[Return to Part I]

NASA Goes New Age

Roberto Rodriguez and Patrisia Gonazles report that NASA is relying on Native American elders and their prophecies for scientific decision making: "Using "eyes" from space, NASA officials have seen that the (Indian) elders are right. Its officials conclude that the 'Earth is a living system that is distressed.' So now, NASA has turned to native elders for counsel as it examines the effect of climate change on the U.S. population, environment and economy. NASA brought together a gathering of several hundred elders for a five-day climate-change workshop in Albuquerque, N.M. during the Clinton administration. NASA is seeking to merge the knowing and wisdom of people who understand the responsibilities that humans have to the Earth with knowledge of non-native scientists. ... Native people traditionally have understood that the Earth and universe have a mind and spirit, a cosmic intelligence that responds to us, to our intentions."

In January 1998 NASA apologized to American Indians for including an ounce of ashes from the cremated body of space scientist Eugene Shoemaker on the unmanned Lunar Prospector which will ultimately crash onto the moon's surface. Navajo Nation President Albert Hale protested, "The moon is a sacred place in the religious beliefs of many Native Americans. It is a gross insensitivity to the beliefs of many Native Americans to place human remains on the moon." NASA promised to never again place human remains on the moon without first engaging in a wide consultation.

New Mexico Highway

Neo-pagans are fighting to block a highway through Petroglyph National Monument, not because the road will harm any petroglyphs but because the road will disturb the spiritual ambiance around the rock art which is considered to be sacred by some Indians and neo-pagans. According to the Associated Press, Dave Simon, southwest regional director of the National Parks and Conservation Association said the new road would bring auto and noise pollution ruining the sanctity and solitude of the petroglyphs. Interestingly, the article stated that tribes were backing off on their opposition to the road even as non-Indian New Agers continued to press their opposition in the name of Indian religion. In another report, Eli Il Yong Lee of the Petroglyph Monument Coalition stated, "It's very sad to know that our Senators Bingaman and Domenici are now willing and purposely acting to destroy a sacred area."

Freeing Spirits from Lake Powell

The Sierra Club and the Grand Canyon Institute have called for the draining of Lake Powell. The arguments for draining the lake include the fact that many petroglyphs are buried beneath the waters. Neo-pagans believe that spirits manifest themselves through Anasazi petroglyphs as well as through rocks, birds and animals. Therefore, it is essential to free the petroglyph spirits from their watery tomb. After the Deseret News ridiculed demands to drain Lake Powell as extreme and laughable, a letter to the editor by Paul Fisher complained:

"The core reason to drain Lake Powell is a spiritual reason, and mockery is the response I expect from those who are not listening to the spirit. ... Open your heart and you will see that draining Lake Powell is the right thing to do. Recreation is important, but boats trailing water skiers are a trivial reason to keep Lake Powell when there is a powerful spirit of peace and wisdom from our Mother Earth to be gained by allowing natural forces to again act upon Glen Canyon. Talk to Navajo, Hopi and Ute spiritual elders. ... Then take a position on draining the lake. Write an editorial if you want. But don't mock the spirit."

Wilderness designation sought for millions of acres for New Age religious worship

Neo-pagans are successfully asserting religious criteria to establish New Age religious preserves millions of acres in size through exploitation of the Wilderness Act. The 1964 Wilderness Act provided for the designation as wilderness of public lands which had been pristine from man's influence. However, faced with practical obstructions to wilderness designation such as existing trails, roads and power lines, neo-pagan environmentalists have asserted that wilderness criteria must include "spiritual values" even though such values are not part of the criteria set forth in the Wilderness Act. In his book "Sacred Earth," neo-pagan Arthur Versluis explained that sacred land need not be pristine:

"By 'virgin nature' I do not necessarily mean nature wholly free from human influences--for one could well argue that no such places any longer exist on Earth. Rather, 'virgin nature' refers to sacred wild places that still maintain their numinosity, or spiritual power."

Testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on Forest and Public Lands Management in 1995, Terry Tempest Williams stated,

"Only a few generations ago, Utah was settled [as a theocracy] on spiritual grounds. It is ironic that now Utah must be protected on spiritual grounds for the generations to come. ... Our sense of community must be extended to all life forms, plants animals, rocks, rivers, and human beings. ... If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. ... [T]hose of us who so love these lands in Utah ... recognize America's Redrock Wilderness as a sanctuary for the preservation of our souls ..."

Asserting that huge expanses of utilized lands must be restored to wilderness to accommodate New Age religious beliefs improperly and, in violation of the Establishment Clause, diverts analysis from the empirical criteria set forth in the Wilderness Act. More: That Which May Not Be Spoken

Thousands of New Age fourth grade textbooks remain in Utah public schools

On December 4, 1997, the Salt Lake Tribune reported, "The Utah State Textbook Commission will decide today whether to approve a fourth grade textbook that critics say paints an inaccurate picture of Utah history and pushes a kind of environmental religion on students." The text titled, "The Utah Adventure," is published by Gibbs Smith Publishing. Gibbs Smith has served on boards for both the Sierra Club and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, organizations which champion New Age environmental religion. Mr. Smith has also published writings by Terry Tempest Williams.

