Oh Come All Ye Faithful to the altar of wilderness. Join the Church of Pantheism and worship sacred land.

The following is a transcript of a recording by Terry Tempest Williams that appeared during December 2003 on the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance home page, www.suwa.org.

"The mission of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance is to protect the outstanding wilderness at the heart of the Colorado plateau and the management of these lands in their natural state for the benefit of all Americans. This is Terry Tempest Williams. The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time. They are kneeling with hands clasped that we might act with restraint; that we might leave room for the life that is destined to come. To protect what is wild is to protect what is gentle. Perhaps the wildness we fear is the pause between our own heartbeats; the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace. Wild mercy is in our hands. Won't you join me and become a member of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance where together we can take mindful action in protecting these sacred lands in Utah's redrock desert?"

Ms. Williams, a renowned eco-spiritual writer, has long served on SUWA's board of directors. SUWA's religious imperative for excluding human beings from millions of acres of Utah public lands has been previously documented on this site. See That Which May Not Be Spoken, Holy Terra, Is Wilderness Really Sacred, and If So, So What?

Ms. Williams' goal is to turn Utah's public lands into holy wilderness sanctuaries; to exclude the infidels who refuse to worship -- those who would drive to a campsite, erect a tent and with their families enjoy nature. To accomplish her goal, Ms. Williams needs the assistance of federal bureaucracies. But the First Amendment to the United States Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law regarding an establishment of religion."

Utah's lands belong to all Americans, not just neo-pagans. Federal agencies cannot lawfully establish spiritual wilderness reserves that exclude the great majority of Americans.

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