Deep Ecology/Wiccan-Based Environmentalism Preached in Port Huron, Michigan School District

"Some parents in Port Huron are suspicious of the ["Earthkeepers" environmental education] program because of its author, Steve Van Matre. Van Matre is president of the Earthkeepers umbrella organization, The Institute for Earth Education. Van Matre has also written on a philosophy called "Deep Ecology," which some believe has roots in Wiccan culture. ... According to Martin Prout, special projects director of the Port Huron school district ... educators are more interested in the academic merits of the program than the real or perceived religious and political overtones. ... However, Prout said neither the committee nor the superintendent is overlooking the religious aspect of the controversy. 'In all fairness, there were some concerns in the superintendent's eyes about some of the possible symbolism and imagery that were brought out,' said Prout. ... Emily Wallace, president of Earth Learning Adventures, Inc. and head of the Earthkeepers program, said her staff's efforts are directed toward educating children about the world around them, not pagan religion. ... Wallace contends that the group's ties to Van Matre and his endorsement of deep ecology does not indicate that Earthkeepers teaches the philosophy even though the creator of the curriculum holds those beliefs personally. ...'They are doing things that are very much like things in pagan religions and telling us it doesn't mean anything,' says [local cancer surgeon Kimberly] Clarke-Paul. 'Is it coincidence that E.M.'s lab looks like a Witch's cove, coincidence that the specks taught in Earthkeepers are the same as the elements in witchcraft, coincidence that the magic spots are similar to pagan meditation, coincidence that the medallion with the symbol has the same shape as the astrological chart?' ("Wicca, Ecology Debated in Michigan School Controversy," CNSNews.com, May 14, 2001)

The Earthkeepers program remains in the Port Huron School District despite challenges from concerned parents. Although objecting students may now opt out on religious grounds, whole classes are still herded to the coven for three days of "environmental education." Thereafter, public school teachers incorporate Earthkeepers principles into virtually all subjects unless an objecting student is in the class. Says something about the quality of public education in Port Huron, doesn't it?

Richard Gere's Tibetan Buddhist monks perform devotionals in public schools

Tibetan Monks sponsored by actor Richard Gere are performing Tantric Buddhist devotionals in public schools throughout the country. In September 1998, the monks conducted, on the Grand High School stage during school hours, sacred music and sacred dance rituals before an altar, a picture of the Dalai Lama and a mural of their monastery for all of the student bodies of the Grand County, Utah, School District. No school district would dare deliver entire school student bodies to school assemblies to see a Catholic priest conduct Latin masses before an altar, a picture of the Pope, and a mural of St. Peter's Basilica, as such would clearly be a violation of the Establishment Clause. However, the Grand School District readily sponsored Tantric Buddhist devotionals. During the same visit Moab City refunded park rental fees paid by sponsors of a Prayer for Peace Day for the monks and American Indians. In October, the monks conducted a four day mandala construction ceremony in West High School in Salt Lake City which was open to the public (and captive students) during school hours. The mandala was dedicated to the "female deity" with ceremonial chants, prayers and music offered and devotional literature and music offered for sale in the school. These activities represented incidents in only two cities included within the monks' 100 U.S. city tour. The Institute has issued a detailed report on the monks' Utah activities. See Report on Establishment Clause Violations Arising from Activities of Tibetan Buddhist Monks in Moab and Salt Lake City.

On the positive side, in March, 1999, the Slippery Rock School Board in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania recognized the religious nature of the monk's program and blocked a scheduled visit by the monks to an elementary school as well as student participation in other activities planned by the monks. On the negative side, despite advanced warning from the Institute, in October 1999 the Park City School District sponsored a week-long mandala ceremony during school hours at Park City High School. The Institute asked officials of the Park City School District and Park City High School to answer questions and to disclose records regarding the monks' visit. However, the officials refused to cooperate and the Institute filed a lawsuit to compel the school district to disclose its records. Many records have now been produced and a complete report of the incident is being written for publication on this site. Would you believe students dancing in a conga line behind a Buddhist monk? Or that an arts foundation chaired by a Utah Supreme Court justice arranged for the monks' ceremony to occur in a public school lobby during school hours? See related item "Utah Supreme Court Mural,"in Part II. Also see related news release.

