Freedom to be Both Native American AND Christian

A woman was advocating for rights of tribal members and freedom from tribal government tyranny, while at the same time telling me that my husband and I were wrong to share our Christianity because the only way tribal members can be free from alcohol is through traditional religion.

So... while on the one hand she decried being dictated to and controlled by tribal government, she was attempting to dictate to and control other tribal members when it came to spirituality.

This is a very important point about freedom for tribal members. Some tribal governments do try to dictate that tribal members follow traditional religion, not any other.

When my husband, Roland, was testifying in Seattle against tribal jurisdiction, a representative of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) told us that reservations have a right to keep Christians off their property - and Christians have no right to speak to tribal members about their religion.

We asked "What if an elder has lived there all his life and becomes a Christian - and wants to talk to his grandchildren about it?" The NICWA representative answered that the grandfather had no right to speak to his grandchildren about it and would have to move.

This is not an unusual point of view within some tribal circles, nor was it unusual in many historical dictatorships where one religion was chosen for the entire country and all had to abide by it. This was why many settlers came to America and why the very first phrase of our constitutional amendments addresses freedom of religion.

Then comes the Indian Child Welfare Act, which is used by some tribal governments to dictate the religion Indian children must be raised in. Some times exposure to powwows and traditional Indian religion is mandated by courts and tribal governments as a condition of foster care or adoption. Other times, children are simply removed from Christian homes. This can happen even if the parents and grandparents placed the children in that home and want the children to be raised Christian.

Because ICWA is a federal law, the U.S. Congress is just as much to blame for this robbing of individual freedom and 1st amendment rights as tribal governments.

My husband and I knew who we wanted to be guardians of our kids if we were to die. We chose a man from our church. His race didn't matter to us - his spirituality and heart were all that mattered. This was - and is - our constitutional and God-given right as parents to choose. Neither Congress nor any tribal government should be allowed to steal that from us.

NO ONE else in America is put underneath a law that dictates how you are supposed to spiritually raise your kids. The 1st amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof"... but the ICWA Congress enacted comes dangerously close to doing just that.

Dying in Indian Country is available at: http://dyinginindiancountry.com

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Will They be Turned In for Mentioning the Name of Jesus

Pray for a town that honors God: Should a school district be 'turned in' for daring to mention the name of Jesus Christ at graduation?

A person close to me was aghast that Jesus Christ was prayed to at a High School Senior's graduation – which included both an invocation and a benediction. He told me that it was clearly unconstitutional and that something should be done about it. He said that it won’t be long and the town will be forced to stop it. He also questioned whether seniors were forced to go to the Baccalaureate the week before as well. He was assured that they weren’t, but only a couple of them chose not to go.

I had never even been to a baccalaureate before and didn’t know what one was until just the last week. I thoroughly loved it. I thought it was absolutely wonderful and the community seems to like and support it; there doesn’t seem to be any complaints.

Well, the Baccalaureate was a choice then.

Of the graduation itself - I told him I didn’t think that the pastor had even mentioned the name of Jesus at graduation. But he assured me that the pastor had. He said he was specifically listening for it – and that the Pastor had ended the prayer with “In Jesus’ name.”

I asked him if he planned on contacting the ACLU. I also asked him whether an outsider has a right to come into a community and tell them what they can or can’t do with their children in regards to Jesus Christ.

He then wavered and said he wouldn’t contact anyone, but that sooner or later someone will. He reiterated that the Supreme Court has deemed it unconstitutional.

Wow. Being turned in for mentioning the name of Jesus Christ. Our nation is getting scarier all the time.

He is a member of a Unitarian church, and has admitted to me before that yes, he and his friends are extremely intolerant of Christians. He had to think about it when I first asked him this last year, and then decided it was true because, he said, people at his church are horribly ashamed if their children become Christians – and the church practically mourns with them. And he said he would be ashamed as well if one of his children were to become a Christian.

It made me a little afraid that when he gets back to his politically active church he would tell his friends about the “backwards” event he saw and that one of those people might try to start something.

So – having loved how Jesus Christ was so thoroughly included – I would just like to ask for prayer for protection over this town and high school, and their choice to honor God throughout their graduation ceremonies.

Happy Birthday America! Tea Party's Next Wave Rising -

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- Associated Press, July 03, 2010

Tea Party's Next Wave Rising in Alaska to Colorado

In more than a dozen primaries in the months ahead -- among them Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona, Washington state and Florida -- Tea Party candidates are determined to upend the status quo and capture GOP nominations.

Rifle through a stack of Tea Party candidate resumes, and Joe Miller's will stand out.

The man who wants to turn a fellow Republican, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, out of office is a graduate of Yale Law School and West Point, a decorated combat veteran and former judge. Many Tea Partiers share his disdain for Washington, its political gridlock and mounting debt, but not his credentials.

The message he conveys, though, is straight from the Tea Party script: He fears the nation is veering toward socialism and insolvency. He says Murkowski is too liberal.