In December, 1997 the Text Book commission was considering what to do about Smith's textbook, thousands of copies of which had been slipped into Utah's public schools by Mr. Smith without prior approval of the Textbook Commission. The Textbook Commission required changes in the text and established a rule to penalize publishers who sold unapproved texts to school districts in the future.

School districts which did not receive the unauthorized texts will receive revised texts with scores of pages revised to eliminate factual inaccuracies and related neo-pagan religious indoctrination. However, under the Commission's decision, the thousands of religious texts already illegally slipped into the schools will not be withdrawn. Instead replacement pages and a teaching supplement are to be provided to school teachers. As a result Utah fourth graders continue to possess defective texts which openly proclaim New Age religious doctrines. The following objectionable items were ordered eliminated from the revised text, but remain in the texts previously slipped into the schools:

Page 13: An enlarged text margin heading: "To stick your hands into the river is to feel the cords that bind the earth together in one piece."

Page 21: For student discussion: "'In wilderness is the renewal of the soul.'--Henry David Thoreau. What do you think the author meant by 'renewal of the soul?'"

Page 46: A subtitle proclaims: "The Earth is Our Mother"

Page 46: "American Indians did not believe in owning private property. How could you buy or sell the mother of life?"

Page 47: An entire page contains only the statement,"'Remember,' they said, 'animals were here first, so they know better than people how to live on the land. Their wisdom is older.'"

Page 55: For student discussion: "What did American Indians believe about owning the land?"

Tom Hayden in his book, "The Lost Gospel of the Earth -- A Call for Renewing Nature, Spirit, and Politics" (Sierra Club Books 1996) argues that "earth-based spiritualities" must be taught in the public schools. Gibbs Smith has done an admirable job of doing just this.

Smith's introduction of neo-pagan New Age religion into the public schools is extremely alarming, both in that it was so cleverly accomplished and also in that it has not been corrected. All of the original texts should be immediately withdrawn from the schools. The revised texts continue to contain objectionable material which should be eliminated as well.

Public Funds used for distribution of New Age missionary tract

Until recently each visitor to Antelope Island State Park was given a copy of an eight page tabloid newspaper titled "Welcome to Antelope Island" which is paid for in part by public funds from the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation. Seven of the eight pages of text and photographs contain factual information about the island, including history, wildlife, maps and trails. Other portions contain advertisements for nearby entertainment. However, page 3 of the paper set forth a New Age religious tract by Terry Tempest Williams which preached that people should take pilgrimages to worship the lake and its flora and fauna. In her tract Ms. Tempest Williams initially described removing her clothes and floating in her lake mother's salty amniotic fluid. Thereafter Ms. Tempest Williams made the following religious declarations:

"[The Great Salt Lake] is a spiritual magnet that lures us home. ... We do not know the nature of this vast body of water ... If we did, the shores of Great Salt Lake would look different. ... We would hold these wetlands as sacred sites for short-eared owls, long billed curlews and white-faced ibises." ...

"E.O. Wilson, a professor of science from Harvard, believes that as human beings we have a natural affinity for life, a yearning to understand other organisms, an urge to affiliate with other forms of life. He calls this instinct 'biophilia.' He asks the question: For what purpose did this human potential evolve? His answer? It is the protection of the human spirit. ...

"Diversity equals stability. Great Salt Lake becomes an anchor for our souls. ... Let us begin our own quiet pilgrimages to the lake. ... Walk west. Great Salt Lake is a spiritual magnet that lures us home.

Ms. Tempest Williams has been called an "apostle" by fellow neo-pagans. (See "Ecommunion: How the New Cosmology is Resurrecting the World Soul" formerly at www.doubleclicked.com/ecommunions.html. Her references to spirituality have literal religious meaning. On March 6, 1999, Ms. Tempest Williams received the "Spirit of the West Literary Achievement Award from the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association for her writings on environmental and spiritual issues. She was lauded as "a pioneer of the Eco-Spirituality movement." The State of Utah has no business proselytizing Antelope Island visitors to become New Age worshipers of Mother Lake.

Utah Supreme Court Mural

The Utah Supreme Court New Age mural has finally been covered, at least during sessions of the Utah Supreme Court. As of early October, 2001 a $26,000 retractible curtain now covers the painting when justices hear oral arguments on court cases.

In 1997 several justices of the Utah Supreme Court were surprised to find their newly constructed courtroom contained an immense $80,000 285 square-foot abstract mural of red, blue and white tones. The brass plaque describing the mural stated, "V. Douglas Snow. Capitol Reef, 1997. Oil on canvas 19' x 15'. This painting reflects the slick rock area of Capital Reef National Park. The artist describes his work as:

"An apocalyptic thunderstorm saturating the slick rock sandstone followed by intense heat from the summer sun brings about a magical moment. Vaporous clouds rise from the cliffs and domes of Southern Utah's desert country, providing a powerful and poetic experience of hope and renewal."