Teaching occult religion in California Schools

People for Legal and Nonsectrian Schools, an unlikely coalition of liberals and evangelical Christians has filed suit against two California public school districts which have introduced a New Age curriculum called "Anthroposophy." The teacher training guide states, "Most that which contributes to our work as teachers, preparation work, artistic work, even meditative work, is under the guardianship of Lucifer. We can become great teachers under his supervision ..." Lucifer is understood to be the god of Light. The required text for the first year includes "occult science, and the spiritual hierarchies, spiritual guidance of man." For similar threats in Utah see Diversity's the Rage When Its New Age and Summary Report of University of Utah Graduate School of Social Work 1999 Winter Institute.

Salt Lake Organizing Committee for 2002 Olympic Games persists in New Age environmental program

In 1999 the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Olympic Games (SLOC) adopted Native American/eco-spiritual religion as a theme for its environmental program for Utah public schools. SLOC organized an Earth Day Ceremony at W. Russel Todd Elementary in Ft. Duchesne, Utah in which 150 third-grade children were subjected to prayers, devotional declarations to Mother Earth, and Native American devotional-ceremonial dances and songs. See Report on Establishment Clause Violations Arising from Earth Day Ceremonies at W. Russel Todd Elementary, Ft. Duchesne, Utah; Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee Environmental Program; Native American 2002 Foundation. After the Institute issued its report, the involved school district apologized, acknowledging that separation of religion and government was not maintained during the Earth Day ceremony. Despite the school district's apology, SLOC continued to deny that its religion-based environmental program was inappropriate although the games are being sponsored by Utah governments. In June, 2000, SLOC hosted Utah community leaders at a "social values" forum. There theologian Don Conroy, president of the North American Coalition on Religion and Ecology, called for a global environmental ethic to be "based on the the spiritual values of the Earth's diverse cultures." The Institue thereupon wrote to Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and to Utah Governor Mike Leavitt's Olympic liason warning that state and local governments cannot continue to align themselves with an organization which has declared the advocacy of animism and eco-spirituality one of its primary purposes. Mayor Anderson then by letter dated August 2, 2000 encouraged SLOC President Mitt Romney to reevaluate the program. After noting that school prayers were "clearly inappropriate," Mayor Anderson stated, "Perhaps the religious slant of the SLOC environmental program is also inappropriate. [The Institute's] letter should serve to make us all more sensitive to the need to observe the separation of religion and government throughout the activities planned by SLOC." Unfortunately, subsequent correspondence from Mayor Anderson has caused the Institute to maintain its "alert" posture as the Mayor has now attempted to disavow his prior "religious slant" concerns and to redefine eco-spirituality as "environmental ethics." (See EPA Desires Nation to Adopt "Indian Ethic" and Devils Tower below.) Accordingly, the Institute is contacting potential plaintiffs, including atheists as well as members of religious organizations, in the event litigation becomes necessary. The Institute has never received any response from Governor Leavitt's office, which is particularly troubling considering his liason's direct involvement in the 1999 Earth Day ceremonies at Todd Elementary. Texts of letters between the Institute and Mayor Anderson are set forth separately herein.

Still More Sacred Lakes and Sacred Lands ...