To Miller, Alaska's senior senator is complicit in the ballooning U.S. debt and spending and has a voting record that would make a Democrat proud. His agenda envisions a federal government with reduced limits. He would cut off federal dollars for the United Nations, gradually privatize Medicare and Social Security and disband federal departments that aren't spelled out in the Constitution, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Education Department.

"The problem," he says, "is incumbency."

In an election year marked by Tea Party activism, Miller is part of the next wave of Republican primary candidates counting on a public weary of Washington and the stale economy, and eager for fresh faces. In more than a dozen primaries in the months ahead -- among them Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona, Washington state and Florida -- Tea Party candidates are determined to upend the status quo and capture GOP nominations.

Could Miller be the next Rand Paul or Sharron Angle -- Tea Party-backed candidates who stunned GOP powerbrokers in Kentucky and Nevada?

Murkowski, a moderate and the first woman elected to Congress from Alaska, "is pretty safe but you never know," says Judy Eledge, president of the Anchorage chapter of the Alaska Federation of Republican Women.

Eledge, who is not aligned with either candidate, says Murkowski's biggest challenge will be reassuring conservatives. On Friday, the senator announced her opposition to President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan.

As a state legislator, Murkowski voted to raise alcohol taxes and against a bill to restrict publicly funded abortions. As a member of the GOP Senate leadership, she has displayed a centrist streak. Independents who make up more than half Alaska's registered voters can vote in the Aug. 24 primary, which analysts say will benefit the incumbent.

Miller has gotten a boost from endorsements from Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Express and local Tea Party groups. But Murkowski has $2 million in the bank and has a familiar name in Alaska politics. Her father, Frank Murkowski, was a governor and senator. As governor, he appointed his daughter in 2002 to the Senate seat he had held.

Former Alaska lawmaker Andrew Halcro, a friend and supporter of Lisa Murkowski, says her moderate brand of politics fits well in a state where most voters don't belong to any party. But the prevailing sour mood in the U.S. poses a threat.

"Like a lot of states, you have an angry populace" in Alaska, Halcro says. "If I'm Lisa, I am worried because these guys have an appealing message -- down with government, down with incumbents."

Surprises are the norm this year.

Three-term Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah was ousted by Tea Partiers at the state GOP convention in May. Tea Party darling Angle engineered a come-from-behind victory in Nevada over an establishment-preferred candidate and will challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in November. Rand pulled off a surprise win in Kentucky's Senate race over a party favorite. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was forced out of the GOP by Tea Party-backed Marco Rubio and is running as an independent. In South Carolina, Palin's support and Tea Party activists helped GOP state Rep. Nikki Haley emerge from a crowded field to capture the GOP nod for governor.

In Colorado, the GOP Senate nomination appeared destined for a former lieutenant governor, Jane Norton. But Republican prosecutor Ken Buck has emerged as a rising Tea Party star by blending grass-roots organizing, a message of ideological purity and a folksy appeal he shares with candidates such as Angle.

In Tennessee, a Tea Party Republican seeking a congressional seat in a crowded field has made headlines by opposing construction of a suburban Nashville mosque. Candidate Lou Ann Zelenik says the "Islamic training center" is part of a political movement "designed to fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee."

"Until the American Muslim community finds it in their hearts to separate themselves from their evil, radical counterparts, to condemn those who want to destroy our civilization ... we are not obligated to open our society to any of them," Zelenik says. She hopes to replace Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon, who is retiring after 13 terms.

In Washington state, former professional football player Clint Didier is questioning the Republican credentials of party-recruited candidate Dino Rossi in the scramble to take on three-term Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

The true test of the Tea Party candidates is whether they can attract moderate and independent voters to win in November.

Republican Ron Johnson, the owner of a Wisconsin-based company that makes plastic packaging materials, has called for reducing the size of the government, opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants and cap-and-trade legislation, and advocates repealing the health care overhaul law. He's also said man-made global warming hasn't been proved and he questioned how Social Security is different from a Ponzi scheme.

Johnson is willing to spend as much as $15 million of his money to unseat three-term Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

Alaska, which fared better than most states in the recession and where every fourth worker holds a government job, has not been a center of Tea Party unrest. Nonetheless, in advance of the primary, Murkowski appears to be moving defensively to the political right. Her first campaign ad depicts her a strong conservative who wants to shrink government and taxes. A snapshot on her website shows her with a shotgun on her shoulder. She's calling for repeal of the health care overhaul.

Miller has criticized Murkowski for the growth of Washington spending on her watch and her vote for 2008 bank bailouts, issues that bedeviled Bennett in Utah. His website features a point-by-point breakdown of Murkowski's votes on issues from abortion to energy policy, contrasted with his own.

As Washington considers capping carbon emissions, Murkowski's moves are being shadowed by Miller, who believes the science behind climate change is inconclusive.

"I have smoke that comes out of my chimney. You are going to tell me the federal government has a right to regulate that? Somehow it's affecting interstate trade? Or somehow that smoke is going to impact a resident of the state of Washington?" Miller asks. "I just don't buy off on that."

"Ultimately, much of what the federal government does today needs to be transferred over to the states," he says

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