The ongoing destruction of Earth’s natural systems is the result of decisions, made daily, by billions of people. These decisions are voluntary and involuntary at once, collective and personal. The question must be asked: what is driving our actions? How do we reignite and reimagine a spiritual relationship with this beautiful planet we call home? From traditions around the world, and from within ourselves, how might we create different narratives that honor Nature and acknowledge the sacred? Two indigenous leaders – Nainoa Thompson and Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq (Uncle) – have both been... Read more about The Land and the Waters are Speaking
By now, most political followers are aware that the 116th Congress is the most diverse in history. It includes the first Native American women — Sharice Davids, D-Kan., and Debra
While Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier sat down with President Barack Obama at a private roundtable in Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 25, Morton County, N.D. Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier was calling in police reinforcements from six states to enforce Energy Transfer Partners’ demands that “trespassers” be removed from the path of the pipeline.
When opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline galvanized the support of hundreds of U.S. tribes, it became an unprecedented show of Indian country unity and resolve.
Now, it’s a global indigenous movement.
"Native spirituality is taking deeper roots within the hearts of Christian people,” says Sister Kateri Mitchell, a member of Mohawk Nation and the Sisters of St. Anne who directs the annual National Tekakwitha Conference for Native American Catholics. More →
When Pope Francis canonizes Junipero Serra, he will become the first Hispanic American saint. Analysts see this as an effort to restore the historical balance away from "Anglo-centric" interpretation of U.S. history to the importance of Catholic missions.
Maribel Valencia Castillo was a student at Harvard Divinity School when she researched difficulties encountered by the Hmong community in Merced, California in maintaining their religious beliefs as a form of cultural preservation. The result was a report, "Hmong Shamans: A Journey to the Spirit World." Traditionally the Hmong embrace an Animist tradition, yet since their relocation in the United States they have found their religious beliefs under scrutiny from public officials and others. The goal of this research was to find how the Hmong have responded to the pressures of proselytism, how they have created ways to preserve their traditions, and most importantly, how their religious traditions have been changed in order to adapt to American culture.
Dr. Linda Barnes is a professor of Family Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and teaches in the Division of Religious and Theological... Read more about Linda Barnes