"Zuni Pueblo assert that development of a strip mine [off their reservation] in western New Mexico will desecrate a sacred lake [on their reservation]." (AP June 9, 2001) "Interior Secretary Gal Norton was pressed Wednesday to reconsider allowing oil drilling in a Montana valley sacred to [some] American Indians." (AP June 7, 2001) "With few socialist utopias remaining to be idolized, the religious left has been hunting for new messianic causes to which to attach itself. Environmentalism has become the most appealing substitute. ... A letter from religious leaders sent ot every U.S. Senator warned against any effort to 'plunder America's Artic refuge' whose 'cultural and spiritual values' go 'far beyond the possible monetary value of any oil development." ("The Religious Left's War for ANWAR" by Mark Tooley, Insight Magazine, September 2001) Environmentalists claim "that development of ANWAR would devastate 'a cathedral of nature' in need of protection." (AP, August 1, 2001) Can one group's religious beliefs trump national security and others' property rights? Not under the Establishment Clause.

...And an Entire Sacred Planet

The last resort of a scoundrel is to attempt to impose religious beliefs on government when science fails to make the case. "President Bush is being lobbied by religious leaders and faith-based environmental groups to change his position on global warning and mandatory reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. ... For us, climate change represents the single most comprehensive challenge to all of God's creation here on Earth,' said a letter from Interfaith Global Climate Change Campaign signed by faith-based environmental groups in 19 states." ("Faithbased environmental groups hope Bush sees the light," by Joan Lowry, Scripps Howard News Service, April 3, 2001.) "Whatever the Scriptural verses these folks cast about to impress reporters, there's nothing particularly environmental about actual Biblical religion. ... In a bid for relevance, the progressive churches have now rediscovered 'sin.' They've got the reporters calling out Amen! and Hallelujuah!" ("The Gospel of the Trees, The strange rise of eco-faith," David Klinghoffer, National Review Online August 1, 2001.)

Kennewick Man: Destruction of scientific and historical evidence to establish American Indian religion

An horrific example of government abusing its power to establish American Indian religious beliefs at the expense of accurate science and history continues in the State of Washington. The bones of Caucasian-featured Kennewick Man were discovered on the Columbia River in July, 1996, and assumed to be the remains of a nineteenth century European American until an ancient spear point was found to be embedded in Kennewick Man's hip. Subsequent carbon dating revealed Kennewick Man to be 9,200 years old and Kennewick Man thereupon presented an immediate threat to American Indian religious traditions that ancestors of modern American Indians were the first and only Native Americans. The Clinton Administration and Army Corp of Engineers have since fought attempts of scientists to conduct tests on the remains and even deliberately destroyed Kennewick Man's resting place to prevent further analysis of the site. The Clinton Administration also opposed a congressional bill which would allow the scientific study of Kennewick Man. A full history of Kennewick Man is available at www.kennewick-man.com. Kennewick Man was also the subject of a Sixty Minutes report on CBS on October 25, 1998 and was recently featured in National Geographic Magazine.

"Mine Veto" provision of Clinton administration's last minute hard rock mining regulations can bar mining in favor of Indian religion.

Regulation 43 C.F.R. 3809.5 in the past has regulated mining to prevent "unnecessary or undue degradation" of the physical environment, requiring state of the art mining practices. Last minute changes in the regulations at the end of the Clinton administration altered the definition of "unnecessary or undue degradation" to include "conditions, activities, or practices that ... (4) ... result in irreparable harm to significant scientific, cultural or environmental resource values of the public lands that cannont be effectively mitigated." Thus a mining project may now be barred by a bureaucrat if someone claims that it would disturb an American Indian sacred site. Indians asserting sites as sacred regularly claim that entire mountains and expansive areas must be free of sight or sound of technology. Thus, an operation in the regional vicinity of, but not actually upon, a sacred site may be banned.

NEJAC Resolution calls for EPA to veto projects on basis of indigenous peoples' religious beliefs

The National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) was established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1994 under the Federal Advisory Committee Act to advise, consult with and make recommendations to the EPA Administrator on matters related to environmental justice. In May 1997 NEJAC, meeting on the Potawatomi Indian Reservation passed Resolution 23. Resolution 23 is a remarkable call for the EPA to block any developments, on or off reservations, where, despite the complete absence of any harmful human health or environmental effect, Native Americans claim that development would negatively impact their religious beliefs. The preamble of the resolution is filled with religious declarations, including:

"Whereas, areas of cultural or spiritual significance to Indigenous communities, whether on or off reservation, often go to the heart of what defines an Indigenous community as culturally and politically distinct, and ...

