the Navajo/Dine' Reservation in northern Arizona.
He is a follower of an ancient religion that uses the peyote cactus - classified as a hallucinogenic drug in this country - in the manner that Catholics use sacramental wine.
He has come to accept that mainstream America misunderstands his way of worship, the Native American Church, which claims about 250,000 members, 30,000 among the Navajo/Dine'. But there is another kind of disregard toward his belief that worries him. This time, it is the people on his own reservation who are the perpetrators.
Non-believers, mainly Navajo teens, reportedly have been using peyote in the way some people take recreational drugs. The active ingredient in the cactus is mescaline, a mind-altering stimulant that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has placed in the same category as heroin and LSD. A federal law, however, exempts church members from prosecution when peyote is used in religious ceremonies.
The Navajo/Dine' Nation government is holding public hearings around the reservation to discuss stricter tribal laws that will crack down on illegal use of peyote without obstructing the religious freedom of bona fide church members.
Billy, who is a chapter board member of the Native American Church of Navajoland, says there is a proposal to remove peyote from the tribe's controlled-substances law. A new ordinance would authorize the use, possession, sale, trade and delivery of peyote by an American Indian for bona fide religious use.
It hurts Billy that his own people would abuse something he considers a holy medicine. And it hurts me, too.
Just like Billy, I have been chided, criticized and looked upon with suspicion because of my standing as a Native American Church member.
I was born into the church and baptized in the Half-Moon Fireplace of the Native American Church of Wisconsin. The principles of the Wisconsin chapter are built on the belief in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We sit on the ground and worship the triune God in all-night prayer services. We listen to sermons, sing praises to the Creator, offer prayers and foster fellowship among the congregation.
We also partake of the sacrament, a sacred rite that opens our souls and senses to fully receive the Creator. That's the part non-believers have difficulty understanding.
There are people outside the church, however, who accept and support our beliefs. A Catholic priest once told me that many Christians hear the word of God, but few allow the Holy Spirit to enter and connect on a divine spiritual plane. After hearing me talk about my religious beliefs, the priest said it sounded as though sacramental use of peyote was a conduit to reaching that spiritual level. Well put.
Now if only Navajo teens abusing peyote could grasp that concept, we would be making progress.
Ironically, these teens are following in the footsteps of the hippie culture of the 1960s, whose abuse of peyote prompted the government to add it to the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. It's unfortunate that the "psychedelic '60s" had such a dramatic impact on a way of worship that scientists and archaeologists have traced back 10,000 years.
Most Americans believe the First Amendment has protected the right of all organized religions to practice their faith. But after the federal government listed peyote as a hallucinogen nearly 30 years ago, the cactus was outlawed in 22 states. It wasn't until the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was amended in 1994 that religious use of peyote by Native American Church members was legalized nationwide.
Billy blames himself, other church leaders and their followers for failing to educate their own people about the significance of peyote as a holy medicine and the struggles the church has endured to protect it.
Billy doesn't have much faith in the media helping to educate the public about this issue. He criticized a recent Associated Press article that said seeing "visions" is part of the spiritual experience when peyote is ingested. He said that's how misconceptions get formed about his way of worship.
I agree. It's hard to understand beliefs of another culture when society views them through Euro-centric and Judeo-Christian eyes.
The Navajo teens abusing peyote will, I hope, grow out of their ignorance. I hope the rest of society will, too.
Karen Lincoln Michel, past president of the Native-American Journalists Association, is co-owner of News from Indian Country
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