Snow's mural thus attempts to portray a "geography of hope." "Geography of hope" is one of the key liturgical phrases constantly employed by Terry Tempest Williams and other New Age apostles to advance their claims for sacred wilderness preserves. The phrase was originally penned by Wallace Stegner, a highly respected novelist and environmentalist. Stegner, never an extremist, used the phrase in his Wilderness Letter which opposed construction of dams on the Colorado River in the early 1960's. Stegner was a director of the Sierra Club long before the Sierra Club became a neo-pagan religious movement. However, his words have been appropriated by New Age believers. The belief in the sanctity of wilderness, plants and animals is now considered "a geography of hope."

A contributor to the neo-pagan Northern Utah Junction described her reaction to the mural and courtroom:

"I stood enrapt in what seemed to be not just an imposing place, but a holy place. ... This was the kind of place where the power of nature, the power of the human spirit, and the power of justice joined together ... It is a bold decision, a new paradigm that is replete with new promises."

One of Snow's stated goals was to evoke "conflict resolution" through the "magical moment" portrayed.

The initial reaction of several members of the Supreme Court that the painting was completely inappropriate for courtroom decorum was correct. Beyond decorum, the highest court of the state should not be interpreting the Utah constitution, which has one of the strictest prohibitions of establishment of religion, while sitting beneath a piece of New Age art.

The painting was commissioned by an arts committee headed by then Chief Justice Michael D. Zimmerman, without consulting with the other members of the Supreme Court. Justice Zimmerman, a recent convert to Zen Buddhism, resigned from the Supreme Court at the end of 2000. While still on the bench, Justice Zimmerman also served as chairman of the Summitt Institute in Park City, Utah, which spearheaded arrangements for Tibetan Buddhist monks to perform religious ceremonies at Park City High School during school hours in 1999. (See item in Part I "Richard Gere's Tibetan Buddhist monks perform devotionals in public schools.")

Public funds allocated for Native American religion

On May 5, 1998, the Deseret News in an article titled "Utahn creating circle of wellness" reported:

"The circle is a sacred concept to American Indians, representing the holistic nature of the world, the balance of the spiritual, physical, mental and emotional aspects of life, Forrest Cuch says.

"By co-locating Indian programs with social services and a cultural center in a new multi-million dollar facility, Cuch, director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, hopes the ideal of the circle will be embraced in urban Utah.

"On Wednesday, Gov. Mike Leavitt will sign legislation sponsored by Sen. Pete Suazo, D-Salt Lake, that will provide $300,000 seed money for planning, development and land acquisition of the Circle of Wellness project. ...

"Services such as health care, emergency assistance, legal services and vocational and educational training are planned for the new project.

"An important aspect of the plans also includes space for social services like counseling and alcohol and drug treatment, making the center inclusive to all who may need it.

"The thing that keeps us strong is our spiritual and cultural beliefs, so rather than attempting to compartmentalize and separate our social services programs and our cultural fine arts activities, we would like to keep them together," Cuch said.

In a telephone call in which Institute personnel inquired of the emphasis on holistic spiritual nature of the project, Mr. Cuch stated that he hoped that a sweat lodge could be included in the project but that a sweat lodge may not be permitted by fire codes. When questioned about the use of public funds for a project concept described with words such as "sacred," "spiritual," and "holistic," Mr. Cuch stated that state money is being used only as seed money for planning and development, not for construction. However, Senate Bill 44, which authorized the funds, states that the funds are to be used for "acquisition, development, construction, or design of the central site ..." Also, even if public funds are not being used for construction, they cannot in any event be used for planning and acquiring land for religious projects.

The law cited the need for programs addressing social welfare, educational, economic and cultural needs of Native American citizens, but nowhere defined any of these needs as spiritual or requiring a holistic circle of spiritual presentation. Therefore, the question arises whether the Utah legislature understood that it was appropriating public funds for a religious-theme social services venue.

Navajos call for public funds to train medicine men

The Associated Press reported on March 22, 1999 that, with medicine men and spiritual knowledge on the verge of extinction, Navajos are calling for the use of state funds to train young tribe members in traditional native healing methods. The Navajos seeks to skirt the Establishment Clause by characterizing the program as "traditional health-care." Significantly, the Tribal Council in 1980 appropriately turned down a request to charter a medicine man's association, saying that Navajo ceremonies were a religion and that it wouldn't be proper to mix church and state. However, according to Arizona State Senator Jack Jackson, a Navajo, who now calls for use of state funds, while the ceremonies are spiritual in nature, it is important to distinguish that they are part of the Navajo's actual health-care system and not a religion. This sorry charade graphically shows the mutually corrupting effect of attempts to combine religion and government. Not only does government improperly engage itself in select spiritual activities which should be left to religion, but once proud traditional religion is stripped of its title and dignity. The logical end will be government control and regulation of Navajo religion because it is labeled as health-care.

State funds pay for Indian religious ceremonies.

The State of Utah as of October, 2001 is considering paying medicine men to provide healing ceremonies, such as crystal-gazing and blessing-way ceremonies, to Indians who are crime victims. Arizona already reimburses such ceremonies according to a fixed fee schedule for recognized ceremonies. Forest Cuch, director of Utah Division of Indian affairs, suggests that the state should only pay for healing ceremonies performed by shamans approved by tribal governments.

#JP98-12b