"Whereas, large scale activities (e.g. mining or waste facilities) frequently disturb or even obliterate aspects of the physical environment that are essential to the cultural or spiritual integrity of Indigenous communities,"

The body of the resolution declares:

"Be it further resolved that EPA should presume that Indigenous communities' claims regarding the cultural significance of areas are legitimate and act to support such claims and prevent impacts to these areas."

The resolution clearly acknowledges that "cultural" and "spiritual" values are one and the same thing. This is interesting because the usual course to establishing Indian and neo-pagan religion is to base the establishment on Indian "culture" or "ethic" and to avoid using the words "spiritual" or "religion" which flag the First Amendment.

EPA Desires Nation to adopt "Indian Ethic"

NEJAC's resolution calling for the establishment of Native American religions is under consideration by the EPA. In the meantime, Carol Browning, head of the EPA, announced in November 1997 that the EPA was hoping to hire more American Indians so that their strong environmental "ethic" (i.e. religion) will be adopted by the nation as a whole. Ms. Browning stated, "In carrying out our environmental programs, EPA has been working with tribes to improve understanding of the relationship that native Americans have with the natural environment." This patronizing statement assumed that there is a generic native American and a generic native American religion ala "Dances with Wolves." It ignores that most native Americans now belong to Christian denominations and that pre-Columbian Indians, of diverse tribes and cultures, had no stereotypical religion nor stereotypical eco-relationship with the land. Brown used the word "ethic" in lieu of "religion" to attempt to conceal establishment issues inherent in her statement.

Executive order

In March, 1996, President Clinton issued an executive order "to preserve and protect Indian religious practices" by assuring access, use and protection of "sacred sites" on public lands. This order is of dubious constitutional validity, not only because it seeks to establish "sacred sites" for certain Indians on public lands which are owned by all Americans, but also because there is no legislative basis for the order. The court in the Devil's Tower litigation ruled that the order could not overrule the First Amendment's prohibition against the establishment of religion.

Devils Tower

The previously cited executive order was issued after Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the Department of Interior had attempted to bar everyone except Native American religion adherents from access to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming during the summer solstice month of June each year. The Wyoming federal judge ruled the action an impermissible establishment of religion. The Court rejected Babbitt's attempt to characterize the ban as related to Indian "culture" rather than Indian "religion." The Court stated, "The Defendants attempt to characterize these measures as relating solely to American Indian culture and being wholly separate from any religious purposes. The Court is not persuaded that a legitimate distinction can be drawn in this case between the 'religious' and 'cultural' practices of those American Indians who consider Devils Tower a sacred site."

However, the judge declined to strike down policies which allow government employees to request climbers to voluntarily abstain from climbing Devils Tower during June. Unfortunately this issue remains unaddressed in the courts as the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the climbers did not have standing to contest the "voluntary request." Americans desiring to enter upon otherwise unrestricted public lands should not have to face uniformed gun-packing government employees asking them to "voluntarily" stay away in respect of other's religious beliefs.

Medicine Wheel

A federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the "Historic Preservation Plan" for the Medicine Wheel, inter alia, on the basis that the plan unlawfully establishes religion. The Medicine Wheel, located on Forest Service lands high in the Big Horn Mountains near Sheridan, Wyoming, is a circle with spokes constructed from stones. Although no one has a clue as to who constructed the Medicine Wheel or what it represents (guesses include a "Sun Dance Lodge, an astronomical observatory, a teepee, a campsite or just a nice design), New Age practitioners and American Indians have declared the site a religious shrine and regularly conduct religious rituals on the premises. Although there is no consensus among tribes or even within tribes as to the meaning of the Medicine Wheel, and, despite the Establishment Clause, the Forest Service has officially sanctified this public site as a religious shrine. The Forest Service passes out brochures which identify the Medicine Wheel as the "Sacred TREASURE in the BIG HORN MOUNTAINS." The text of the brochure includes the following:

