PHILOSOPHY

Respond to the following paragraph. You can either agree or disagree with it. response, should be 150 words

In Wenger's reading about the Pueblo Indians he discusses the issues surrounding the traditional Indian dances they performed. Commissioner Burke sent out a "Message to All Indians" demanding they stop what he viewed as being useless and harmful performances.

This included ceremonies that Burke described as including sexual obscenity and sodomy. The "Religious Crimes Code" was a BIA policy created in 1883 that gave people permission to use force and imprisonment to stop any Indian religious practices that were deemed immoral. Pueblo tribal councils were against the code and wrote to the BIA to fight the restrictions it placed on the traditional dances they perform in their ceremonies.

The Pueblos did not use the word "religion" to make their case, and because of this the customs of their people were not protected by the constitution. In defense of their culture they informed the BIA that their dances were held mostly in the winter and not in the busy agricultural season when it may interfere with work. They did not use poisonous snakes, nor did they give away money, horses, cattle and other property.

The Pueblos stated they are self-supporting, and expressed confusion as to why anyone would want to stop the Pueblo dances. Their dances were customs and they didn't feel they were doing anything bad. It was also stated that Indian children were baptized in the Christian Church by the consent of their parents but were also taught the culture passed down to them from their ancestors. By performing these dances they not only preserve their heritage but also honor their ancestors and have right to their cultural practices.

The Pueblo Indian dance controversy tells me that the politics of religious freedom in the U.S. is still not equal. Regardless of the Pueblos not referring to their ceremonies as a religious act they do have the right to practice what is in their culture and their way of remembering their ancestors. The First amendment of freedom of conscience should include all religions and all customs for everyone. Even though the Pueblos stated that they are baptized as Christians their customs were still seen as a threat.

This goes to show that the politics in religious freedom did not approve of anything else except Christianity and would try to take away anything other than that. Just to prove their point the BIA stated that the customs of the Pueblo Indians were interfering with the society, which in all actuality it was not. People often fear the unknown, and my opinion those who sought to ban the customs of the Pueblo Indians simply feared something they could not understand.