"It is a sacred site, an historical site and an archeological site. ... Prayers are made for any offense to Mother Earth. When asking for guidance, prayers for wisdom and strength are always part of the ritual. ... Respect the privacy of others at the Wheel. Do not remove the sacred prayer offerings left by Native Americans. ... It is important that the Medicine Wheel be treated with the utmost respect given any holy place. The site is protected by Federal Laws ..."

The road to the site has been blocked by a gate to prevent noise from automobiles. This also discourages non-believers from walking the one and one-half mile distance to the site. In the name of spirituality hundreds of acres of land surrounding the Medicine Wheel are also blocked from uses which might inhibit the spiritual experience of worshipers at the site.

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

On September 18, 1996, President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Interior Secretary Babbitt, and actor Robert Redford met together at the Grand Canyon to dedicate 1.7 million acres of southern Utah as the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. Mr. Redford has called for these lands to be set aside as wilderness, declaring that they are "sacred."

In his dedication address President Clinton stated, "I want to thank all of our tribal leaders who are here and, indeed, all of the Native Americans who are here. We are following in your footsteps and honoring your ethic today." The code word "ethic" again means stereotypical Indian religion, with President Clinton really saying, "We are following in your footsteps and honoring stereotypical Indian religion today in creating this national monument."

Just before President Clinton spoke Utah naturalist and writer Terry Tempest Williams delivered a holistic neo-pagan sermon. She told the audience to listen to the spiritual voices of the Anasazi people who inhabited the Southwest before the modern Indians and to worship the Kaiparowits Plateau as a living organism. She stated:

The sacred heart of this continent beats in the unagitated and free landscapes of North America. The Kaiparowits Plateau is the heart of the heart. ... The Hopi elders have told us this morning, it is a time for healing. A healing must begin within our communities, within ourselves, regarding our relationship to the natural world. We are not separate. ... These lands are sacred.

Following establishment of America's first national monument specifically dedicated to New Age religion, the Bureau of Land Management issued planning criteria for the monument. Among the criteria originally proposed were criteria "to provide for traditional uses by American Indians and provide strategies for the protection of sacred sites." After receiving objections that such criteria would further establish Indian and New Age religion, the proposed criteria were changed to provide for "strategies for the protection of recognized traditional uses." Monument planners declined to respond to correspondence asking them to define the words "traditional uses" and to give assurances that "traditional uses" did not mean "traditional religion."

The Draft Management Plan adopted by the BLM in November, 1998 , provides: "In all (five management) alternatives, the BLM would continue to consult with Native American tribes before reaching decisions about traditionally associated resources, and would continue to invite the input of Native American Indian tribes in this and subsequent Monument management Planning. A number of Native American ancestral sites within the Monument are currently used by Native American Indians; that use would continue to be allowed in all alternatives." Thus, it is evident that "traditional uses" continues to mean religious rituals by only certain Americans at sacred sites which are off limits to other Americans.

Rainbow Bridge National Monument

In1997 visitors to Rainbow Bridge were met by Rangers, ropes and signs to prevent them from walking under Rainbow Bridge. Visitors were taught Indian religious beliefs and told that they could not approach Rainbow Bridge because it was considered sacred by some Indians. These visitors' constitutional rights were clearly violated. The monument's policies supposedly have now been changed from barring visitors from approaching Rainbow Bridge to "requesting" visitors to "voluntarily" refrain from walking under the Bridge. Americans desiring to enter upon otherwise unrestricted public lands should not have to face uniformed government employees and official signs asking them to stay away. A lawsuit challenging the procedures has been filed. [continued ...]

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